Botched up VGA Mod job

IceDigger

IceDigger

[H]F Junkie
2FA
Joined
Feb 22, 2001
Messages
12,378
Egads folks. I just killed my 9700 pro! Installed another hsf on it (artic cooling vga silencer) and while getting the other hsf off I accidentally scraped off some of the coper wires on the board. Now I have a black line following my mouse and the textures in games are whacked out.

Guess I'll wait for the new line of cards untill I get a replacement. Since I can surf the web and do other stuff no problem. Just can't play games.

I'm sad, cheer me up. Bad friday. Tell me your bad stories like this.
 
OUCH! As a rule, I try not to put my virgin hands on anything that I can't afford to replace immediately if I botch it up. You're right, may as well just wait for the new stuff. Anyway, sorry about your loss, man.:(
 
if you're careful, you can re-trace those f*d up wires with some conductive paint (I hear rear window defroster repair stuff works great). use a knife or end of a toothpick to run the lines, give it time to dry, and if that works, then you can finish the job by putting a thin coat of laquer over it to protect the new traces (I think fingernail polish works, so does liquid electrical tape...just anything non-conductive).

Did the same thing to my GF2 GTS a couple years ago. re-did the traces I screwed up and it worked as good as new.
 
Originally posted by nst6563
if you're careful, you can re-trace those f*d up wires with some conductive paint (I hear rear window defroster repair stuff works great). use a knife or end of a toothpick to run the lines, give it time to dry, and if that works, then you can finish the job by putting a thin coat of laquer over it to protect the new traces (I think fingernail polish works, so does liquid electrical tape...just anything non-conductive).

Did the same thing to my GF2 GTS a couple years ago. re-did the traces I screwed up and it worked as good as new.
Click to expand...

WOW! That's what [H]ard is all about:)
 
Good idea. I have some conductive glue stuff I used on a laptop a while ago.

A clients dog wet the keyboard and the acid disintigrated some of the traces so the keys didnt work. Ordered the stuff and used a toothpick to trace the traces and it worked like new.
 
be careful not to cross the traces.


the thought of Ghostbusters comes to mind...
 
You will reverse the proton flow and cause complete molecular reversal! causing the end of the universe!....so be careful

Doe!...Ray!......Egon!
 
Just tried the conductive epoxy on the board with the traces with a toothpick. Still no go. Looks like the toothpick head was too thick so it kinda crossed some of the traces with the conductive epoxy. Nooooo!

Guess I'm stuck gaming on my laptops 9600 untill the new gpus come out.
 
Originally posted by IceDigger
Just tried the conductive epoxy on the board with the traces with a toothpick. Still no go. Looks like the toothpick head was too thick so it kinda crossed some of the traces with the conductive epoxy. Nooooo!

Guess I'm stuck gaming on my laptops 9600 untill the new gpus come out.
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=( at least your laptop has a 9600
 
can you cut the overlapped traces with a knife?

you may also want to do a continuity check with a meter on the traces you repaired. that will tell you if the trace is at least conducting a signal.
 
I'll cheer you up by sharing by failures. In the past month, I killed a 2500+. Then a week later killed my 9800. Then went and ordered a 9800 pro that is DOA...See, now doesn't other people's problems make you feel better? :D
 
Originally posted by IceDigger
What happens when I cross them with the proton pack?
Click to expand...

That would be bad...

Heh...anyway good luck on the retrace :)
 
I just ordered a VGA Silencer for my Hercules 9800 Pro.

I do NOT want to kill this card !!!!!!!!!!!!

It seems easy enough.

How do you folks manage to mangle and kill your video cards doing something so simple as replacing a HSF??

I've read many stories here in [H] forums about people killing their expensive cards replacing HSF.

I though gamers have good hand/eye coordination?
 
Don't be an idiot like me and use pliers that are too big to rip the hsf off.
 
As a precautionary measure, if you wanna be SUPER DUPER careful, cover the whole rest of the board in a layer of electrical tape, and don't use ANY tools(except for maybe needle nosed pliars on the back side) to take the HSF off. It's VERY unlikely that your fingernails could, through a layer of electrical tape, scrape away or damage any traces. That's my only suggestion to anyone planning on changing the HSF for their video card who is overly concerned about ruining it.
 
Some small precautionary steps may keep you from killing your card:

1. Take a rool of electrical tape and tape off around the area you will be working to remove the retention pins holding the hsf on.
2. Some cards have locking pins inside the retention pins that have to be removed from the front so check for those.
3. If the HSF assembly won't come off after removing the retention pins, take a credit card or the like and put it in the gap between the side of the HSF and the card PCB. Gently pry or twist around the edges of HSF with a flat screwdriver keeping the credit card between the screwdriver and pcb at all times.

Works like a champ for me every time.

Edit: Started to post then got side tracked, finished and then saw Spewns post. See? If multiple people are saying it, it must be true :D
 
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