Did i mess something up?

[sparky1_2007]

Hey guys, writing this because i think i fried my trusty 4870 trying to clean off the old thermal gunk and putting new stuff on.

i was using q-tips to clean it out, and it was in those little circuit things that surround the acctual chip, so i think it might've gotten caught between the two chips and sorted it out or something.

either that or the power control unit or whatever it's called died, because before it died it was making a loud kind of squealing noise that sounded like a capacitor dieing or something of that nature.

any in-sight on how i can either fix this or and i SOL?

 

[NickJames]

Loud squeeling or beep? Beep means no power to the card. Squeel means the power capacitors are touching.

 

[sparky1_2007]

Loud squeeling or beep? Beep means no power to the card. Squeel means the power capacitors are touching.

um, i wouldnt call it a beep, but if it was a beep, it was very very faint.

i did see two capacitors touching, but im uploading a pic right now so you guys can check out my horrible job of cleaning off thermal paste.

mental note, never use q-tips to clean it off -.-

sorry it's so large, i wanted it that big so you could see where the residue is around those little chips surrounding the acctual chip.

well, i moved the capacitors that looked like it was touching away from eachother and tried again, no luck :|

so, im gonna assume it's the dam residue in-between the little chips....

 

[sparky1_2007]

Well, it's definately dead, idk what happened, but i cleaned off that gunk from the little chips and put on a new coat of thermal grease and nothing, the fan doesnt turn on or anything :|

idk what else to try.

any ideas?

 

[sparky1_2007]

Well, it's dead i guess, unless i can somehow resurrect it/RMA it, but i went out and bought myself a new XFX 5770

 

[Saabjock]

Do not ever use conductive thermal compound (AS5 etc...) on any chip or socket, that has exposed or soldered contacts. It's almost always guaranteed to cause you pain. I always use a good grade Ceramique non-conductive paste. Good luck with your new 5770.

 

[sparky1_2007]

Do not ever use conductive thermal compound (AS5 etc...) on any chip or socket, that has exposed or soldered contacts. It's almost always guaranteed to cause you pain. I always use a good grade Ceramique non-conductive paste. Good luck with your new 5770.

yeah, that might've been the problem, but i dont think i got any AS5 on the exposed stuff...

all well, that's on my to buy list now then.

i've just never had any issues with AS5 on video cards :|

 

[BBA]

Go buy a can of PCB cleaner from radio shack and spray the hell out of it. Clean it as well as you can and dry everything with a hair dryer, reassemble and test. It will probably work fine.

 

[Mr. K6]

Do not ever use conductive thermal compound (AS5 etc...) on any chip or socket, that has exposed or soldered contacts. It's almost always guaranteed to cause you pain. I always use a good grade Ceramique non-conductive paste. Good luck with your new 5770.

FWIW, AS5 isn't conductive, just slightly capacitive. And it doesn't kill hardware nearly as quickly or easily as people make it out to.

Go buy a can of PCB cleaner from radio shack and spray the hell out of it. Clean it as well as you can and dry everything with a hair dryer, reassemble and test. It will probably work fine.

Seconded.

 

[sparky1_2007]

FWIW, AS5 isn't conductive, just slightly capacitive. And it doesn't kill hardware nearly as quickly or easily as people make it out to.

Seconded.

The second part sounds like something i might have to do, but i already put in an RMA request, so we'll see what happens with that.

 

[Roliath]

How are you gonna RMA something you un-intentionally broke?

 

[sparky1_2007]

How are you gonna RMA something you un-intentionally broke?

that's in the air as far as im concerned, there's no telling if i "intentionally" broke it or not, i'll leave that up to the RMA department to decide.

the reason being because there's no power going to the card, no fans spinning, no lights, etc, but like i said, it's up to the RMA department.

also, i would like to note how much quieter the reference fan on the 5770 is when it isnt running past ~50% speed, i can barely hear my system now, where as my 4870 would always be spinning up whenever it could it seems and it made a ton of racket.

 

[aweusx2]

I think others are saying should not rma something you killed, if it was on purpose or not you killed it (might be called Fraud?) . How did you clean it with qtip looks filthy, Ive used Qtip or paper towel seems fine to me.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Sorry to say that people RMAing kit they broke really gets on my nerves, it just raises prices for everyone when kit is sent back that was never defective in the first place. Taking the card apart voids the warranty with almost all manufacturers including removing the cooling solution.

Please pay for your new card out of your pocket, since it's your fault.

 

[punisher]

Sorry to say that people RMAing kit they broke really gets on my nerves........................

No sorry about it, you are absolutely correct. I just want to bitch slap people that do that.

I learned my lesson on my ATI 9700 when I messed up some traces prying off the old heatsink on the GPU. One slip was all it took. I still have it on my wall of shame as a reminder not to screw up like that again.

Oh, AS5 will definitely cause headaches when it gets on SMDs like that. I went through misery when I got AS5 on one my old Bartons and wouldn't post. Shin-Etsu has been my friend ever since.

 

[Roliath]

that's in the air as far as im concerned, there's no telling if i "intentionally" broke it or not, i'll leave that up to the RMA department to decide.

the reason being because there's no power going to the card, no fans spinning, no lights, etc, but like i said, it's up to the RMA department.

I don't want to throw gas on the fire, but what prompted you to put AS5 on the card in the first place? Was something wrong? If not, and you did it on your own accord and the card is now "broke" than why should the manufacturer pay for YOUR mistake?

 

[sean1197]

umm depends on the brand of card. XFX allows you to change the cooler as far as i know.

 

[Roliath]

umm depends on the brand of card. XFX allows you to change the cooler as far as i know.

I'm not arguing that, he put on as5 to cool his temps I can understand that. This is [H], its a given. But the fact that he screwed up or whatever the case is can be directly related to him putting as5 on his card thus this should void all and any rma claims. (given the information in the first post)

Again' why should the manufacturer pay for someone's mistake, the card was in working condition, tampered with and now it does not work? Do you agree that given the circumstances, the RMA should be approved?

I'm not trying to give anyone a hard time, and i'm sure I am for which I apologize. Im sure his RMA will be approved and he'll get a shiny new/refurb 4870 too.

 

[Frank08]

What brand 4870 do you have?

 

[sparky1_2007]

I don't want to throw gas on the fire, but what prompted you to put AS5 on the card in the first place? Was something wrong? If not, and you did it on your own accord and the card is now "broke" than why should the manufacturer pay for YOUR mistake?

I was cleaning out my computer, aka dusting it all off and getting all that gunk off it, and i noticed that the factory gunk was covering the little circuits or w/e surrounding the chip.

and like i said, just because i RMA it doesnt mean that they'll fix it for free, if they find that it's my fault and it costs less to have them fix it than to just buy a new one, i'll go for it.

also, the brand is Powercolor, it's one of the PCS+ 1gb models with the zerotherm coolers on it.

also, if it died and it was my fault, dont you think that it wouldn't have worked in the first place?

it was working with that previous thermal paste application (in the pic) like 2 days previous to the card dieing on me, sorry i didn't mention that before.