Repairing Graphics Card??

evolutionqy7

Hi,

Mods feel free to move to the correct forum. I was doing a little bit of tidying up on my desktop and managed to damage 2 "diodes" on the top of the graphics card.

At the moment, when I turn on the PC the graphics card does not show any video, and the fan just seems to spin at full speed. Would it be possible to solder something back on to these connectors or is it a lost cause and bin it?

Ive attached a picture where I found the two broken pins.

Its an Asus Radeon HD 6770/2DI/1GD5

salamanca22

Ouch.

It is very possible to repair it though. I can't see from the picture but are the components still there? (looks like you may have broken them off and damaged the pads?)

What I would do is get a through hole version of the damaged component and reveal the trace on the board and solder the legs of the through hole device to the revealed trace. I use a fiberglass pen to reveal traces.

evolutionqy7

The square little bit is broken off. It wasn't like a joint but had a black little square.

I know its not a state of the art graphics card, but it was still able to run games pretty decent. Was going to give this to my friend for a while after getting a new graphics card.

salamanca22

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

The square little bit is broken off. It wasn't like a joint but had a black little square.

I know its not a state of the art graphics card, but it was still able to run games pretty decent. Was going to give this to my friend for a while after getting a new graphics card.

Judging by the size of the pads and the area it may be capacitors that you have managed to break off. If you still have the capacitors you may be able to measure them using a multimeter and get new ones to solder back on. The problem is though if they are two different values and you don't know where each one should be you are gonna have problems.

kippy

Bin it.
You could have fried the card with static as well, who knows.
Also, soldering at that size is not easy job for the inexperienced.

salamanca22

kippy wrote: »

Bin it.
You could have fried the card with static as well, who knows.
Also, soldering at that size is not easy job for the inexperienced.

No need to bin it, it may be just fine. I recommended revealing the trace instead of soldering back on a surface mount device for the reason that it would be easier to solder. It's not a hard job.

evolutionqy7

Well I wouldn't be doing this myself. I had a go at soldiering in school and after and it never went. If I brought it down to a pc shop or something would they be able to figure out ?

wotzgoingon

It looks like capacitors but I doubt the repair shop will know the size of the capacitors. Unless you know someone with the same exact card and brought it to them so they can measure the values.

wotzgoingon

Also forgot to add it would be very easy to repair that(When you know the values). Unless you broke off the solder pads when pulling off capacitors but they could scrape the trace and solder it to trace and glue it in place.

dreamers75

have to ask, how did you do that?

evolutionqy7

dreamers75 wrote: »

have to ask, how did you do that?

Mmm on the old motherboard getting to the release hatch is really hard and generally end up scraping my knuckles off the chips. So thought I was being smart by using a screw driver to open them. Somehow managed to scrape those off.

wotzgoingon

Did you check the case to see if they are still there. I mean really check. Not quickly browse.

evolutionqy7

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Did you check the case to see if they are still there. I mean really check. Not quickly browse.

They are tiny things. I found one of them hanging off the board when I found the graphics card wasnt working and i flicked it off... :rolleyes::mad:

wotzgoingon

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

They are tiny things. I found one of them hanging off the board when I found the graphics card wasnt working and i flicked it off... :rolleyes::mad:

Dumb ass. :pac: I'd say the two would have been the same value too. So would have been very easy to replace.

wotzgoingon

Also just looking at the pic the capacitors you knocked off are around the RAM chips. You should check the values of the other two and also the other capaitors around the other RAM and if all the same and if they are it is a very easy fix. You should PM someone local to you in the console modding section on boards. They would easily be able to do it for you. I can easily fix it for you but I am in Mayo which is probably too far from you.

evolutionqy7

That gives me some hope

Thanks for the replies. Ill try locate someone.

evolutionqy7

Found a guy in Drogheda who should be able to fix it. Bit of a drive from Dublin but me

He's quoting me 30 35 for 10 minutes work.

game4it70

Between paying for petrol and the 30-35e would it not be better just buying a new card?
Or even a 2nd hand card from adverts?

Lu Tze

game4it70 wrote: »

Between paying for petrol and the 30-35e would it not be better just buying a new card?
Or even a 2nd hand card from adverts?

This is true, i have a 7770 (slightly faster than your card) stuck in my media centre, if i was to sell it on adverts would likely only get 55-60.

This one went for 50

http://www.adverts.ie/graphics-cards/sapphire-hd-7770-ghz-edition-oc-1gb-gddr5/7150754

wotzgoingon

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

Found a guy in Drogheda who should be able to fix it. Bit of a drive from Dublin but me

He's quoting me 30 35 for 10 minutes work.

Did you PM TouchingVirus he is the moderator on the console modding section and he is in Dublin, he is very good at that type of thing. He also goes to the motors meets sometimes as well, he has a M3. I don't know if you went to the meets but i seen you in the motors forum fairly regularly, well I think it was you.

evolutionqy7

Lu Tze wrote: »

This is true, i have a 7770 (slightly faster than your card) stuck in my media centre, if i was to sell it on adverts would likely only get 55-60.

This one went for 50

http://www.adverts.ie/graphics-cards/sapphire-hd-7770-ghz-edition-oc-1gb-gddr5/7150754

game4it70 wrote: »

Between paying for petrol and the 30-35e would it not be better just buying a new card?
Or even a 2nd hand card from adverts?

Well I did buy a cheapo graphics card back a while ago to put into my little brothers PC, but its not really that good at playing minecraft or other light games. I got a new graphics card for my rig so was planning to transplant the old one the other PC.

Not a great selection of used graphics cards on adverts for around 50 quid. Always a gamble on what your buying as well. This one after 2 years still works very well (till I broke it )

Im not bothered about Diesel Thats taken care of...Its the hour drive to Drogheda thats slightly putting me off.

wotzgoingon wrote: »

Did you PM TouchingVirus he is the moderator on the console modding section and he is in Dublin, he is very good at that type of thing. He also goes to the motors meets sometimes as well, he has a M3. I don't know if you went to the meets but i seen you in the motors forum fairly regularly, well I think it was you.

Sent him a PM. Thanks

TouchingVirus

Force, especially screwdriver level force isn't something you want near a circuit board. You've knocked two capacitors off. Doesn't look like there's *too* much damage to the pads so some surface mount caps would be doable. The thing is the cap rating is unknown, were you to have one of the ones you broke off it should be easily ascertained. Even without, you could remove one of the other caps and rate it with a decent multimeter.

evolutionqy7

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Force, especially screwdriver level force isn't something you want near a circuit board. You've knocked two capacitors off. Doesn't look like there's *too* much damage to the pads so some surface mount caps would be doable. The thing is the cap rating is unknown, were you to have one of the ones you broke off it should be easily ascertained. Even without, you could remove one of the other caps and rate it with a decent multimeter.

I didn't really think it through at the moment and flicked the last one hanging somewhere one the kitchen floor. So finding one at this stage be impossible.

Would you know someone around Dublin who could have a look at it rather than going up all the way to Drogheda?

TouchingVirus

Sure, I'll take a look at it. Can't guarantee I'll be able to fix it but sure I'll drop you a PM; it's broken now anyways