baking dead 8800gtx success

chop_wood · Dec 19, 2010

just thought id post a success story for baking. not sure how common it is.
i had a dead foxconn 8800gtx sitting in my room for a year. it would not display any picture at all. i baked it for 8 min at 385 with the foil underneath. Then it displayed distorted image. I baked it another 10 minutes and let it cool completely.. Bam, i'm running it right now. I still need to verify its stability with some benching/games. ill prob list it in the classys soon

qubit · Dec 19, 2010

Honestly, I can't believe this works. But I've seen quite a few reports of it working.

It must damage electrolytic capacitors though? Still, if it didn't work at all before, it may not matter, but then if they're damaged by this, it will malfunction later. My head's spinning, lol.

Automata · Dec 19, 2010

The components are designed to be in that sort of heat for short periods. You should see how they make the boards initially.

qubit · Dec 19, 2010

I know they use a flow soldering process, where the board is run over a river of molten solder, with all the components fitted. They are then very briefly (seconds) heated from the bottom, but "baking" heats them all over for an extended time, so I'm surprised that they can stand it.

Nevertheless, it seems to work sometimes and one has nothing to lose with a dead card. Just shows you how many failures are simply caused by failed solder joints, rather than actual faulty components, though.

Bobnova · Dec 19, 2010

The surface mount stuff is baked in an oven or has (quite) hot air directed at the spots needing reflow. It's pretty similar to baking it in your oven at home if you do it right.

I baked a 8800gts320mb a couple weeks ago, worked great!

Chaiyz · Dec 26, 2010

I do these at work often. I don't put them in an oven though. I have a reflow station with a plate heater, UV heatlamp and correct temp gauges to keep the reflow accurate. In an oven this could be easily overshot and require reball.

I used to use a laser temp gun and a heat gun to do this and still use this method for some desktops. Nothing is permanent in reflows though.

To solve the problem perminently, you should reball with lead free solder which has a much higher flash(melting)point.

Old Thrashbarg · Dec 26, 2010

Nothing is permanent in reflows though.

Yep. You're pretty much just buying some time before you have to replace the card. You may get a couple more months, maybe another year, but the joints will almost certainly crack again. That generally isn't that much of a problem though, since by their nature video cards tend to get upgraded every couple years anyway.

About the capacitors, it's the same sort of deal... baking certainly isn't good for 'em, and 8-10 minutes at 385F probably gets the internal temperatures high enough to shorten their lifespan somewhat, but they'll still probably hold out as long as the rest of the card will. Plus, video cards usually use polymer caps these days, which are a bit more durable in that respect.

To the OP, you mentioned listing the card in the classifieds... If you decide to do that, you definitely need to make clear in the listing what's been done to it and let any potential buyers know the risks involved in such a purchase.

Apht3rThawt · Dec 28, 2010

I have to say, the 8800gts I baked the other day is working great. I've seen production lines where the pcb's are on a rack and dipped in liquid solder, chip side up. In my case I used solder as a control in the oven and now it's passing 3d tests. It was dead before the baking. A running card from nothing is more than I expected. If it goes out in a month then at least I got a month. All the talk about what bad could happen is not the point. The point is, can you get a card back? In my case, yes.

madhatter256 · Dec 28, 2010

Old Thrashbarg said:
Yep. You're pretty much just buying some time before you have to replace the card. You may get a couple more months, maybe another year, but the joints will almost certainly crack again. That generally isn't that much of a problem though, since by their nature video cards tend to get upgraded every couple years anyway.

About the capacitors, it's the same sort of deal... baking certainly isn't good for 'em, and 8-10 minutes at 385F probably gets the internal temperatures high enough to shorten their lifespan somewhat, but they'll still probably hold out as long as the rest of the card will. Plus, video cards usually use polymer caps these days, which are a bit more durable in that respect.

To the OP, you mentioned listing the card in the classifieds... If you decide to do that, you definitely need to make clear in the listing what's been done to it and let any potential buyers know the risks involved in such a purchase.

About the caps... I heard one pop when backing an old 8400GS card year ago. Installed the card. The card worked fine, and then I saw the bulge in the capacitor form.

Replaced the cap and the card worked good for about a month, then artifacted again - didn't bake it as it wasn't worth it doing it twice.

baking dead 8800gtx success

chop_wood

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Automata

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Bobnova

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