Subj : Bake your graphics card?
To   : Otto Reverse
From : Arelor
Date : Thu Feb 10 2022 09:12:30

  Re: Bake your graphics card?
  By: Otto Reverse to All on Thu Feb 10 2022 05:37 am

 > So I've been building a (not quite yet) retro computer for circa 2004-2007 P
 > games. Trying to get ahead of prices before this era becomes nostalgic lol.
 > Anyway, the Nvidia 8800 GTX (a high end card for the time) arrived yesterday
 > but had vertical lines on the display and crashed Windows (XP 32-bit) after 
 > or 15 minutes.
 > 
 > Being an older card (2006 I believe) but well into the Internet age there we
 > many search results for that card and lines on the display.  I started seein
 > people claiming you could fix it by baking it in the oven. The cards get ver
 > hot and the solder joints crack. But this is mostly surface mount components
 > making it hard for someone with just a regular soldering iron to fix.
 > 
 > I was a bit skeptical that it would solve the problem but I had nothing to l
 > (wasn't going to get a refund with shipping on this old card). So I removed 
 > giant heatsink/fan combo and cleaned the board (lint, thermal paste etc). Th
 > I pre-heated the oven to 385F, place the card (GPU side up) on a baking shee
 > I put four small tinfoil balls (about 3/4" in height) between the baking she
 > and the card.
 > 
 > In the oven it went. 8 minutes later I took it out. Let it cool for about 45
 > minutes and then re-assembled the cooling part/brackets etc. Placed it in my
 > computer and viola! It worked and the display was clear of any artifacts!
 > 
 > I wouldn't do this with older retro circuits as they tend to be rarer and
 > without surface mounts you can re-flow the solder by hand. But I can see mor
 > people baking circuits in the future!

That process is called "rebailing" and, as far as I have heard, it works in a
pitch but the component so fixed won't last lont anyway.

IN any case, enjoy it while it lasts \o/

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