can it be saved?

[Emericana]

if any of you saw one of my latest posts you will know i destroyed a gainward ti4200 128mb by attempting to apply monster ramsinks on it. i dropped the card while clamping it and the following was the result:

now i allready ordered a new card. but, will this card still be usable if i eventually (the key word is eventually, i have like now time) get someone to solder the pin leds back to the card?

what would happen if i fully rip off that piece of ram? would the card still function but w/ less ram or would the whole thing blow up? i have yet to put it in my computer over fear of a fire.

 

[Omega Destroyer]

Ah man that's harsh. I'm not sure if it will work, but if you give up on it completely you can always send it to me. I'll put it in my system, and see if it will work. But that's only if you're planning on trowing it away. If you still want to fix it, then go ahead and try, but don't throw it away!!
Anything is better than what I have.

 

[cursor]

I feel your pain. :headbang

Surely something can be done? Maybe you can get a munchkin to solder it for you?

Nah, nevermind I think you're pretty much hosed. That sucks because you've got a sa-weeeet card there.

 

[Emericana]

well you know what they say... lifes a ***** then you die

this tnt2 SUCKS.... 1570 3dmarks ROFLMAO

 

[BladeRunner]

It possibly could be resoldered, but that would probably mean removing the sink and in the process damaging the chip further, and unless you have a very steady hand you'll join the pins to each other.

Is there still copper wafer on the PCB where the ram chips were soldered. It looks like it in the image but you'd be able to tell best. If so what I'd try if it were mine is lay the card flat on a level surface, prop it up underneath so it's flat, level and stable. Now find something solid and quite heavy that you can balance on the ram sink of the chip that has come away, like a paper weight. Now look with a magnifying glass to see it the ram pins are touching the contacts on the board where they were once soldered. If not take the weight off and you'll need to carefully bend each ram pin slightly down with a needle or something similar. Once this is done and they are all touching (pressing the contact area), with the weight applied add some epoxy resin to each edge of the sink to the PCB. I'd use Araldite, (proper stuff not the rapide), and let it harden for a minimum of 48 hours without touching the card or moving the weight. When hard try the card in a PC being careful not to knock the ram sink on that chip. If it works then remove the card and apply more araldite along the front edge over the broken pins. this will prevent the pins from moving and it should be fine.

If it didn't work after the original epoxy then at least you can still get to all the pins to try soldering them as a real last resort.

If any of the above is unclear just ask

 

[james.miller]

i could solder that back on no problem.but im in the uk, (doh)
take it from me it can definatly be done, so dont card a new card until somebody has at least tried it

 

[Emericana]

i allready ordered a new card cause i dont have time RIGHT NOW to attempt to save it b/c of school etc. however, now that i know that it CAN be saved, i will attempt in a week or two to find someone w/ the soldering skills to save it.

thanks guys

edit: jamesmiller i see in your sig you have a via c3? how is that working out do you need a special mobo or what for it? does it play games well?

 

[RCtruckguy]

Send it to me. i am a pro solderer, i have to be to put together batteries with low resistance. the major part of this will be time. I'm in ohio, where are you? if your going to throw it out toss it my way. i have an ATI rage fury pro 32mb and it gets 10fps

well if you e-mail me maby we can work somthing out...~RCTG

PS [email protected]

 

[james.miller]

yeah like i said its an easy job. working with surface mount parts is what i do far a living, so i am constanty soldering i.c's, and parts that are much smaller aswell.

looking at the pix, the right person could fix that up in about 2 minutes if done carfully. easy

 

[RCtruckguy]

nice job!

yea i've had to replace wires and pins on my recievers in my r/cs because my moster truck very hard on them. this will be simple tha big part will be time like i said before, shipping and getting my work bench clean egough to work on this LOL~Alex

 

[james.miller]

RCtruckguy: have you seen a surface mount resistor network? if you have then you'll know what i mean - i can solder them by hand

 

[BladeRunner]

What type of soldering iron would you guys offering to repair it use? is it some kind of long tip that will heat them all at once, just interested. To me they are hard enough to see let alone solder in real life size . I think the biggest problem will be the sink that's glued to the ram chip. when its bent back down in position I think you'll find the pins almost imposible to access with anything.

 

[RCtruckguy]

WOW i wish i was that good, tough i'm sure i could handall this. sounds like a great job



no, the tip is small but it could heat 2 to 3 amby 4 pins a once.

i was thining about heating up a correct pair of pins and sodering them one at a time. and letting EVERy thing cool. then go the the next pari of pins.

this is mainly a precaution that way there is a better chance it will work, nothing is ever garentied but you can usually improve your odds.~Alex

 

[james.miller]

also a magnifying glass would be handy lol.

with the regard to to ram-sink, just push it down as far as you can manage, while still being able to get to the pins.
then solder the two end pins.
doing that will hold the ram in the right place, so you can then solder the rest of the pins inbetween.

on and dont get the via c3, its too slow for gaming. i think im gonna replace it with a tulatin celly

 

[RCtruckguy]

yea forgot to add that.... and i jot got a 10x eye glass with my motor cutter so i'm all set... just waiting for it to arrive (didn't get an email yet....) ~RCTG

 

[Emericana]

so rctruck guy are you offering to fix my card or do you want to buy the card off me (since i allready ordered a new card) or what? if you want i will sell it for $110 which is a very good deal since it costs $155

 

[larva]

I agree, it's fixable. I've soldered a lot of the surface mount components and this is mucho easier. I'm not sure the card is worth $110 in this condition but it is definately fixable.

 

[Silversinksam]

It possibly could be resoldered, but that would probably mean removing the sink and in the process damaging the chip further, and unless you have a very steady hand you'll join the pins to each other.

Is there still copper wafer on the PCB where the ram chips were soldered. It looks like it in the image but you'd be able to tell best. If so what I'd try if it were mine is lay the card flat on a level surface, prop it up underneath so it's flat, level and stable. Now find something solid and quite heavy that you can balance on the ram sink of the chip that has come away, like a paper weight. Now look with a magnifying glass to see it the ram pins are touching the contacts on the board where they were once soldered. If not take the weight off and you'll need to carefully bend each ram pin slightly down with a needle or something similar. Once this is done and they are all touching (pressing the contact area), with the weight applied add some epoxy resin to each edge of the sink to the PCB. I'd use Araldite, (proper stuff not the rapide), and let it harden for a minimum of 48 hours without touching the card or moving the weight. When hard try the card in a PC being careful not to knock the ram sink on that chip. If it works then remove the card and apply more araldite along the front edge over the broken pins. this will prevent the pins from moving and it should be fine.

If it didn't work after the original epoxy then at least you can still get to all the pins to try soldering them as a real last resort.

If any of the above is unclear just ask

If its not the immortal legend himself! (PS good advise here friends)

 

[james.miller]

problem is, If one of those pins is slightly mis-aligned, then its a safe bet that that card will be very much dead after you plug it back in and turn it on.

The only correct way to garentee the connection of all of the pins is to solder them, not just epoxy the ram chip and hope it works. thats too risky for a $150+ card

 

[RCtruckguy]

I'll solder it for sure...

but i don't know if i can/want to buy it.... I don't have $100 laying around or i would have bought a new graphincs card already. maby i can get a loan from my parents or something

I'd offer about $90 right now. I'd still have to solder it and make sure it works if it dosen't work i'll just send it back to you or trash it. sound like a deal?~RCTG