Holy crap, it worked! Dead video card, resurrected!

Have been trying to find out what temperature is used to reflow, but have come up with no exact figure, I think it must be a little over 400 F.

Here's some solder info,

* SnAgCu solders are used by two thirds of Japanese manufacturers for reflow and wave soldering, and by about ¾ companies for hand soldering.
o SnAg3.0Cu0.5, tin with 3% silver and 0.5% copper, has a melting point of 217 to 220 °C and is predominantly used in Japan. It is the JEITA recommended alloy for wave and reflow soldering, with alternatives SnCu for wave and SnAg and SnZnBi for reflow soldering.
o SnAg3.5Cu0.7 is another commonly used alloy, with melting point of 217-218 °C.
o SnAg3.5Cu0.9, with melting point of 217 °C, is determined by NIST to be truly eutectic.
o SnAg3.8Cu0.7, with melting point 217-218 °C, is preferred by the European IDEALS consortium for reflow soldering.
o SnAg3.8Cu0.7Sb0.25 is preferred by the European IDEALS consortium for wave soldering.
o SnAg3.9Cu0.6, with melting point 217-223 °C, is recommended by the US NEMI consortium for reflow soldering.
* SnCu0.7, with melting point of 227 °C, is a cheap alternative for wave soldering, recommended by the US NEMI consortium.
* SnZn9, with melting point of 199 °C, is a cheaper alloy but is prone to corrosion and oxidation.
* SnZn8Bi3, with melting point of 191-198 °C, is also prone to corrosion and oxidation due to its zinc content.
* SnSb5, tin with 5% of antimony, is the US plumbing industry standard. Its melting point is 232-240 °C. It displays good resistance to thermal fatigue and good shear strength.
* SnAg2.5Cu0.8Sb0.5 melts at 217-225 °C and is patented by AIM alliance.
* SnIn8.0Ag3.5Bi0.5 melts at 197 to 208 °C and is patented by Matsushita/Panasonic.
* SnBi57Ag1 melts at 137-139 °C and is patented by Motorola.
* SnBi58 melts at 138 °C.
* SnIn52 melts at 118 °C and is suitable for the cases where low-temperature soldering is needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solder

Take your pick, but I'd say its the top one @ 217 - 220 C or 417.2 - 428 F

a bit toasty...

Think I'll try the OP's temp at 385 F first with my X850XT and an ancient original Radeon

Here's a neat link about how Motherboards are made - http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1722&page=1
 
One baked 8800 coming right up! This is a pretty crazy story, thanks for posting. ...and grats on the new working card!
 
Might have a 3rd 7600GT to try this on...

It only artifacts in games, not at the desktop... so a bit different then the other ones... but worth a shot?
 
well it looks like i mustve pitched the x800gto, couldnt find it, but the 2900pro just came out of the oven.. :) we'll see in a few.

update: It's running okay at this point, i'll leave it running a game or do a 3dmark stress test on it and make sure it doesn't bluescreen or something weird.
 
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We need some pictures to go with it, or atleast a nice full write up with pictures.
 
I could have taken pics, but I was lazy -_-

OP's diagram is good enough to get started tho...
 
your story is hilarious and awesome. congratulations, seems like some solder did indeed get separated from a critical joint.. what a crazy fix~!

yeah that's it. Its not so much the average (read: diffuse) temperatures (what we're all used to seeing in rivatuner and everest etc) as it is the concentration of heat that causes problems. Believe it or not there are spots on the silicon which will reach well in excess of 100C, and they'll actually warp such that its not making contact with its PCB packaging. Reheating it through different methods is often enough to undo such a warp.

Anyways, cool fix! Glad it worked!
 
We need some pictures to go with it, or atleast a nice full write up with pictures.

what pics ya need? You take off your plastic cooler, heat oven up to ~400 with a cookie sheet, slap card on cookie sheet for 8-10 mins and then re-install thermal paste and cooler.
 
I first have to say to the pretend experts with the temps and heat gun crap. Seriously get off your high horse and keep your mouth shut (or fingers from typing) unless you actually know wtf you're talking about. False advice is a major problem on forums, you're not an expert on probably anything and learn to be humble when you don't know wtf you are talking about.

Kudos to the OP for letting us know about his method, I will be trying this in the future if I ever come across this problem.
 
Not sure what would be better, doing this and probably voiding the warrantee, or dealing with most of ATI's partners crappy RMA proceedure.

Here is my situation,
I bought it used off of ebay. On top of that it is an HIS which has another company handle their warranty in NA. I have the original owners invoice but I have a feeling that my chances of getting an rma are slim. So I tried this and it worked!:D
 
I've got a 7900GS that I need to try this on. If it works, I can give it to my little sister who is still using an ATI x300.
 
We should keep a running tally of how many this has worked on, what the problem was before etc.

So far I haven't seen anyone claiming it didn't work?
 
I first have to say to the pretend experts with the temps and heat gun crap. Seriously get off your high horse and keep your mouth shut (or fingers from typing) unless you actually know wtf you're talking about. False advice is a major problem on forums, you're not an expert on probably anything and learn to be humble when you don't know wtf you are talking about.

Kudos to the OP for letting us know about his method, I will be trying this in the future if I ever come across this problem.

Your not talking to me with this post are you?
 
We should keep a running tally of how many this has worked on, what the problem was before etc.

So far I haven't seen anyone claiming it didn't work?

OK.

Card 1: EVGA 8800GTX : Computer wouldnt boot with the card. Baked for 10 minutes 385 and it has been working perfectly since.


Card 2: PNY 8800GTS :Computer booted but card artifacted like crazy. Baked 10 minutes 385 and it has been working perfectly since.


Card 3: XFX 7800GT :Computer booted but card artifacted like mad. Baked 12 minutes (ooooops forgot it) and when i lifted the card off of the cookie sheet about five capacitors stayed on the sheet along with the fan header.


So 385 does melt the solder. Be sure not to leave the card baking for longer than 10 minutes.
 
Card 3: XFX 7800GT :Computer booted but card artifacted like mad. Baked 12 minutes (ooooops forgot it) and when i lifted the card off of the cookie sheet about five capacitors stayed on the sheet along with the fan header.

You know you are suppost to suspend the card above the cookie sheet right?:p
 
Card: 7900GT
Problem: Artifacting in 3D games
Outcome: Put in oven at 385º for 10 minutes, pulled it out and it works better but not awesome. It seems to have only partially fixed the problem.
 
will it likely not work if left in for only 5 minutes? because i did that with my GeForce Go 7800 GTX because i was scared that it was getting far too hot and smelling like it was melting up... well the card worked until i decided to tighten up the screws on the heatsink assembly and moved the laptop into another room.. when i turned it on the results were worse, but it did fix it for awhile.... is too little also not a good idea?
 
I had just posted earlier tonight with a similar problem I was facing with my older x2 4200+ 939 system in my daughters room that uses an EVGA 7900GT...I bought the PC from iBuypower.com back in 2006, and this was the card I choose at the time.

What's really scary, is seeing the old invoice of $2500...God the system I could build now for that price lol...thank god that PC was a gift from my grandfather (he gave it to me after I made the third payment lol :D).

Any way, here is a couple pics of the problem:

090.jpg


093.jpg

Some (crappy) pics of me taking it apart and cleaning it up:


All cleaned up and ready to cook!


In the oven and cooking away! :eek:

213.jpg


215.jpg


Disregard the dirty oven, this is the most it's seen in a while... ;)

Now the cooldown process...hope it works...Extra Crispy S/N tag too :D

219.jpg


220.jpg


We'll see how it turns out...the hour is almost over...
 
Well, it booted up fine, even felt smoother, somehow faster once in the desktop...was fine from program to program, and web stuff...but as soon as I switched users, same screen again...so maybe it is the card...dunno...
 
does anyone remember the old radeon 9500 that you could soft mod into 9700PRO but it would have the checkerboard effect? i wonder if this method would have worked on those?
 
Add my GeForce Go 7800 GTX to the list of cards that didn't benefit from even two times in the oven @ 385F. first time @ 5minutes was more successful than the second time through at 8.5 minutes and even more careful reapplication of thermal paste (Arctic Cooling MX-2.)

the hack just didn't give me results, and i don't know if i could goto sleep knowing nothing about the reliability if it did seem to work...
 
I find this idea hilarious and I am seriously tempted to try it out on an old 7600GT that started showing lines down the screen after a power surge. But I have a fan assisted oven. Do I need to reduce the temperature setting I use? :D
 
Hehe... I think mine is fan assisted too... but it worked fine @ 385...

I doubt it will work for every card, and I wouldn't recommend this as a long term solution (Or buying and "baking" cards, then reselling on ebay)

But it is handy to revive a dead card if you can't afford a new one, or don't want to buy a new one at that time...

I'll put a list together of what's worked on / what it hasn't later on...
 
I find this idea hilarious and I am seriously tempted to try it out on an old 7600GT that started showing lines down the screen after a power surge. But I have a fan assisted oven. Do I need to reduce the temperature setting I use? :D

If it's damaged by the power surge then the chip itself is damaged, baking only helps if the damage is lose solder joints and nothing else.
 
If it's damaged by the power surge then the chip itself is damaged, baking only helps if the damage is lose solder joints and nothing else.

That's what I thought too, to be honest, but I find the idea of baking my video card too funny to pass up.
 
To people that are going OMG ARE YOU MAD ???
DID you know the manufacturers pretty much all bake ur cards and other components ?
The oven the company uses isnt much different from a Pizza Oven used at CiCi or Pizzahut.
http://www.hi-techsources.com/prodimages/27%20Heller%20988C%20front.jpg[/IMG
[IMG]http://sawdust.see-do.org/images/SFEStencil/SFESolderPasteStencil18.jpg[/IMG
[IMG]http://www.interflux.ee/includes/Moodulid/CMS/Komponendid/Failid/view_image.php?file_id=227[/IMG

[I]Do not hotlink images - Vertigo Acid[/I]
 
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I had an old FIC Radeon 9700 (flashed to Pro I believe) as well as a Dell OEM Radeon 9800 pro that both suffered from vertical lines on the desktop After a 1-2 years of use.

If I still have them, I'll try this trick just to see if it makes anything better (not that they are in use or anything, but it'd be an interesting experiment).

Thanks for posting this tip.
 
Congrats, but shouldn't your 8800 GTX still be covered under warranty?
 
I tried this on an artifacting 7900gs but the problem remains. I dont feel comfortable baking electronics in the same oven I used for food so no more hardware baking for me. :)
 
This reminds me of a similar issue. I have a half working IBM T40 with a video chip connection issue. It's very common and solder reflow fixed with a heat gun are documented online. I don't own a heat gun so I have never gotten around to it. I wonder if there is any possibility of success using an oven instead... of course a laptop motherboard has plastic bits on it like the cpu socket.
 
After seeing the amount of successes in this thread, I decided to give it a try, as I had two graphic cards that were non-functional (6800 GT PCI-E and 8800 GTS 640).

After heating up both cards in the oven at 385 for 10 minutes, I tested them out to see if they worked. To my surprise, both cards booted into XP and both were able to run full tests of 3DMark 06, Furmark, and ATITool! :eek:

I never expected that these cards would ever run again. The OP really deserves props for sharing this video card revival technique!
 
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