Faulty graphics card - can it be fixed?

[jrodefeld]

Not quite sure if this is the right forum to post this in, but here's my dilemma:

I'm using a Geforce 980 Ti graphics card that is installed in a watercooling loop. I had a small leak in my loop that seems to have dripped a bit of coolant onto the graphics card.

This happened while I was asleep. When I woke up, the computer had turned itself off. I didn't notice any leak at first, so I turned on my computer, and when Windows was supposed to boot up, I only got a black screen.

The bios screens all worked fine though.

Then I noticed a small puddle of coolant on the backplate of my graphics card. So I took everything apart and cleaned the graphics card.

There was a few drops here or there, but the leak was extremely minor it seems. I cleaned it fairly well, put it back together and reinstalled it.

But the same thing is happening. If I boot into safe mode and unintall the Nvidia drivers, I can boot into Windows in low-resolution 640x480 at 60hz. But whenever I try to install Nvidia drivers, the screen will become pixelated, then go black. Then I cannot boot into Windows anymore unless I go into safe mode again and uninstall the drivers.

Is there any way to salvage this card? I could disassemble it and let it dry for longer, possibly as long as 24 hours to see if that might help.

I do have it under warranty from EVGA so replacement is an option. I really need this computer for work though so going without for a week or so is not an ideal solution.

When I inspected the card, I really didn't see much evidence of coolant leaks at all. The card itself looked quite good and dry.

Please advise on how I might be able to salvage this card and avoid having to send it for replacement.

Thanks!

 

[EarthDog]

Make sure its dry... of it doesnt work after firing it up, its dead.

But, you cant rma that. You spilled water from your loop on the card. It didnt die a normal death.

 

[jrodefeld]

Thanks for the reply.

I have to emphasize that I am absolutely speculating that the problem with the graphics card was that I spilled coolant on it. I'm using hard acrylic tubing and what happened was there was a tiny scratch on the tubing that attached to the CPU. From that crack, a tiny drop of coolant would drip out every once in a while. I noticed a small puddle of coolant on the backplate of the graphics card, but when I took it out to clean it, I really didn't notice any coolant on the card itself.

Anyway, it actually works when I use only the default "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter" drivers and don't install the Nvidia drivers.

I wonder whether its worth it to take it apart and make sure it's REALLY dry by leaving it out for 24 hours or something like that.

 

[EarthDog]

I did that with a 295x2.

I mean, water likely killed it, so cant return it, might as well take it apart and clean it up.