Baking geforce 7950gtx on 190c

zenno

hello all...
I've heard about baking your damaged graphics card in the oven for a few minutes at 190 degrees celsius and it's supposed to fix it. well i have had a geforce 7950gtx that was showing blue and red and green lines going through the screen which i knew was a graphics card failure. so i looked up alot of sites and they were going on about this baking the card thing. so i followed instructions as were......

take laptop apart/remove the graphics card/remove the heatsink from the card processor and clean the thermol compound from the heatsink and processor. so i done that. then i put the oven, which was fan assisted to 190 degrees celsius for 10 minutes to get it to a stable temperature. then i put the graphics card on a heat resistant plastic (something you would find in a large pizza you would buy from the shop). and cooked it for 5 minutes exactually. after this five minutes i turned off the oven left the oven door shut for an extra 4 minutes for the heat to cool down naturally. when the 4 minutes was up i opened the oven door and left the card (without moving it) for an extra 20 minutes so the solder would be able to set.

then after 20 minutes i flipped the card over and done the same again...cook for 5 minutes etc... and i have to say it works perfect. i have being running intensive games and benchmarks on the card now for 6 hours and it's perfectly fine. so i was wondering if any of you have had the same results with this crazy experiment ?

this is a picture of the graphics card and a picture of the sad compound job nvidia done before i cleaned it all off with dificulty. he definatly put to much compound on it.

BadCharlie

Well done

Have not had to do it my self as i dont have a broken video card. But yes i have read about people doing it on a-lot of sites. They also say that this only helps to extend the cards life and it might die in the near future. You might be lucky and it will keep going for some years to come... only time will tell.

zenno

BadCharlie wrote: »

Well done

Have not had to do it my self as i dont have a broken video card. But yes i have read about people doing it on a-lot of sites. They also say that this only helps to extend the cards life and it might die in the near future. You might be lucky and it will keep going for some years to come... only time will tell.

it's a mad one i have to say. must be the solder contacts are weak when they build these cards. well i will see how it goes for the coming future. i will update if it goes again just to see how long it lasts.but it's going grand still and i'm throwing graphical benchmarks at it still. plenty of heat to check the stability fingers crossed.

Deano12345

zenno wrote: »

it's a mad one i have to say. must be the solder contacts are weak when they build these cards. well i will see how it goes for the coming future. i will update if it goes again just to see how long it lasts.but it's going grand still and i'm throwing graphical benchmarks at it still. plenty of heat to check the stability fingers crossed.

Couple of people i know have been doing this on Boards,nice to see it has a high success rate

zenno

Deano12345 wrote: »

Couple of people i know have been doing this on Boards,nice to see it has a high success rate

it sure does deano. thats why i tried it because of so many people saying it worked for them. i read one poster on some gaming site saying his graphics card is still going strong after 6 months from doing this thing. so it does sound promising. well the main thing is it works but im curious to see how long it will stand up to the test.

Deano12345

zenno wrote: »

it sure does deano. thats why i tried it because of so many people saying it worked for them. i read one poster on some gaming site saying his graphics card is still going strong after 6 months from doing this thing. so it does sound promising. well the main thing is it works but im curious to see how long it will stand up to the test.

Well,I told one of the lads on boards (sorry,cant remember your name ) about it and he successfully baked his 8800GTX,and that was well before Christmas,last I heard it as still going strong

Only thing I can find wrong with this is the stupid mental image of someone standing at the oven,spatula in hand,flipping a graphics card...damn imagination

zenno

LOL yeah that was me on my hunkers looking into the oven for 5 minutes wondering if the temperature was high enough or if it's cooking alright, i had to laugh.

Deano12345

zenno wrote: »

LOL yeah that was me on my hunkers looking into the oven for 5 minutes wondering if the temperature was high enough or if it's cooking alright, i had to laugh.

Does it smell at all,out of interest ?

zenno

Deano12345 wrote: »

Does it smell at all,out of interest ?

no it doesn't smell. the smell you get off any curcuit board normally without doing this is the same. no burning smell cause it is not in the oven long enough to burn and melt anything. thats why it's important to take time calculations of 5 minutes cooking and 4 minutes with oven turned off with door shut. if it was a pizza left on that extra bit longer than usual it would be burnt lol so time is critical.

i sound like gordon ramsay.

Deano12345

zenno wrote: »

no it doesn't smell. the smell you get off any curcuit board normally without doing this is the same. no burning smell cause it is not in the oven long enough to burn and melt anything. thats why it's important to take time calculations of 5 minutes cooking and 4 minutes with oven turned off with door shut. if it was a pizza left on that extra bit longer than usual it would be burnt lol so time is critical.

i sound like gordon ramsay.

Gordon Ramsay is fine,when you start adding spices and stuff to your graphics card like Jamie Oliver,then you might have a problem :D

zenno

Deano12345 wrote: »

Gordon Ramsay is fine,when you start adding spices and stuff to your graphics card like Jamie Oliver,then you might have a problem :D

hahahaha yeah thats for sure.

ED E

The common beleif is that this is caused by microfractures in the solder, and it appears to be an all to frequent issue with geforce cards.

I got a free dell box with a dead("dying") 8800GTX. To my surprise the oven trick worked.
Video:

I preheated fully to 200C and then cooked for 8 mins. Opened the door, turned off the elements and left to cool for 20, then another 20 on my desk.

I bought a 8800GTS for E20 on ebay that is giving the same symptoms. Acts very similarly on boot. Havent baked it yet as I've been to lazy to pull out all the somewhat tidy cabling in order to test it afterwards. There's a good chance it wont work, but if it does I'll get another one for cheap s I can use the pair in SLI in a build I plan on doing during the summer:)

If yu've tried everything else and its out of warranty then there is nothing to loose by trying this.

Effluo

Music for that vid is the best! lol

Certainly one of the more interesting ways to fix a computer :L

leninbenjamin

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

The common beleif is that this is caused by microfractures in the solder, and it appears to be an all to frequent issue with geforce cards.

But then wouldn't putting it in the oven cause the solder to oxidise further? Solder generally performs worse when reheated if I'm not mistaken?

ED E

leninbenjamin wrote: »

But then wouldn't putting it in the oven cause the solder to oxidise further? Solder generally performs worse when reheated if I'm not mistaken?

From what I understand of it, under normal circumstances the solder heats and cools very unevenly and you get cracking, like an ice cube dropped into room temperature water:D When you heat it to 200 the solder pretty much liquefies and removes these cracks, the trick is to cool it steadily.

ED E

Just did it on the GTS. And it worked!

I'm gonna order me some more broken cards:)

zenno

well i tought i'd give an update on this. and it's a while now since i baked the card and it is still working perfect. so it looks like it has fixed it good.

zenno

well another update. this fix lasted a while but the graphics card has failed again tonight 07/06/2010 so it looks like another baking is in order. it done well but i'll try it again and see how long it lasts, so it wasn't a permanant fix.

ok I just baked it again but a little longer this time... 10 minutes on 190 * celsius turned off oven at this time and left door shut for 5 minutes and opened door after the 5 minutes and left it to cool down for 35 minutes. took it out and left it for another 15 minutes in the air in the room and put it back in the laptop and it's working again. i can't believe i didnt see this before, on the heatsinks on each end of the graphics card there was black like plastic tape that was covering the two heatsinks on each end when i looked more closely i was wondering how the hell the heat was supposed to dissapate while this plastic tape was covering all around the heatsinks, i took off all the black plastic and i will see how things go from today onwards.

aaronm13

Just after baking my 9800 GX2 and it works perfectly. Can't believe this actually works. Hopefully I'll get a bit longer out of this card cause I havent got the money to replace it at the minute.

ED E

Mates card just died, gonna do it for him methinks.

Sisko

Gonna try this myself with my 9800GTX. Is everyone taking off the heatsink and then after the baking, reapplying thermal paste before putting the heatsink/fan back on?

Really wanted to try this now but I've no thermal paste

Yip heatsink off, clean all thermal paste off, bake, reapply thermal paste and heatsink and enjoy!

Sisko

Sounds tasty! Guess I'll have to buy some thermal paste

ED E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCxc0bxk_1U

Might be useful for you.

Sisko

cheers man, I did watch it though already, after all, you did post it in this thread earlier hehe :pac:

ED E

I'm a video Pimp

panorton

After baking download and install 18kfangui. It's a very clever programme that allows you set the temp. at which the fans come on and go fast and slow. Go to options- tempreture control and tick GPU. There is a 64 bit version but it don't work so good. I baked my son's 7900gs card and installed this but it still went faulty. I then baked it agin and set the temps. lower and so far so good.

Sisko

Well I finally tried my 9800GTX

Before I tried I tested it one last time, second I turn on the PC I see artifacts even on the bios load up screen.

So anyway, took off the heat sink, cleared off the thermal paste. pre heated the oven to 200 for 10 mins and put card in on some tinfoil (with rolled up balls of tin foil under it to raise it)

Left it in there for 10 mins at 200, turned off the oven left it for 5 mins, opened the oven and left it for another 5.

I decided I'd test it 1st before putting the heat sink back on. Tested it there and my monitor just doesn't turn on as if my cards not even there

Damn.


What can I do but try putting it in the oven again for longer at a higher setting?

ED E

Are you sure it seated right?

Diageio_Man

I fixed my mates PS3 by baking the motherboard in the oven, still working after 3 months.

zenno

Sisko wrote: »

Well I finally tried my 9800GTX

Before I tried I tested it one last time, second I turn on the PC I see artifacts even on the bios load up screen.

So anyway, took off the heat sink, cleared off the thermal paste. pre heated the oven to 200 for 10 mins and put card in on some tinfoil (with rolled up balls of tin foil under it to raise it)

Left it in there for 10 mins at 200, turned off the oven left it for 5 mins, opened the oven and left it for another 5.

I decided I'd test it 1st before putting the heat sink back on. Tested it there and my monitor just doesn't turn on as if my cards not even there

Damn.


What can I do but try putting it in the oven again for longer at a higher setting?

dude you have to follow instructions as is. under no circumstances should you put tinfoil anywere near the circuit board. i always use one of those heat coasters that you get with a chicago town large pizza from the shop and it doesn't melt or heat to much, stick the card on one of these or something simular. well as usual you need new compound simple as that. arctic silver is a great compound only use a good one. the name of the game is when at the last part of heating, do not move the graphics card at all for at least 35 minutes. this will allow for the solder to jellow into itself stabily this is important, you don't want cracks appearing in the solder. good luck with the fix. hope it works out for you.

ED E

The guide I followed used tin foil, as did I, worked a treat.

Sisko

Tried it again, baked it for 20 mins this time. Left it for 30+ mins. Same ****...


So annoying, wish I could at least see if the artifacts are still there rather then no monitor turning on. Bah.

Never bothered putting the heatsink back on , whats the point unless it works.


I guess whatever it was that caused my card to stop working isnt the same as what happened to everyone else.:(

I know it can't be anything else with my pc since my 6800GS runs perfectly.

Solitaire

Sisko wrote: »

Never bothered putting the heatsink back on , whats the point unless it works.

Failblog time The GPU would have completely cooked off :eek:

x in the city

Solitaire wrote: »

Failblog time The GPU would have completely cooked off :eek:

quite... 3 minutes or so and it would fry up under stress, if it makes it that long at all

Sisko

I'm aware of this, if my monitor turned on and I saw no artifacts within 30 seconds I would have turned it off, added new thermal paste and screwed the heatsink/fan back on knowing my card was fixed.

Since I can tell instantly if its fixed or not , I wasnt gonna sit there putting back the heatsink and adding thermal paste not knowing if it had been fixed.

All I needed to see was the boot up bios screen.

ED E

If it doesn't do work in up to 10 mins then it wont work. The idea is short burst of great heat rather than prolonged exposure.

Some you just gotta bin.

Sisko

Was worth a shot though eh? Guess I gotta get a new card so Ah well.

zenno

thats a shame dude. ah well at least you tried. yeah something different happened your card by the looks of it. i would try it one more time if i was you but this time put the thermal paste on it and screw it back together and double check all connections on the mobo just to be sure man. i'm just pulling at straws at this stage, but did you flip the card over during the heating process ? if not i would try that for the last time. don't overcook it just stick with the normal time.

zenno

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

The guide I followed used tin foil, as did I, worked a treat.

i know lethal bullet, but using tinfoil could short the components if the tinfoil touches other resisters or capacitors. well it worked for you so happy days. always be careful though.

ED E

zenno wrote: »

i know lethal bullet, but using tinfoil could short the components if the tinfoil touches other resisters or capacitors. well it worked for you so happy days. always be careful though.

How? Even by thermionic emission the current is going to be almost nil. Shorting isnt an issue.

zenno

Lethal_Bullet wrote: »

How? Even by thermionic emission the current is going to be almost nil. Shorting isnt an issue.

yes almost nill but not compleately drained of current hense what i was saying there is a possability of short circuit. i work in electronics and i can assure you even a minute stalled current hours after a so called complete discharge can cause a problem. so we never take the chance. rule no. 1

Solitaire

Capacitors can be a *****

CompExpert

The point is if the gpu is not soldiered then you put it in the oven for 20 mins and it should work but DONT PUT THE whole card just the gpu unit because you can "bake" some other parts. I've tried it and it works.

CompExpert

CompExpert wrote: »

but DONT PUT THE whole card just the gpu unit because you can "bake" some other parts.

Just the GPU unit eh? Which part would that be now?

Quam

Deleted User wrote: »

Just the GPU unit eh? Which part would that be now?

Take off the cooling, etc.

Quam

Quam wrote: »

Take off the cooling, etc.

ETC? Which part would that be now?

Deano12345

Deleted User wrote: »

ETC? Which part would that be now?

He means everything must be taken off. Just leaving the PCB , so the main cooler, memory coolers and VRM coolers as well, you may need to also remove the PCI bracket, I'm not sure about the bracket however.

zenno

well this card went again. now this xps laptop did come with windows xp on it but the card only started to fail when i installed windows 7 64-bit ages ago and i have noticed it releases more heat with win 7 64 bit so i done the card again and it's working fine now but this time i just put the operating system back to xp and there is less heat so i will see if it works out ok from here on.

aero and win 7 are stressing the card by the looks of it so hope this xp works ok.

panorton

Install and run 18kfangui. I'm running Win 7 32bit on a Del 7950GtX. I tried 64bit but I couldn't get 18kfangui to run properly. There is a problem getting the driver signed. I wouldn't run an XPS without 18kfangui. As far as I'm aware my card has never been baked. I think that once the cards go once baking is only a tempory fix.

zenno

thanks for the tip on that program "panorton" i'll definately try that. anything to keep the system cool. cheers.

well i installed that program there and put the fans to fast if that doesn't cool the card down i don't know what will. i set it to run on high/fast speed at startup and works great. heres hoping the card keeps working. but you are right once the card goes it does seem like you only get a week out of it before it goes again time will tell with this fan enhancement. thanks again i never even knew that program existed.