THE OVEN TRICK - WORKED

[antipesto93]

**I no longer update this thread, a Mod can clean it up/sort out the OP to make it a bit more formal if they like,

Ok, i got an 8800gtx of ebay, and it had artifacts all over the screen, like a chessboard
i reflashd the bios --- still nothing
then rememberd some cases of heat fixing xbox 360's and thourght of oven trick

i put it in the oven for around 5 mins AND NOW IT WORKS
i seriously thourght he was joking, but i got so angry because i couldnt fix the card, i just bunged it in the oven and it workeddd WOO IME SOO HAPPY AND FEEL LIKE I SHOULD TELL EVERYONE!!!
THANKS FOR ALL YOU HELP!!

( by the way if anyone is going to try it make sure u take all the heatsinks off first and make sure u use PREHEATED oven set to 385F ( gass mark 6) (solder melts around 364F) )
different people left it in there for different times, most people said 6-8 mins 14 is too much

wow ime so happy :)
****EDIT1****
GUIDE :)
1: remove heatsink and thermal paste
2: preheat oven to 385F to 400F( NO HIGHER!) ( gas mark 6)
3: lay foil over the oven rack
4: make 4 balls of foil, about 4cm high,
5L when the oven is heated to its corrent temperature, put the graphics card on the 4 balls, one on each corner )
6: leave for around 6-10 mins, NO MORE THAN 12 OR IT WILL MELT
7: ENOJOY!!! :attn:

****EDIT 2****
THIS FIX MAY NOT LAST FOREVER, SO PLEASE DO NOT PUT CARDS IN THE OVEN AND THEN SELL THEM its not nice!!


Testimonials: :)

RAVANELI: but desperate to get it back I tossed it in the oven too. MIRACLE!

haste 226: i was finally able to attempt this today and im amazed! it worked. wow...if i had only known when it died...

POLARYS425: Add one more 8800GTX to the success list. I just baked it for 12-15 minutes at 385F.

ME: Stuck it in the oven for 8 mins (exactly) AND NOW IT WORKS!!!!! aaaaaa im soo hapy

DANBROKE: Sweet lord! I just did it too my cellphone that wasnt working and Walla!! It work again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! Great trick!!

might as well give it a shot. To my amazement it totally worked, card is now (apparently) all good with no video corruption or anything

zOZ: I threw it in the oven and it came out and also... now works

BADBONJI: he didn't believe me (I gave him some links of how people have done it) and now it works again, saves him from buying another gpu for a while!

WIKING: Thank you so much, this resurected my x800xl that didnt even POST

ANOTHERSMOKE: let cool new paste and wallah! been folding when not at computer for 3 weeks

PINKGOLD This is madness!! Yesturday I had an 8800gtx that wouldn't even let my comp start if it was connected! Today after 5 mins of light baking, I have a fully functioning gpu!!

Gods_oMekone: it works! booted into windows fine. going to install some games and make sure 3d works

AND ANOTHER 23 PAGES OF IT WROKING FOR PEOPLE http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792
:clap::clap:
anyone want to write a proper guide ?

remember to keep the card level in the oven
rememeber this is not allways permanent

[bchur83]

Damn, thats awesome. Similar to the Xbox RROD, Overheat it and it usually fixes the problem. I have heard of this trick before, but never tried it.

[Twigglish]

Where does everyone find these dead video cards?
I haven't seen a single one on ebay.

[antipesto93]

i was just lucky some dude was selling them in the UK ebay
ebay uk and .com are all out at the moment !

[{PGA}AfterShock]

how long is it suppose to be in the oven, I got 2 7950 gt cards collecting dust, 1 is dead and I'm going to kill the other card since they are worthless these days lol and it will be fun to try

[ChinStrap]

what did you set the oven for?!

[antipesto93]

well after realiseing it was nota bios problem ( as i flashed the bios)
the card looked in perfect working order
but apparently, the oven thing works, because it melts the solder joints,
( the tiny ones that the human eye cany see ) and then freezes them again
i did it at 385F ( gass mark 6/5.5) (solder melts around 364F) )
i kept it in there for around 5 mins ( i lost count )
but basically untill you eithert - smell solder melting - OR when you see that the larger solder joints have gone abit more shiny

i will get some pics up 2morrow of before and after:)

i still cant get over what happend!!!

[BobbyBubblehead]

antipesto93 #Laughs#
you lucky lucky lad!

well done on the bravery front #Chuckles#

im impressed :)

£20 GPU fixer upper... amazing, really was starting to think you were out of luck with that card.

[imposter]

subscribed for further questioning :)

[antipesto93]

dam i think my 600w psu cant take it! its making some freaky noise when i stress test
i hope it dosent blow up on me!

[downer]

Did you put the card directly on the rack or what?

[BobbyBubblehead]

hows about just running it for a while before you go stressing it.
wait out for any anomalies before you go thrashing the pants off everything :)

expect the psu has found new work to do, depends how loud and un-associated a noise were talking here?

[downer]

Are you sure it's the PSU making the noise? Sometimes it's the video card itself that can make a buzzing type of sound from the coils.

[jason4207]

Freakin' awesome!

So glad I could help!

I've never done it, but if I did I'd put the card in a Pyrex dish or similar. And instead of removing the card form the oven while hot, let it cool in the oven (you can open the door), so that none of the solder joints gets jostled about while melted.

Basically the solder joints can get brittle over time and develop micro-fractures. These can stop or weaken an electrical signal. Typically the tiny solder joints on the bottom of RAM chips are the earliest victims. The PCB has a bit of flex to it, but the chips do not, and that can exasperate the issue. So, the idea here is to melt all those tiny joints and let them re-harden into a like-new state.

I thought there might be an issue w/ some plastic melting on the board. Things like the PCIe 6-pin power plug, and fan header come to mind. But apparently it isn't as big of a deal as I thought.

It's probably a good idea to open some windows if you do this. The solder should be lead-free, but there may be other noxious fumes present.

[hokiealumnus]

Put the PSU in the oven!!



(kidding. ;) )

[antipesto93]

i am pretty sure its the psu, i have uploaded a sound file
http://www.2shared.com/file/5857586/e7c5c8f2/Untitled__3_.html
( u need to put ur volume pretty high)
it kinda sounds like when you open a coke can just a tiny bit

[MonkeyMhz]

Wow,

You mentioned it fixed the microfractures. Im not 100% sure, but I beleive the failing Mobile Nvidia GPU's are caused from the same problem. My old laptop died because of it. Maybe I should put my laptop in the oven. lol. Or just take out the mobo and stuff and give that a go. lol. I probably won't though, but I wonder.

Lol watch this catch on and have pizzareas doing computer repairs. Just slide it in the oven! Free medium and large pizza with every repair.

[Neuromancer]

Ok , i got an 8800gtx of ebay, and it had artifacts all over the screen, like a chessboard
i reflashd the bios --- still nothing
then 'Jason4207' recomended the oven trick, i guessed this meant putting your graphics card into the oven

i put it in the oven for around 5 mins
AND NOW IT WORKS
i seriously thourght he was joking, but i got so angry because i couldnt fix the card, i just bunged it in the oven and it workeddd WOO IME SOO HAPPY AND FEEL LIKE I SHOULD TELL EVERYONE!!!
THANKS FOR ALL YOU HELP!!

( by the way if anyone is going to try it make sure u take all the heatsinks off first and make sure u use aPREHEATED oven set to 385F ( gass mark 6) (solder melts around 364F) )

wow ime so happy - i got an 8800gtx for 20 pounds!!!!!


Wow some wierd fluke that you got a leaded solder card. Solder for the last ~5 years is ROHS compliant and you would probably melt the PCB before the solder is well over 400F and we had to turn our pots from 600 to 800F to keep it fluid.

[Hardin]

I'm not comfortable with putting anything in the oven that isn't edible.

[jediobi1]

Wow some wierd fluke that you got a leaded solder card. Solder for the last ~5 years is ROHS compliant and you would probably melt the PCB before the solder is well over 400F and we had to turn our pots from 600 to 800F to keep it fluid.

i bought some solder recently thinking it was lead free but guess what it wasnt, and the store i got it from didnt have any without lead

[antipesto93]

NEW PICS: )
my temps were idling at around 65, so i took off the huge plastic thing and used zip ties to stick a fan to it
temps have been reduced around 10c
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh257/antipesto93/aas.jpg
not too sure about if it should be pushing air into the heatsink or pulling :confused:

the plasting 'thing' ....yeah i know...pointless pic....
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh257/antipesto93/02012008032.jpg

[benbaked]

Pushing air into the fins should provide the most benefit.

[ravaneli]

Me being a genius, decided to wash my old 6800 GT with hot water once koz the fan and sink were too dusty to try to clean otherwise. Needless to say, the card wouldn't work afterwards, even after 20 mins with my hairdryer. I had never heard of that trick then, but desperate to get it back I tossed it in the oven too. MIRACLE!

It's still running strong ( I sold the whole PC to a friend)

[antipesto93]

wow, washing a graphics card under water is a new 1 !

[BobbyBubblehead]

bet you carnt make my R10 power choke go again thoe, looks like its been in the oven but the rest of the card hasnt :(
this is the miracle line isnt it?

jediobi1 - cheer up about the leaded solder it works better and you get to do it for less time #Chuckles#

[ihrsetrdr]

mmm, I love that smell of baked PCBs...I don't usually smell it in the kitchen, more like in my computer room! ;)

[jediobi1]

bet you carnt make my R10 power choke go again thoe, looks like its been in the oven but the rest of the card hasnt :(
this is the miracle line isnt it?

jediobi1 - cheer up about the leaded solder it works better and you get to do it for less time #Chuckles#

true, but i threw it out, dont wanna use something thats gonna kill me but thats getting harder and harder to do

[Mekks]

i have a old x1950pro that gave my checkerboards then died soon after. i should give this a shot.

think its agp tho. no way to test after.

[computernewbie]

its not really an "oven trick", you do the same thing with your xbox when you get the red ring of death, except you dont stick it in an oven, you put it under 5 pillows and let it overheat, ofcourse that temporarily fixes the problem, i do believe when a graphics card over heats its circuit breaks, thats why it wont work, and when you heat it all up, the whole circuit breaks i guess, providing a temporary fix, it'll last you for a week, maybe, or maybe youll get lucky and it'll last you much longer, not quite sure since its never been done with a graphics card :P

[Zantal]

i am pretty sure its the psu, i have uploaded a sound file
http://www.2shared.com/file/5857586/e7c5c8f2/Untitled__3_.html
( u need to put ur volume pretty high)
it kinda sounds like when you open a coke can just a tiny bit

No need to worry about it.

inductor coils, power section FETs, high speed memory access, and clock speed

are the cause of the noise, i suppose we are still young enough to hear those sounds, and not everyone can hear those

I asked a friend of mine and he didn't hear nothing i suppose his ears don't hear high pitched noise.

[antipesto93]

inductor coils, power section FETs, high speed memory access, and clock speed

.

yeah i think thats it, it only seems to happen when the gpu is under stress ( even a .avi ), sounds like the inductor coil

[BobbyBubblehead]

sounds like normal operation to me (for what I can here from my all digital yet still suffering RF set up)

I have to put up with thoes noises all day threw my speakers just now :( and a ground loop isolator will just cap the high `n low frequency responce... feel like putting my hi-fi in the oven #Chuckles#

my first GTX280 had a really noisey coil in it.... squeal piggy squeal! #Laughs#

[antipesto93]

btw when i put it in the oven , i made 4 balls of foil and put one under each corner of the card, around 3 cm high,

[BobbyBubblehead]

did you use any seasoning?
maybe a few veg as a side dish?

is the 88GTX considerd to be a delicacy...

[chevro1et]

'Grats on a successful oven bake revival! :beer:
I have heard that painting the coils with clear nail polish will cease the squealing and does not restrict the circuitry in any way, shape, or form. I suppose you could use colored as well, if you wanna get fancy.

[Quailane]

wow, washing a graphics card under water is a new 1 !

Lol. I wash all pc components under warm running water from time to time, even the PSU. It was also good to clean the pcb of my latest video card that I drilled through to make sure there was no metal dust on it.

[jason4207]

Lol. I wash all pc components under warm running water from time to time, even the PSU. It was also good to clean the pcb of my latest video card that I drilled through to make sure there was no metal dust on it.

Isopropyl alcohol would probably be a better choice, but if you really know what you're doing I guess water could work.

Too risky for me!


You drilled through your gfx card? Can you explain more? :confused:

[antipesto93]

Just incase anyone is interested, here is an image of what the larger solder joints look like after its been heated :)

http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh257/antipesto93/04012008050.jpg

[antipesto93]

more faulty 8800's onnn thee wayyyyy

[Haste266]

i have a dead 8800gtx, computer boots but i get red vertical lines all over the screen and then it wont boot into windows...was thinking of giving this a try.


are you putting it in the oven with back of the card facing down? or the front(gpu side) down?

[antipesto93]

i have a dead 8800gtx, computer boots but i get red vertical lines all over the screen and then it wont boot into windows...was thinking of giving this a try.


are you putting it in the oven with back of the card facing down? or the front(gpu side) down?

thats the exact problem i had ( red vertical lines )

what i did was. put foil down first ( on the oven rack thing), then make four foil balles, to put on each corner of the card ( the balls should be about 3cm high
then put one ball on each corner of the graphics card, so the main pcb is elevated

I put it so that the Nvidia chip/cpu was facing upwards, and the plain pcb side was facinh down ( touching the four foil balls)

i just left it in there for ( i think around 5 mins < i completly lost track of time ), but i stopped when i saw one of the stickers on the pcb go abit yellowish, and you might be able to see some of the large solder joints go a shiny silver, thats when i took it out
i took it out the oven straight away, and let it cool naturally for 5 mins under a fan :)

by the way - make sure you remove all the themal paste (and obviously the heatsink ) before you put it in

oh and make sure you 'preheat' the oven.

( soz i typed that lot abit fast so if anything is unclear i can help :) )

[Haste266]

^ awesome. thanks


i will post my results here. not sure if im gonna be able to try this until sunday though...

[Haste266]

i was finally able to attempt this today and im amazed! it worked. wow...if i had only known when it died...

wondering now whether i should try selling it or keep it for a backup...hmmmmmm.

furmark is chugging along right now!

[Badbonji]

Omg 2 in a row! I will go look for a "dead" gtx295 with red lines for cheap quad sli :D

[Haste266]

forgot put leave in my post that i left it in the oven(385f preheated) on a thin cookie sheet
supported by 3 aluminum foil balls. two on the front of the card and one in the middle of the rear. i left everything in the oven for 8-10 minutes with occasionally opening of the door to look at the card(holding my breath). i had my oven hood exhaust turned on also.

i didnt actually notice any apparent change in the way the components/solder looked while in the oven, i had a bright flashlight to get a better look at it while peeking but didnt notice any changes.

[antipesto93]

wow another succsess story :) i have just won another two 8800's :)

[Haste266]

pics!

naked
http://haste.4saken.org/pics/baked8800gtx/8800baked5.jpg

backside
http://haste.4saken.org/pics/baked8800gtx/8800baked4.jpg

side shot
http://haste.4saken.org/pics/baked8800gtx/8800baked3.jpg

another angle
http://haste.4saken.org/pics/baked8800gtx/8800baked2.jpg

in the oven!
http://haste.4saken.org/pics/baked8800gtx/8800baked.jpg

[MarkS]

pics!...

Ouch. You really should have flipped the board. In that orientation, gravity is pulling the chips down at the same time that the oven is softening the very stuff holding them to the board.

Hopefully you got lucky and there wont be any problems, but for future reference and for anyone else thinking about trying this method, place the board in the oven chip-side up.

[InsaneManiac]

That is flipping nuts.

[Haste266]

just wanted to give a heads up

3 more cards have been resurrected on [H] using a similar method. one was an 8800GTX, the other two were not.


http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792

[antipesto93]

wow great succsess ^^ nice pics! i have got three more graphics cards on the way! ( 1 gtx and two gts's ) :)

[Badbonji]

Oh my god, so many cards gone wrong outside of warranty could have possibly been saved...

[polarys425]

Add one more 8800GTX to the success list. I just baked it for 12-15 minutes at 385F.

Gamed on it a bit, and all seems well. Wonder what the longevity of this will be?

[sandyduff]

This is just nuts... i think this method if the first thing anyone will try if their card breaks!!

[Haste266]

Add one more 8800GTX to the success list. I just baked it for 12-15 minutes at 385F.

Gamed on it a bit, and all seems well. Wonder what the longevity of this will be?


awesome...!

[antipesto93]

Awsome, What if Nvidia does this to all the RMA's :p

[Junglebizz]

Imagine this was the "refurb" process companies used?

[sandyduff]

Is my graphics card ready yet...?

Hang on.... bzzzzzzzzzzz ping!!

Done!!

Allow to stand for a few minutes before installing... dont want to burn yourself!!

[Old Thrashbarg]

LOL at all the haters in the HardOCP thread.

What if Nvidia does this to all the RMA's

They probably do, to the cards that need it. That's basically how BGA stuff is soldered (and reflowed) in manufacturing. I mean, they don't use Kenmores and cookie sheets, obviously, but the general process is the similar.

Though, I can't say I would have thought of cracked solder joints as being the source of the problem. Interesting.

[antipesto93]

WOOO MY 2ND 8800GTX ARRIVED - Had no display at all...Stuck it in the oven for 8 mins (exactly) AND NOW IT WORKS!!!!!
aaaaaa im soo hapy :)

[Haste266]

WOOO MY 2ND 8800GTX ARRIVED - Had no display at all...Stuck it in the oven for 8 mins (exactly) AND NOW IT WORKS!!!!!
aaaaaa im soo hapy :)

nice!

glad u got the timing down now. ;)

[Junglebizz]

lol, and the price for dead graphics cards skyrockets! :beer:

So this is working on cards with no display and with bad (lined) displays? That's impressive.

[antipesto93]

lol, and the price for dead graphics cards skyrockets! :beer:


- they seriously have...the word spreads fast!

[Old Thrashbarg]

- they seriously have...the word spreads fast!

Cue the long string of noob posts from people who spent $100 on a broken card and then burned it in the oven or knocked off some critical part while the solder was still molten. Mixed in with a few who bought ones with exploded power sections and such and can't understand why the oven trick won't fix it. Oh, and probably one or two who completely missed the point and ruined a previously working graphics card.

[Junglebizz]

What temps are the caps on these cards rated for? I'd hate to think that the cooking was killing them.

[jason4207]

I can't believe the success rate I'm seeing. Absolutely nuts!

[danbroke]

Sweet lord! I just did it too my cellphone that wasnt working and Walla!! It work again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! Great trick!!

[Haste266]

Sweet lord! I just did it too my cellphone that wasnt working and Walla!! It work again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! Great trick!!

pics or shens

[Haste266]

digg it!


http://digg.com/hardware/Guy_Cooks_dead_Video_Card_in_Oven_Brings_it_back_t o_Life

[danbroke]

pics or shens

I dont have pics but i does work now and i was dead before wouldnt do anything before its a nextel i860

[danbroke]

I think this should be a sticky! This is great info!

[antipesto93]

I think this should be a sticky! This is great info!
yeahhhh -
wow the price of faulty graphics cards are going up up up up!!!
3 weeks ago = faulty 8800gtx = 15pounds
now = faulty 8800gtx = 25pounds
wouldnt it be funny if the price of a faulty one was higher that a working one!

[danbroke]

I think stuff like this and other good tips should be privite sticky like the classifides so it dont spread like wildfire. Not everyone and there brother can c! it would help out on bringing in members! But others might not agree

[danbroke]

looks like the cat is out of the bag all over the net! O well! still think it needs sticky

[Haste266]

looks like the cat is out of the bag all over the net! O well! still think it needs sticky


hehe, my bad! ;)

[Omsion]

This is epic. Nice find.

[Jason Kitchens]

And now its on engadget!!!

And congrats antipesto on bringing dead hardware back to life!!!

[dd123pp]

hey guys

I have three dead 280gtx cards do you think this will help

None display anyout output to the screen

I did put a waterblock on them, that could have made them not work, or they were not working before (didnt test them before putting the waterblocks on them)

I did try to rma them to evga, but they turned up damaged, and the courior will not give be any money due to that I dont have any pictures on how they were packed and how they turned up in the box (god know who i was meant to to get a busy company like that to start taking picture on how they turned up in the box) god damn, evga is a rescepable company, why would they lie, i even gave them a screenshot of the email from them

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t107/dd123pp/280%20Damaged/cid_07114320709042009-17FA.jpg

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t107/dd123pp/280%20Damaged/cid_07114320709042009-1801.jpg


The damage looks repairable but again

Will this oven trick help the card to actually work?

[sandyduff]

You killed all 3? Jeez... should've tested them before putting blocks on them...

Look at it this way... what have you got to lose...?

[dd123pp]

yer may try it then, like you said i cant lose anything doing it

yep defo should have tested the cards before putting the waterblocks on

this time i did, have got quad 295 running watercooled

[sandyduff]

What courier did you use...?

Looks like they have been man handled and not damaged while installing a waterblock... unless you used a hammer... :D

Doubt the oven trick would work with that kind of damage... what are the other 2 like?

Now you have quad sli 295...? Do you have money oozing out of your ears....? :D

[antipesto93]

sell them on ebay:) the price of faulty graphics cards are getting higher lol

dd123pp - i would first try and identify what is causing the problem, has the damage damaged any of the components..

if you have nothing to loose...stick it in the oven ( 8 mins)
putting in the oven wont really put them in a worse condition...

[dd123pp]

all three card are like that, one aint too bad tbh


the couiror was UPS but didnt do it direct it was booked thrught interparcel


hehe yer it defo was in perface condition before it left my house to evga

[nightalon]

Hey guys,

I can't believe I joined this forum just to say this, but here goes:

If these boards really were lead-soldered PCBs, be very careful about cleaning your oven once you bake your board. Ingestion of lead can have serious effects on your health, including mental deficits. That could really put a damper on the rest of your life. Try to do this in an oven not used for baking edibles.

That said, you guys rock for actually pulling this off!

If you read up on NVidia's issues with the 8xxx series chipsets and the "bump" issue where the lead solder would crack over time, it makes sense that this would work as a short- or medium-term fix. (long-term fix too? I doubt it, but possible)

If you try this trick with other products as well, be sure not to cook your board above the combustion point of paper, (to avoid igniting stickers) and remove all plastics, like on cell phones. Connectors *may* be fairly heat-resistant, but chances are anything else on your PCB isn't.

Sorry to sound like your mom, but such ingeniousness/chutzpah shouldn't be rewarded with the suck of poor health.

[antipesto93]

oopes i ate jacket potato the day after i cooked my GPU
ah well i still feel mentally stable...

[BobbyBubblehead]

Anaemia
brain damage
nervous system damage
appetite loss
abdominal pain
constipation
fatigue
sleeplessness
irritability
headache.

Im english the symptoms sound like most people from the UK #Chuckles#
and ive not even tried it yet #Laughs#

[Haste266]

didnt see any smoke or smell any vapors from my video card when i cooked it.

im not worried. ive got a pizza stone in there right now ready to cook some turnovers. mmmmmmmmmmmmm

[freeagent]

im trying it now on my dead zotac 285 :D

i doubt it will work but hey ya never know after seeing this :)

edit:

ok i only had it in for 6 mins, but it didnt work..

[madhatter256]

I might try this on a dead 9800GTX a customer brought in dead not wanting it anymore.

I have a question though.... what to do about the plastic inside the DVI ports? Won't it melt, too?

[Haste266]

I might try this on a dead 9800GTX a customer brought in dead not wanting it anymore.

I have a question though.... what to do about the plastic inside the DVI ports? Won't it melt, too?

nah, i didnt see any smoke or smell any vapors when i baked my card.

just check it every so often to make sure nothing is melting/catching on fire...

[MadMan007]

Hey guys,

I can't believe I joined this forum just to say this, but here goes:

If these boards really were lead-soldered PCBs, be very careful about cleaning your oven once you bake your board. Ingestion of lead can have serious effects on your health, including mental deficits. That could really put a damper on the rest of your life. Try to do this in an oven not used for baking edibles.

That said, you guys rock for actually pulling this off!

If you read up on NVidia's issues with the 8xxx series chipsets and the "bump" issue where the lead solder would crack over time, it makes sense that this would work as a short- or medium-term fix. (long-term fix too? I doubt it, but possible)

If you try this trick with other products as well, be sure not to cook your board above the combustion point of paper, (to avoid igniting stickers) and remove all plastics, like on cell phones. Connectors *may* be fairly heat-resistant, but chances are anything else on your PCB isn't.

Sorry to sound like your mom, but such ingeniousness/chutzpah shouldn't be rewarded with the suck of poor health.

Thanks for reminding people to be careful but in this case I'd say you're far overstating things. The solder at most will melt to a liquid state although it shouldn't really be taken that far, should be done just enough to reflow it, it's in uncontrolled conditions. To vaprorize it and get lead deposits on the oven surface or cooking sheets would be impossible (or at least highly unlikely) in a home oven. If it gets melted long enough to drip off the board, well, that's what aluminum foil underneath would be for.

And let's not forget just using lead solder itself. I know lots of people have done electronics projects for many years with lead solder with no apparent problems. I'd wager you ingest more lead from drinking water than you could from doing this trick.

[antipesto93]

I might try this on a dead 9800GTX a customer brought in dead not wanting it anymore.

I have a question though.... what to do about the plastic inside the DVI ports? Won't it melt, too?

naa its fine, i dont think the temperature is hot enough to melt the plastic
just make sure you remove the heatsink, and you should be fine

[nightelph]

HAHA!

[kzed]

Hey guys,

Just had to add my experiences!

My bit over 2 year old Gainward 8800GTX crashed from Windows with purple lines all over screen, then when started up had random horizontal static and blue lines across the screen, even in BIOS and POST. It would still boot through to Windows 7 but was stuck in 640x480 with like 4 colours. Windows would report that it had "stopped device because of an error".

On seeing this thread (and it was out of warranty) I thought I might as well give it a shot. To my amazement it totally worked, card is now (apparently) all good with no video corruption or anything. Only done light testing so far, but yeah, pretty amazing stuff!

Initially I took the heatsink/fan etc all off. Cleaned the dust, just with cloth. Cleared off the thermal paste.

I put it in oven for 10 minutes on 190*C, then let it cool down for about 15 minutes. Reapplied some thermal paste, put back together and voila!

Wish I'd known this when my x1900xt died!

[antipesto93]

yayyyy another succsess story!!!

[Psychotron]

hmmm my friend has a dead nVidia AGP 6600GT.
He said he would give me the card. I will try this once I have it.

[hrishik]

i hav a nv8500gt which is now dead because of my stupidness
i was trying to open the heatsink of my card and it was soo tightly fitted
so i removed it and putted some thermal paste
and when i try to start my pc it wont start now
do u think now if i do this trick
are there any chances of working this card??
nd sorry for my bad english!!

[hrishik]

whats 385F in celcius??

[Albaholic]

whats 385F in celcius??
385 degrees Fahrenheit = 196.111111 degrees Celsius

[Zoz]

Well thank you all for your research and your derring do!

I recently have an Nvidia 7900GS go bad on me I QQéd like you wouldn't believe but read about this over at gpureview.com

Well I figured what the hell? I threw it in the oven and it came out and also... now works. I figured the theory was sound and honestly didn't have anything to lose at that point.

So kudos and thanks!

[hrishik]

i hav a nv8500gt which is now dead because of my stupidness
i was trying to open the heatsink of my card and it was soo tightly fitted
so i removed it and putted some thermal paste
and when i try to start my pc it wont start now
do u think now if i do this trick
are there any chances of working this card??
nd sorry for my bad english!!

whats 385F in celcius??

[antipesto93]

i hav a nv8500gt which is now dead because of my stupidness
i was trying to open the heatsink of my card and it was soo tightly fitted
so i removed it and putted some thermal paste
and when i try to start my pc it wont start now
do u think now if i do this trick
are there any chances of working this card??
nd sorry for my bad english!!

whats 385F in celcius??
whats 385F in celcius?? is a temperature ( gas mark 6)
you probably knocked a component of or the thermal paste got onto the pcb if it was conductive?
otherwise...go ahead....you have nothing to loose

[antipesto93]

I ACCIDENTLY BURNT ONE
i had an old x1600 that wasnt working, and i was bored, so i put it in the oven...but forgot about it :) so i left it in there for 12 mins. and the processor has a small hole in it now:bang head
oh well, i was about to throw it away anyway

[corruption]

I ACCIDENTLY BURNT ONE
i had an old x1600 that wasnt working, and i was bored, so i put it in the oven...but forgot about it :) so i left it in there for 12 mins. and the processor has a small hole in it now:bang head
oh well, i was about to throw it away anyway

ROTFLOL....oh man, that couldn't have smelled pretty :bang head

[jason4207]

Nothing like the smell of burnt silicon in the morning.

[BobbyBubblehead]

suppose now we know 12minutes is too long #Laughs#

youve baked a card and ive fried my CPU (I think)

anyone boiled anything to death today?

modding force is not strong in the UK today :(

[JeremyCT]

Think this would work on the failed 7800 GT GO in my laptop?

The laptop display still works, but the system doesn't recognize the video card anymore. I could theoretically go from a partially dead to a fully dead laptop, so I do have something to lose in this case, lol.

[mxthunder]

I am about to try this on my old fx5700le!

[mxthunder]

Well I didnt have any luck. The card I tested it on was an fx5700LE that had red lines shaking on the screen when playing a 3d game, worked fine in windows. Put it in the oven for 6:15 @ 380* the stickers on it started to smoke so I pulled it out.
First time I turned it on, the monitor came on, the system booted into windows fine, but the screen was totally blank. Rebooted, this time nothing came on the screen and the LED on the monitor stayed orange, the system still booted into windows, etc however.

[Badbonji]

My friend's 8800ultra had red lines and lots of artifacts, so he put it in the oven for a laugh as he didn't believe me (I gave him some links of how people have done it) and now it works again, saves him from buying another gpu for a while!

[wiking]

Thank you so much, this resurected my x800xl that didnt even POST. Had it in 200 C for 6 min and now 8800gts320 is having same treatment :)

[antipesto93]

wow two in the same day ^^^^

[Haste266]

youtube tutorial is up. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7jUqoKVY-k) looks like u started something antipesto...

the thread i created on hardforum will pass 200k views next week, i guarantee it.

[antipesto93]

hehe - When you search oc forums in google this thread is the 2nd result
:eek:

[RJARRRPCGP]

did you use any seasoning?
maybe a few veg as a side dish?

is the 88GTX considerd to be a delicacy...

LLOL

[mrdavedave]

Hi guys! Just new to the forums. I think what you guys have been doing is amazing by the way! I was just wondering if antipesto or anyone who might know could help me with an 8800gtx that i got my hands on.
The problem: When the graphics card is plugged in the fan spins but there is no display and the computer gives 1 long, 2 short beeps indicating graphics error. I guess since when the slot is left empty it does that anyway it just means that the card isn't currently getting input/output with the pci-E slot.
I'm really determined to make this work! I have looked over every inch of the card and can't seem to find any sort of physical damage. I don't know if the gpu could be fried, because it looks 100% fine physically. Maybe on the weekend I might post up some pics and see if you guys can spot anything. If you guys have any sort of experience with this problem it would really be appreciated. And since the card is second hand and such there is no warranty or returns, I would just love to be able to succesfully see it run as you all know how good that feels! thanks

[joedymueller]

I have no idea, but :welcome:

[antipesto93]

^^^ This thread is so popular people are advertising here LOL

MrDaveDave, i have had a similar problem about a year ago, and i didnt find a way to fix it. i would try useing it as a secondary card if you haave sli/corssire and booting into nvflash and try reflashing the bios
again - i tried this but nvflash didnt recognise the card at all

[mrdavedave]

Hi thanks for the reply! I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.

[divorce certifi]

For anyone else wondering what this is about, read this thread here. Fantastic idea, but a warning: ONLY DO THIS IF YOU ARE OUT OF WARRANTY.

It's anything over between 356 - 374 degrees Fahrenheit (180-190 degrees Celsius) as this is the temperature most common solder melts at. I think the guides recommends 364 Fahrenheit

[SkiBum1207]

i am pretty sure its the psu, i have uploaded a sound file
http://www.2shared.com/file/5857586/e7c5c8f2/Untitled__3_.html
( u need to put ur volume pretty high)
it kinda sounds like when you open a coke can just a tiny bit

wow...that sounds painful! maybe its just pushing the psu a little far...i dont know though, a 600 watt SHOULD be enough...is the air coming out the rear unusually hot?

[anothersmoke]

i too had fallen victim to artifacts and red lines on one of my 8800 gts, so i figured i wouldnt have anything to lose and try the oven trick "kinda". being i only have 1 oven, which i cook carbon based food in not silicon, i wasn't about to have electrolyte lunch.. so i used my handy dandy heat gun i had bought for stripping paint and a infrared thermometer. first removed sink and old themal paste and used a small brush and some electronics cleaner on all components and to jus clean up the pcb and let the fumes roll off till dry. kept the gun at a good distance from the card not keeping the heat in one place too long then taking heat off and checking temp, got upto 350 in about 4-5 mins then i slowly raised to 375 concentrating mostly on the gpu side of board for about 4-5 mins. let cool new paste and wallah! been folding when not at computer for 3 weeks and still games as well as other 8800..
my 2 cents on the whole issue. these companys really shouldn't skimp on the quality of the solder. why soo many people are having these issues is beyond me.... but i spose i should be happy its alive again ! soo thanks too all for the input on the matter!

[usp8riot]

I have an old card I bios flashed and supposedly upped the timing too far back in my noobier days. I think it overheated. Would this fix a problem like this? I'm thinking for this I'd be out of luck. Just wanting to check before I try it.

[imposter]

Hey all, My 9800xt is currently artifacting, I have nothing to lose, so what should i do? strip it then put it in the oven for 5 min?

[e6600]

Hey all, My 9800xt is currently artifacting, I have nothing to lose, so what should i do? strip it then put it in the oven for 5 min?

well if you have nothing to lose :cool:
DO IT

[antipesto93]

Hey all, My 9800xt is currently artifacting, I have nothing to lose, so what should i do? strip it then put it in the oven for 5 min?

yup > just remove the heatsink and any thermal paste you see and off you go!
dont over cook it :)

[downer]

I'm going to try this out on a couple of older cards and see what happens.

I have a dead Chaintech Geforce 3 Ti200 128MB and an Asus Geforce 2 GTS 64mb. Well well past their prime, but it would be fun to see them resurrected.

[ChinStrap]

great thread.

my gosh :)

[pinkgold]

This is madness!! Yesturday I had an 8800gtx that wouldn't even let my comp start if it was connected! Today after 5 mins of light baking, I have a fully functioning gpu!! Furthermore, the fact that I had to change the thermal paste means that I've lost 10c of my gpu Temps!! Thanks guys!!!!:-)

[antipesto93]

Today after 5 mins of light baking, I have a fully functioning gpu!!

wow, even i didnt think it would work for so many people

[usp8riot]

"Heat is your videocards worst enemy". We may have to rethink that.

[antipesto93]

updated first post !

[Mekks]

tryed this today on my old x800xl agp card, but i dont have a way to test it. gona have to dig threw the closet and toss a agp rig togher.

[Mekks]

*update* well i baked my old x800xl that stoped workin one day after i replaced the TIM (card got bent i think and cracked some solder)..
well 2 years later it works! booted into windows fine. going to install some games and make sure 3d works =)

[usp8riot]

Anyone tried this on dead motherboard? Think I may give it a go.

[polarys425]

Anyone tried this on dead motherboard? Think I may give it a go.

Uummmm.... Its no so good for a mobo. The electrolytic capacitors dont like the heat. They all swell and pop.

[usp8riot]

Thanks for the warning. I just assumed any kind capacitor on a gpu these days were probably on a mobo.

[Bo_Fox]

I tried baking my dead DFI Ultra-D motherboard. The board got badly warped. It also melted and cracked the chipset levitation fan that was dead anyways. I sold it to a guy who collected legendary motherboards for display on a wall.

What I did was bake it at only 250 degrees F (120 C) for like a whopping 30 minutes. I should've taken off the chipset fan and baked it at higher temps for like 8 minutes max, like recommended in this thread.

Realistically, I would never take the risk of hooking up this baked motherboard with other components, since there could be some kind of an electrical discharge, destroying everything else.. At least it was a fun and exciting experience just baking this mobo! :D

So I had to buy another Ultra-D and use it to access my RAID setup once again.. whew!

[antipesto93]

30 mins!!!!! wow thats long
12 mins is enough to burn a hold in a cpu

^^...wait did you put a perfectly working mobo in the oven?

[Bo_Fox]

No, it was already dead. I went and bought another one anyways because I did not want to risk hooking up my components to a baked motherboard and powering it on.

[Haste266]

hey antipesto93, is the original card you baked still working?

[antipesto93]

i baked two, ( in the same week )
and one of the two failed, so i stuck it in the oven again, and now it works)
thats why i think it would be wrong to put a card in the oven and then sell it :(

[Haste266]

i baked two, ( in the same week )
and one of the two failed, so i stuck it in the oven again, and now it works)
thats why i think it would be wrong to put a card in the oven and then sell it :(


i agree. ive had a couple PMs from people on the other forum and have told them i dont want to sell because im afraid it will stop working after a short period of time. a few people have chimed in that their cards stopped working after a while, but some havent. i have mine just sitting in a closet now, so who knows it might not work the next time i use it...

[DocClock aka MadClocker]

With modern electronics the traces are so close together and with all the wandering currents the solder joints can develop "whiskers" that grow kinda like crystals and they can bridge connections that shouldn't touch each other..and the heat trick will melt the whiskers back to where they started from. I do not know how long the whiskers take to grow, but it is a known problem in electronics and it has disabled one satellite in orbit.
Definition here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy))

I have an old gf3 ult to try and see if it will be revived...worth a try. :)

[Haste266]

With modern electronics the traces are so close together and with all the wandering currents the solder joints can develop "whiskers" that grow kinda like crystals and they can bridge connections that shouldn't touch each other..and the heat trick will melt the whiskers back to where they started from. I do not know how long the whiskers take to grow, but it is a known problem in electronics and it has disabled one satellite in orbit.
Definition here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy))

I have an old gf3 ult to try and see if it will be revived...worth a try. :)

nice link, thanks!

[Krogen]

I just tried doing this... 7 1/2 minutes at 385F.

And my 4870 still doesn't work. I took pics, but what's the point if this isn't a success story? :P

[freeagent]

^^^

dont feel bad, i have a dead 285 that got the oven treatment, twice! it didnt work :(

i really really broke it i rekon :(

[Douken]

this is the most funny and bizarre thing related to computers that I've seen this year LOL

[kohan69]

Tried a half-dead 8800GT and a dead X1800, no luck.

PS: Why does the youtube video and the guide have the card gpu facing down?!

[darkreign3979]

i did this trick to my geforce 6800 because i had artifacts all over the screen at boot and in windows the screen kept blinking on and off so i did this trick and it work perfectily. i had to do it again though because the artifacts started to reappear again and it worked again now i ordered a 7800 go for my laptop and that too has artifacts on the screen so im attempting it on the 7800 i only paid 60 dollars for the card and as you well know it goes for 300$ easy on ebay brand new ill let you guys know if it works on that card as well. seems so many people have had great success storyies. i wonder if anyone had to rebake there card a couple of times like i had to do with my geforce 6800. but it definality works :D

[antipesto93]

Yeah..mostly they will require re-baking...but it depends on the card....that's whay selling them on ebay after baking them is not really a good idea :(

[Metallica]

Gonna try this with a 9800GTX2 :o

[BlitzPuppet]

so im attempting it on the 7800 i only paid 60 dollars for the card and as you well know it goes for 300$ easy on ebay brand new ill let you guys know if it works on that card as well.

Since when in the past few years have 7800s been $300?

[Special7]

Since when in the past few years have 7800s been $300?
Talking about mobile gpu's here.

[madhatter256]

I have a 9800GTX from sparkle. I install it in the system. The PC boots up normally (keyboard lights flash like it should) because I can hear the HDD loading, but I have NO video. Has anyone tried the oven trick with a similar problem and 'fix' it?

[jason4207]

I have a 9800GTX from sparkle. I install it in the system. The PC boots up normally (keyboard lights flash like it should) because I can hear the HDD loading, but I have NO video. Has anyone tried the oven trick with a similar problem and 'fix' it?

I would do more trouble-shooting before taking it to the oven. Do you have another card to test?

What were the circumstances that happened b/n the time that it did work, and now?

[madhatter256]

I would do more trouble-shooting before taking it to the oven. Do you have another card to test?

What were the circumstances that happened b/n the time that it did work, and now?

A customer brought it in. Had no paperwork (receipt of where he bought it). He sure didn't buy it from us because we don't carry that brand.

After replacing the video card his system shows video and functions normally as it should. He didn't care about having the broken videocard, the customer just bought another video card from us (BFG with lifetime warranty). Every motherboard I plug this into I get the same result - no video, but motherboard still functions properly.

It's just sitting on the shelf here taking up space and we tried to RMA it through Sparkle, but they want a receipt of purchase, which we don't have.

i have nothing to lose here if it doesn't work, but soo much to gain if it does :bday:

[XFXNvidia-Freak]

hey has anyone tried this with a gtx 280?

[Hipcrostino]

If its dead and you can't get it to work again via all other means, why not try it? A last resort sort of thing.

[Blaize122]

I lost some pixels on my 24" Dell and after reading some of the testimonials in the OP, I figured - hey maybe it's a loose solder somewhere, what could it hurt.
So I threw it in my Kenwood Fan Assisted which I OCed to 700F. After i had it in there for about 3 minutes my corsair TX750 just blew up. I took my screen out of my powerless oven to discover it looks no better. In fact it looks worse.

I'm gonna need more heat for this fix D:

BROKEN (http://www.imagefrog.net/show.php/32819_monitor.JPG)

[Dapman02]

I lost some pixels on my 24" Dell and after reading some of the testimonials in the OP, I figured - hey maybe it's a loose solder somewhere, what could it hurt.
So I threw it in my Kenwood Fan Assisted which I OCed to 700F. After i had it in there for about 3 minutes my corsair TX750 just blew up. I took my screen out of my powerless oven to discover it looks no better. In fact it looks worse.

I'm gonna need more heat for this fix D:

BROKEN (http://www.imagefrog.net/show.php/32819_monitor.JPG)

I think most of us here could have told you that was going to happen
oh, and :welcome:

[jason4207]

I lost some pixels on my 24" Dell and after reading some of the testimonials in the OP, I figured - hey maybe it's a loose solder somewhere, what could it hurt.
So I threw it in my Kenwood Fan Assisted which I OCed to 700F. After i had it in there for about 3 minutes my corsair TX750 just blew up. I took my screen out of my powerless oven to discover it looks no better. In fact it looks worse.

I'm gonna need more heat for this fix D:

BROKEN (http://www.imagefrog.net/show.php/32819_monitor.JPG)

So you destroyed your screen and blew up a power supply over some dead pixels? I'm still confused on what you did, and why in the world did you have the oven at 700*F?

How did the power supply blow up? Did you put that in the oven too?

:confused:

[Kingspoon]

Just registered to post in this thread. (I apologize if this gives it a mega bump)
My XFX geforce 8800 GTX after 2 years and 8 months of loyal service suddenly died on me. Wierd color distortions and stuff, eventually crashing the system
Went to 4chan /g/, one anon posted the link to this.
I was like "what the hell, why not?" my other options were to buy a new card or to get this one fixed/rma'd etc.

So I tried it, put it in the oven for 6m 45 seconds. And... it Works! :bday:
This is the most craziest thing ive done with my pc, ever.
Thanks for this thread!

[antipesto93]

Oo wow more succsess ! I likey!

[BobbyBubblehead]

I lost some pixels on my 24" Dell and after reading some of the testimonials in the OP, I figured - hey maybe it's a loose solder somewhere, what could it hurt.
So I threw it in my Kenwood Fan Assisted which I OCed to 700F. After i had it in there for about 3 minutes my corsair TX750 just blew up. I took my screen out of my powerless oven to discover it looks no better. In fact it looks worse.

I'm gonna need more heat for this fix D:

BROKEN (http://www.imagefrog.net/show.php/32819_monitor.JPG)

#Chuckles#

that`s not physical damage its emotional...
75870
not the oven trick... the holiday trick!

its just too damp, dark and cold in the UK (be why your psu killed itself I expect :-/)

[ps2cho]

My 8800GT 512MB is getting oven prep right now.

It died yesterday after a 120mm fan from my TRUE fell on it. It does NOT post.

Fingers crossed. Oven is preheating right now. 385F for 8minutes I will do it for.

[ps2cho]

Just want to update and say it failed :cry:
Still does not post.

[BobbyBubblehead]

un-lucky

reflux maybe... but magic oven versus smashed components or broken rails in a 10 layer pcb, hmmm well I know where my bets going.

[ps2cho]

un-lucky

reflux maybe... but magic oven versus smashed components or broken rails in a 10 layer pcb, hmmm well I know where my bets going.

Any other ideas to revive my card?

The fan spins, but there is just no video output. Should I try the oven longer, maybe higher temp? Maybe my oven's thermostat is a tad wrong causing the solder not to get hot enough?

I guess at this point I got nothing to lose right? Maybe try 400F for 6/7 mins?

[XFXNvidia-Freak]

anyone have any idea how long an oven fixed card will last?

[antipesto93]

anyone have any idea how long an oven fixed card will last?

i think it depends on what was wrong with the card in the first place,
i had one 8800 that lasted only two weeks, and one that has lasteed a few months now, so it depends, i doubt it will ever work permantly, so its not worth buying a faulty and then putting it the oven unless you only want a temporary solution

[jason4207]

Any other ideas to revive my card?

The fan spins, but there is just no video output. Should I try the oven longer, maybe higher temp? Maybe my oven's thermostat is a tad wrong causing the solder not to get hot enough?

I guess at this point I got nothing to lose right? Maybe try 400F for 6/7 mins?

Have you tried another card in the slot? I'm just curious if the impact may have damaged the PCIe slot.

[jokers_greg]

my card died in the oven, luckily it was an old 6600, all the caps domed, (swelled), and gave off some juices too!

[PoX Freak]

YUMMY! Juicy caps are always a bad sign.
ps2cho: Look for a sticker on the card that says anything about ROHS. This means "lead-free solder" and should be considered a warning that the trick will not work under 450ºF (correct me if I'm wrong, but I think tin/silver solder melts above 456ºF).
Madhatter: If you have access to and know how to use one, a DVM will tell you if all the proper voltages are coming off their respective MOSFETs. The 9800 series have a main 5v rail, which splits off to a 3.3, 1.8, and 1.5 volt output to their perspective places on the board (BIOS, Mem, and GPU). I could be wrong on the values, but most of the time if the BIOS voltage is gone, the PC will not post, may post with no mem, and no post with no GPU.
AFAIK, the 9800GT had the extra 4 pin Molex plug on the rear of the card, which is a high current input. There might be an on-board fuse (SMF type) on the board that could be bad. Usually there is a marking similar to "F1" or "F10" somewhere around it. This could be the issue, since the bios and gpu get power from the motherboard, and memory may get it's power from that connector.
(Another one of my useless musings)....

[macool]

Another successfull bake! Thanks for the tip guys, my BFG 8800GT started giving trouble recently, it started to freeze occassionally, then when I booted the fan sounded like a 747 taking off until a few minutes later the screen just turned to a pile of artifacts. Then it just refused to display anything at all. I was about to bin it when I read the thread here about baking the card. With nothing to lose I heated the oven up to 200 degress popped the card in for 10 minutes and then left it to cool for a while. The solder joints didn't look any different except for traces of what looks like flux on a couple of the bigger ones. As soon as I put the card back in the computer and booted I knew it had worked, no screaming fan, its been running perfectly for 2 days now, fingers crossed maybe it'll last until that upgrade I've been promising myself. Thanks again.

[animal_chin]

I registered here for the sole purpose of posting in this thread. My laptop died a couple weeks ago and wouldn't display anything on the screen or on my external monitor. So I took it apart and stuck the GPU (an 8600m GT) in the oven per your directions. All I have to say is I'm posting from the laptop right now. :) TYTY!

[antipesto93]

I registered here for the sole purpose of posting in this thread. My laptop died a couple weeks ago and wouldn't display anything on the screen or on my external monitor. So I took it apart and stuck the GPU (an 8600m GT) in the oven per your directions. All I have to say is I'm posting from the laptop right now. :) TYTY!

wow that is amazing, imagine how many graphics card have been thrown away prematurely :(

:welcome: animal chip,

[animal_chin]

wow that is amazing, imagine how many graphics card have been thrown away prematurely :(

:welcome: animal chip,

It's great that it's fixed, but it sort of puts me in a dilemma. Do I

a.) Just go with it and see how long the laptop lasts.

b.) Buy a new 8600m gt off of eBay.

I think both of these options leave with me a sort of "ticking time bomb." Right now it failed at a relatively good time, but next time it breaks I might be writing a report, doing homework or studying for a test.

c.) Get another card like a 9600m gt or something. I would most likely have to flash my bios. Something I have never done, but something that could easily brick my motherboard.

d.) Build a new desktop. Something that I have wanted to do for a while, but never had a reason to do.

[antipesto93]

i have no idea how much 8600m's are on ebay, but yes it is true that trick wont last forever

building a new desktop is highly recomended, so fun!

[Satsumomo]

Hmmm would this work with a motherboard? Or do those have too much plastic on them?

I've got a pair of motherboards sitting in my room doing nothing.

[ghost_recon88]

You would have to remove all the plastic heatsinks and whatever other parts you could safely remove before putting it in the oven.

[polarys425]

Hmmm would this work with a motherboard? Or do those have too much plastic on them?

I've got a pair of motherboards sitting in my room doing nothing.

You'll ruin all the electrolytic capacitors on the board if you "oven trick" it.

[antipesto93]

i dont think this would work on motherboards.

[rolupusoru]

hi,

I just wanted to say that my Parent 7950GTX card in mi Alienware M9750 died about 3 months ago (GPU detected, but BSOD when tryng to enable SLI no matter the OS used...actually when it failed in XP, Vista would not boot anymore) and the oven trick worked last night. (i added some seasoning just to laugh at it....hmmmm...yummy)I have SLI enabled once again. It has been 24 hours and the laptop is performing beautifully.


Though i'm not an electronics guru, i have a suggestion to make to the original poster of the thread.Preheating the oven, putting the card in and then taking it out to cool down is beyond the specification of the solder paste.(it's not paste anymore, but still it is beyond it's specs).I believe this is why most card fail after a couple of weeks.Fast heating, reflowing and fast cooling fixes the old solder crack, but makes room for new ones.

My procedure was using the same setup, but differently.I used a digital multimeter with thermocouple temperature probe to get an acurate temp sample.I put the board in the oven and then heat to 200 C (~392 F), ~ 12mins of heating.When my temp reading shows 200 C, i turn of the oven and make shure that the temp does not climb aymore.Open the door slightly to let the excess heat come out if necessary to keep the temp from rising. When the temps begin to drop i close the door and let it cool for about 30 mins.After that time i open the oven door and let the board cool till room temperature.Another 10-15 mins.It is not the ideal reflow process, but you prevent the solder joints from developing cracks again.IMAO, i think BGA solder joints are the culprits in these boards.

Your boards should live long and prosper in your favorite games.:bday:

[MarkS]

You'll ruin all the electrolytic capacitors on the board if you "oven trick" it.

No it wont. They stick it in an oven to solder all of those electrolytic capacitors and other components on in the first place.

[PigMonkey]

It's just sitting on the shelf here taking up space and we tried to RMA it through Sparkle, but they want a receipt of purchase, which we don't have.

:

Firstly... Mad... By law a company does not have to give a receipt therefore they cannot demmand a receipt to cover their warranty obligations. However u still need to provide some kind of proof of purchace i.e credit card receipt, etc.

Back to topic :) OMG!! what a find! I have an Alienware lappy that's gone down with all the symptoms of a video card failure, so I'm gonna rip it out and try it. Will let u know. (Mainly as I've seen a few Alienware lappys goin cheap with dead video cards ;) ) I've also got a dead(?) 8800 gtx which was in an sli setup (replaced via ebay... he (/she for the ultra pc out there) better not have stuck this in the oven :P) will also get back on the outcome of that.. busy weekend!

[aftermath]

Well done antipesto93 my GTX8800 died on the 25th of sept this year (Full of fluff) and I am posting from the rig that its in! Lets see if I can save some cash before it goes again.

[tweakboy]

That's a good fix I heard about long time ago, wala it works,,, very nice!

[Zantal]

STOP COOKING YOUR CARDS AND STOP MAKING THIS THREAD IMMORTAL!!!

ghgh sorry for caps

[vixro]

STOP COOKING YOUR CARDS AND STOP MAKING THIS THREAD IMMORTAL!!!

ghgh sorry for caps



MMM baked pcb! :D :drool:

[d0n]

[/URL]
[URL="http://img194.imageshack.us/i/dsc01066xq.jpg/ http://img199.imageshack.us/i/dsc01064yq.jpg/"] (http://img194.imageshack.us/i/dsc01066xq.jpg/ http://img199.imageshack.us/i/dsc01064yq.jpg/)

can i cook my card if this is whats happening on the monitor?

[d0n]

worked on my GT8600 :D

[icepic]

OMG it works! i did this to my alienware laptop's geforce 5600 FX and it works now! i did it with the gpu up and a part came unsoldered an fell out so i let it cool, flipped it over, held the piece in place and blasted it with a heat gun until it slid back into place.
notes:
covered plastic connectors with tin foil, cooked @ 400 F until i heard a click which was the part falling out at 5min 7sec, turned off heat and let slow cool. then turned card over and held piece with tweezers while heating with heat gun until it went back in place.

[animal_chin]

I'd just like to report that my 8600M GT died again today. So it worked for about 5 weeks after I baked it. I still am tickled to think that it worked in the first place.

[lenix]

Any idea how can I measure my oven temp? It's a pretty old oven and it doesn't have a specific temperature setting.. only like low-mid-high or something ;/

[Helgaiden]

worked on my 8800GTS 640

[polarys425]

Any idea how can I measure my oven temp? It's a pretty old oven and it doesn't have a specific temperature setting.. only like low-mid-high or something ;/

Oven thermometer?

[Sydney]

My seemingly dead 8800GTS is going into the oven tomorrow, wish me luck!

[madhatter256]

I put a broken 8600GS card in the oven (after removing heatsink, detachable s-video plug) that works but artifacts the screen. After in the oven @ 400Farenheit for about 7 minutes. I installed it (after I let it cool down completely) and NO artifacts! However, a capacitor ended up swelling, which was probably faulty in the first place and was part of the source of artifacting, and so I replaced that thing).

I went further and ran Furmark on it for 1 hour. The card works 100%!!!

Gonna use it in an HTPC. Has HDMI and svideo out, plus dvi

[Sydney]

Didn't work for my 8800GTS :(

No gain, no loss.

[Agerkvist]

I don't suppose you guys reckon this trick would be an option is my situation: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=625456 ?

Afterall my card has been tested to work - at least that's what they tell me :)

Desperate thanks.

[Sydney]

My 8800GTX started artifacting and this trick fixed it :D

Let's hope it will last a while.

[Devar]

Registered on OCF just to say that this WORKED!

I have an 8800GTX that was crashing under load, and eventually it crashed and stopped working when I used my computer, wouldn't even POST.

Stripped it bare, cleaned it, and put it in the preheated oven at 190°C for just about 8 minutes.

Rebuilt it, using the last of my arctic silver :-( and put it back in my pc, booted... and well what do you know, IT WORKED, YOU LITTLE BEAUTY! :D

Now to see how long it lasts :-)

[HoTsHoT]

My 7800GT now lives, thanks guys :D Passed everything I could throw at it, brilliant ideas you people have!

[DumpALump]

With all these broken cards, did u guys have cooling mods (3rd party or otherwise) done, or were they just the stock cooling?

[antipesto93]

stock for me:)

[aftermath]

Well done antipesto93 my GTX8800 died on the 25th of sept this year (Full of fluff) and I am posting from the rig that its in! Lets see if I can save some cash before it goes again.

I wrote that on the 15th of October its now the 10th of December.
My card dies again and was just re-ovened.

Been used ever day and 3d games too.

Stock cooling btw.

[Sydney]

I wrote that on the 15th of October its now the 10th of December.
My card dies again and was just re-ovened.

Been used ever day and 3d games too.

Stock cooling btw.
So the reovening re-revived it?

[swanysalien]

can you belive this IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have been bashing me head against the wall as my alien area 51 stoped working, i have been quoted over 300 pounds for a second hand video card as you can nolonger get new ones, so i thought i had nothing to lose but to try this unbelivable thing and ITS WORKED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so pleased a BIG thank you and have a happy xmas .

[Bobnova]

I should have tried this with my laptop mobo instead of sending it off to jerkoffrepair,com. Hell of a trick to know about!

[antipesto93]

can you belive this IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have been bashing me head against the wall as my alien area 51 stoped working, i have been quoted over 300 pounds for a second hand video card as you can nolonger get new ones, so i thought i had nothing to lose but to try this unbelivable thing and ITS WORKED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so pleased a BIG thank you and have a happy xmas .

wow thats alot of money saved!

[JoshOohAh]

This is the funniest most awesome thing I have EVER! seen in my entire life .

[Yehoodi]

Hi!

I have just registered to thank you, I have fixed a X850 Radeon that showed a lot of artifacts and memory errors.

First of all I disasembled the fan/cooler, removed the termal grease on the GPU and then covered with aluminium foil all the components of the video card expect the ram and GPU chips, especially the electrolytic capacitors as they can pop at hight temperatures.

Then I preheated the oven at 150ºC, and tried to follow this temperature/time curve (taken from http://www.lrr.in.tum.de/~acher/bga/index.html)

http://www.lrr.in.tum.de/~acher/bga/tmprof.jpg

That is:
- Preheat the oven and leave the card 4 minutes at 150ºC
- Up the temp to 230ºC and leave 2/3 minutes at 220-230ºC
- Open the oven door to lower the temp to 150º, close the oven door, leave the card for 3 minutes more.
- Off the oven, leave the door opened and let the card cool naturally for 40 minutes.

Thank you one more time, this trick rocks!

[Xtreme Barton]

this is pure madness .. who would have ever thought .. my first time hearing about this today

[~~Tito~~]

Anyone think a Geforce 2 MX/MX 400 would work? For about 3 years now(yes its older than that I know, BUT) it has been displaying things fine, but it has some minimal discoloration and it has trouble displaying black and everything has a black shadow, and minimal flickering. Its very usable, but do you think it will work?

[antipesto93]

sounds more like a vga cable/monitor issue to me,

[~~Tito~~]

sounds more like a vga cable/monitor issue to me,

Its not the VGA cable works perfectly fine on my laptop, and I pulled this from an old P4 mobo as a temporary fix until my dvi to vga adapter arrives, and it has the same problem as the old P4 mobo.

[theELVISCERATOR]

I think the tinfoil should be going on my head....this is madness...rofl....

[Xtreme Barton]

happily sticking all my dead parts in the oven ....

come on dead cpu !!

[Haste266]

I had the chance to purchase a good laptop for cheap with borked video. here is what it looked like before baking:

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/laptopbeforefix2.jpg

after baking!

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/baking_done.jpg

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/dx9game.jpg

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/dx9game2.jpg

pics of process... 7m 45s @385f in a conventional oven did the trick. i just happen to have a pan that supported the motherboard perfectly on 3 sides so i only had to use one foil ball.

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5708.jpg

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5712.jpg

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5719.jpg

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5722.jpg

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5726.jpg

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5727.jpg

[Haste266]

couple more pics

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5729.jpg

http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5730.jpg

[g0dM@n]

Haste, that is just awesome!!!

What was your procedure... what components did you pull off the board, and what did you leave?

[antipesto93]

wow thats amaing
there's a bid on a 1600 pounhds dell xps gaming laptop on ebay.co.uk and it has a graphics card issue.....i am tempted

[Haste266]

What was your procedure... what components did you pull off the board, and what did you leave?

this image shows basically all the work done to the motherboard. i removed pieces that were protecting the motherboard. i was able to reuse all of them when reassembling the laptop. i did bake the board with the gpu/cpu sockets facing up instead of down.


http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5722.jpg



the gpu heatsink also had a piece of foil on it instead of just TIM...i was told it was designed this way to help accomodate tolerances in the build quality. i noticed it was fairly off center too...so i just removed it and cleaned the heatsink completely, swapped some washers so i could get better pressure between the gpu/heatsink surface and threw some thermal paste on it. i did a test mount and got perfect coverage of the gpu die. i think initial heatsink installation may have contributed to the premature failure of the graphics chip.

i hope this fix lasts a long time... ive only had the computer on for more than 16 hours now since its been fixed. i did run the resident evil benchmark for around 30 minutes total and my temps maxed at 65c on the cpu and 63c on the gpu.... i plan on running some more 3d intensive apps once i get the software side of things squared away.

[wysockisauce]

Made an account on here just so I can relay my experience. I disassembled my P6860fx laptop since it crapped out on me 5days ago. Won't boot into windows unless in safe mode / gpu disabled. Gonna bake the motherboard tomorrow and tell you how it went. 385f for 8 minutes should do the trick right?

[antipesto93]

8mins should be fine, if the oven is preheated i guess,

[wysockisauce]

One more thing, my oven can heat from below , from above or both. Which should I use? Going to be baking gpu side up like Haste266.

[antipesto93]

any would do, i have allways done it from the bottom

[polarys425]

this image shows basically all the work done to the motherboard. i removed pieces that were protecting the motherboard. i was able to reuse all of them when reassembling the laptop. i did bake the board with the gpu/cpu sockets facing up instead of down.


http://haste.4saken.org/pics/bakedlaptop/100_5722.jpg



the gpu heatsink also had a piece of foil on it instead of just TIM...i was told it was designed this way to help accomodate tolerances in the build quality. i noticed it was fairly off center too...so i just removed it and cleaned the heatsink completely, swapped some washers so i could get better pressure between the gpu/heatsink surface and threw some thermal paste on it. i did a test mount and got perfect coverage of the gpu die. i think initial heatsink installation may have contributed to the premature failure of the graphics chip.

i hope this fix lasts a long time... ive only had the computer on for more than 16 hours now since its been fixed. i did run the resident evil benchmark for around 30 minutes total and my temps maxed at 65c on the cpu and 63c on the gpu.... i plan on running some more 3d intensive apps once i get the software side of things squared away.

The problem isnt how long it will run continuously, but how many times it can be cycled (powered on, used, and then powered off) before it quits again. These HP's have serious problems with BGA solder cracks. A proper reflow, in conjunction with a cooling fix is needed to fix these long term. Actually a reball would be even better.

I've used solid copper pennies (1982 and older), sanded smooth on both sides to replace the thick thermal pads. This dropped the temps considerably, but i'm still not sure how long it will last.

In short, these laptops are hard to fix long term without special equipment. However the one you have, with separate video chip has a better chance than ones without. The heatsink for the video is separate from the CPU heatsink, and thus runs cooler. The other problem however, is that the nvidia northbridge shares the heatsink with the cpu. Hopefully, since the video load isnt handled by the northbridge, the heat will then be low enough to pevent too many problems. I have found the DV9000 series with intel chipsets, and nvidia video more reliable after repair because of the separate heatsinks. But these things REALLY need better cooling.

[Xtreme Barton]

One more thing, my oven can heat from below , from above or both. Which should I use? Going to be baking gpu side up like Haste266.


i would think from below .. depends how your doing it ..are you placing it on a baking sheet then on foil balls .. i would think the baking sheet would help shield from a high heat when bringing it up to temp if it should kick on in the 8 minutes

[Haste266]

The problem isnt how long it will run continuously, but how many times it can be cycled (powered on, used, and then powered off) before it quits again. These HP's have serious problems with BGA solder cracks. A proper reflow, in conjunction with a cooling fix is needed to fix these long term. Actually a reball would be even better.

I've used solid copper pennies (1982 and older), sanded smooth on both sides to replace the thick thermal pads. This dropped the temps considerably, but i'm still not sure how long it will last.

In short, these laptops are hard to fix long term without special equipment. However the one you have, with separate video chip has a better chance than ones without. The heatsink for the video is separate from the CPU heatsink, and thus runs cooler. The other problem however, is that the nvidia northbridge shares the heatsink with the cpu. Hopefully, since the video load isnt handled by the northbridge, the heat will then be low enough to pevent too many problems. I have found the DV9000 series with intel chipsets, and nvidia video more reliable after repair because of the separate heatsinks. But these things REALLY need better cooling.

i like your penny idea. if this laptop has a problem again i may resort to that method. thanks!

i got this laptop for so cheap i could really care less how long it lasts. i could get my money back just by selling a few parts off of it.

[wysockisauce]

Un ****in believable. HAHAHAH
It worked. HAHA Baked the mobo booted to gateway screen, no artifacts, booted right into windows. I just sat there looking at it, saying holy ****. Wow, took some pics with my phone if you all want I'll poste em up later. I was sure this ****ing laptop which cost me $1200 would be an expensive paperweight. Thanks for all your help guys.

[JeremyCT]

Think this would work on the failed 7800 GT GO in my laptop?

The laptop display still works, but the system doesn't recognize the video card anymore. I could theoretically go from a partially dead to a fully dead laptop, so I do have something to lose in this case, lol.

After hemming and hawing I decided to give it a shot. Taking the whole assembly apart and putting back together properly took more time and effort than the baking. I went from a fully dead graphics card to a partially dead graphics card. The system recognized an unknown graphics device (yay!), but after installing the latest nVidia drivers the screen randomly goes blank every couple seconds (booooo).

I gotta say, the solid copper case the video board sits in is sexy as hell.

Too bad it didn't work, maybe it needs to be double baked.

[Haste266]

Un ****in believable. HAHAHAH
It worked. HAHA Baked the mobo booted to gateway screen, no artifacts, booted right into windows. I just sat there looking at it, saying holy ****. Wow, took some pics with my phone if you all want I'll poste em up later. I was sure this ****ing laptop which cost me $1200 would be an expensive paperweight. Thanks for all your help guys.

awesome!


After hemming and hawing I decided to give it a shot. Taking the whole assembly apart and putting back together properly took more time and effort than the baking. I went from a fully dead graphics card to a partially dead graphics card. The system recognized an unknown graphics device (yay!), but after installing the latest nVidia drivers the screen randomly goes blank every couple seconds (booooo).

I gotta say, the solid copper case the video board sits in is sexy as hell.

Too bad it didn't work, maybe it needs to be double baked.


baking it again may do the trick. maybe try a different position/orientation of the motherboard in your oven?

did you smell solder when you pulled it out? i smelled it fairly heavily when i pulled my laptop mobo out.

[MEMex]

I was refereed to this thread from a buddy as I had a passive cooled 8400gs card go all crazy, artifacts in bios and locking up the system before windows could even load.

I didn't believe 'oven trick' could be used as a fix, but after baking... I ran 3dmark06, a round of Killing Floor and L4D with no problems. hahaha :clap:

[shattered00]

I just wanted to thank antipesto for discovering this amazing "fix." I have an 8800GTX that has run fine for 3 yrs now. Yesterday I got the red, grid pattern dots while playing L4D2 and the comp would freeze, however, I could still hear sound. This happened each time I restarted and booted up L4D2 for a total of around 7 times. On the last time my computer would boot up, however, nothing would be displayed on the monitor. Trial and error led me to the video card.

The oven method worked. I am still absolutely amazed. Thanks again for all the help.

385 F at exactly 8 minutes is what I did.

[carib]

Hello everybody!
We run a laptop motherboard repair workshop in Greece and we sell repair service on ebay for damaged nvidia and ATI video boards and motherboards. I am making this post to inform everybody that the oven trick will cause permanent damage to your board. I had to make this post because many of our customers first try this trick and then send us their boards. most of these boards are permanently unrepairable after the trick but they would be repaired otherways. So this stupid trick waste our time and causes loss to us and to our customers. Yes if you try it on 100 boards you might get some of them to work but it will only be temporary ( a few days to a couple of weeks). If you really want to have your laptop working again please DON'T TRY THIS TRICK. Try to find someone around you who can do a real repair on it or search on ebay for a repair service. Our service starts for as low as 45Euro with all costs included but you might find someone else closer to you who can do a real job. Please don't try stupid tricks which will damage your computer permanently.
Thank you for reading this

[antipesto93]

hmm ^ i am not sure how heat can damage them... i have tried it plenty of times, and they are put in ovens during production anyway....

[DEZMOND]

Add 2x 2900xt's to the list of success.

[vixro]

My dad recently replaced his 8800GTX that died the other day. First artifacting then leading to no boot at all. I know he's happy with his 5850 that he purchased, but he did give me the dead card. I think I'll try this when I get time and see how it works out.

[g0dM@n]

My dad recently replaced his 8800GTX that died the other day. First artifacting then leading to no boot at all. I know he's happy with his 5850 that he purchased, but he did give me the dead card. I think I'll try this when I get time and see how it works out.

Let us know how it goes. :)

[rcillig]

I got a 7900GS that just came out of the oven, pics and results will be up after a bit.

[rcillig]

man I had slight/average artifacting before now I got major artifacting going on. Baked her for 9 mins.... wonder If I should run her again in the oven?

[castun]

Try to find someone around you who can do a real repair on it or search on ebay for a repair service.

You mean, try to find someone like you, right? And you'd probably do the same thing and charge for it...

[Salmon91]

I guess I should post here too. So today I got some used hardware for really cheap (e6750 + p5k + 550 watt psu + 2gb ram). However I did not have a graphics card. I knew my friend had a 8800 gts which was broken (artifacts). We decided to try the graphics card. It worked but it had artifacts everywhere. We then did the oven trick, we preheated the oven for a few minutes (we had the oven at 200 C). The heatsink, thermal paste and stickers were removed. We had it in the oven for 10 minutes covered by a foil sheet and 2 balls of foil beneath the card, the other end was held up in the air by the backplate.

We put everything back together and turn on the computer and no artifacts :O! Once we got to windows we tried it in CS:S and no artifacts.

This is really unbelievable how well it worked, I was so sure it wouldn't work. Truly amazing! Respect to the guy who suggested this in the first place!

[KonaKona]

Just wanna pop in here and say this works on motherboards as well.

[baris_]

I guess I should post here too. So today I got some used hardware for really cheap (e6750 + p5k + 550 watt psu + 2gb ram). However I did not have a graphics card. I knew my friend had a 8800 gts which was broken (artifacts). We decided to try the graphics card. It worked but it had artifacts everywhere. We then did the oven trick, we preheated the oven for a few minutes (we had the oven at 200 C). The heatsink, thermal paste and stickers were removed. We had it in the oven for 10 minutes covered by a foil sheet and 2 balls of foil beneath the card, the other end was held up in the air by the backplate.

We put everything back together and turn on the computer and no artifacts :O! Once we got to windows we tried it in CS:S and no artifacts.

This is really unbelievable how well it worked, I was so sure it wouldn't work. Truly amazing! Respect to the guy who suggested this in the first place!

This is so cool, I might try to kill mine and then do this!

[KonaKona]

Fiio e3 of mine has a loose opamp, gonna try this trick. Changing the cook time go 5m because the entire circuit board is the size of my pinky. :eek:

[Voidn]

Lol, it worked. I had a 7900gt that started artifacting really bad at least three years ago. I tossed in a box and forgot about it. I pulled it out this morning and it would checker board artifacts over the entire screen. Popped in the over for about 7 mins. Fired it up and it seemed better, only a handful of random colorful pixels. I ran some benchmarks on it and now the colorful pixels are gone and it works fine. I even overclocked it a bit.

+1 for subby

[jakeface1]

Wow! I just tried this with my old Dell e1705. It has 7900 gs. I set the temp to 385 degrees and left it in for 6 minutes. Now it works again! :D