Violating the wife's oven

[dr_bowtie]

Totally off topic but I did something unusual today that involved computer parts and the wife's oven....

Most of you dont know but I am new into Boating. As a matter of fact I havent even fired up my boat yet due to wanting to learn everything I need to know and get teh boat into A+ shape before I get out on the water with my kids...

Anyways my main job is in construction...I run a very small business with only 1 employee...ME...I also run a small automotive shop thats never open anymore except after the construction job is over because I am the same employee both places...I sorta gave up the engine biz a while back...but thats another long story I wont bore you with either...

3rd I run a small PC shop as a fill-in type of thing for when construction is slow in teh winter months and so far it has done pretty well...

I have been doing teh PC thing for the last 10 years and I do okay with that aspect of things....plus I stay up with current tech and have fun with gadgets around the house...I work for several online PC related forums...Admin a couple and Moderate a bunch of others...I like to help where I can...

Anyways I built the wife a nice little Small Form Factor PC a couple of years back and I upgrade it from time to time...now last year I upgraded teh video card to the current tech of a 9600GT Nvidia card and that was a good choice...not high end nor budget...

this year back in spring I got a chance to get a Asus Nvidia branded GTS-250 video card so I took it...and I again upgraded her rig...this was a review sample from one of the tech site I belong too...

the card had been running fine this whole time without issue but then 3 weeks ago the card just died...she was on the PC and went out to smoke (she smokes outside as I dont like smoking in the house) and the PC went into screen saver mode like always...when she came back the PC wouldnt wake...

After several attempts to reboot the PC it would not complete POST and the power light was flashing at me indicating dead video card...so I did the usual and tore the rig down and started testing everything...sure enough the card was dead...

I got in touch with the Asus Rep and started the RMA process but after another 3 weeks I havent heard a word...

Nvidia has had an issue with solder joints on alot of their cards and a Google search will bring an easy fix...

Baking your card...what? really? bake the card? sure....

had a friend do it on his card and it worked so I figured I had nothing to lose right...? I was going to get it replaced regardless....

I took the card all apart...removed the heatsink and ramsink and cleaned up teh card...

preheated the oven to 385deg and put a pizza pan in the middle rack...once teh oven was heated I placed the card on the pizza pan with some stand-offs to keep the card level and set the microwave timer to 10 minutes...

After 10 minutes and the timer went off I turned the oven off and left it be to cool slowly...another 10 minutes I removed the card....put it all back together with new Thermal Interface Compound and the card works...

I mean the PC booted right up and the card is back from teh dead like a dog from pet cemetery but not as mean...lol

I just saved myself postage on the return and the company saved money by not having to fix it....

just in case anyone is curious why it worked...Nvidia has had issues with its Wave Solder machines and the solder not really holding...several heat cycles and the solder lets go or breaks if you will losing contact...

when I heated the card it semi-liqified the solder (called re-flow) and re-bridged any gaps in the card...

man that was just too cool....I am totally stoked today...wife may not be too happy anything she cooks in the oven is going to smell like burnt electronics...

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

That's crazy. At first I thought no way, but I guess it does work after all. I thought the card cpu can't take that kind of heat?

 

[dr_bowtie]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

the GPU can hand 125c - 150c before it even starts to throttle down...way hotter than it would get in the oven...plus it isnt running...

 

[dlindeblad]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

I just had to read this thread based upon the title. The title sounded kinda painful.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

Well lets see....... I have baked a few gears to get them onto shafts...... baked a suzuki 1150 head to insert new sleeves...... heat treated lead bullets..... yup the oven is a tool!!

 

[nlain]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

The reverse will sometimes work on hard drives, I have had several that crashed, installed a new drive and got computer running, put old hard drive in the freezer for a day, took it out, hooked it up, turned on computer, transferred files over to new disc. If it works you get only one chance so know what you are after and get it quick.

 

[mike64]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

Heh, when I saw the title and started reading, I thought it was going to end with a burning melted video card. Cool trick! I had heard about a similar freezing trick to the one nlain mentioned, but for giving a dead battery a couple more months life, not for hard drives.

What online PC forums do you recommend, dr. bowtie?

 

[dr_bowtie]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

for a good general PC tech related forum I recommend PCMech.com

for enthusiast stuff there are tons out there...but I help moderate overclockersclub.com

I am pretty versatile when it comes to PC stuff so not only do I do the tech side of things I also hang with the gamers and such...

 

[angus63]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

Many years back I was the Engineering Manager of a reflective optics manufacturer. We diamond-turned aluminum paraboloidal mirrors for the laser industry. Business became so good we ran two-shifts, OT, etc.... whatever it took to get product to the customer. We used our heat treat ovens to stress relief the aluminum blanks before machining the optic surface. 6061-T651 aluminum requires 300-350F for 8-10 hrs to relieve machining stress (or artificially age). When the ovens were overloaded, we referred to those days as "Pizza night!" because every employee went home with a box of blanks to put in their kitchen oven to stress relief that evening. I was single then, but some of the wives were not happy to oblige. The faint smell of burnt cutting fluid is very distinct!!!

 

[mddubya]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

Haha, thats a pretty neat trick.

I'm also a member of a golf forum, my other passion. There is a guy on it who swears he can remove the graphite or steel shaft from a golf club with the eye of a gas stove. But I'd never heard of putting stuff in the oven.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

Well lets see....... heat treated lead bullets.....

Bob, would like to hear more about this. Technique, etc. How much can you increase the BHN.

 

[Cofe]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

Bob, would like to hear more about this. Technique, etc. How much can you increase the BHN.

I don't think you can heat treat lead. More antimony content will make better BHN. Old Babbitt bearings are made with a lot of antimony.
Lead in a oven=bad....but people have to die from something.....

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

Lead in a oven=bad....but people have to die from something.....

Hmm...you have a point.

 

[HappierWet]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

I use to cure high heat paint in the oven......then mom found out

 

[mike64]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

for a good general PC tech related forum I recommend PCMech.com

for enthusiast stuff there are tons out there...but I help moderate overclockersclub.com

I am pretty versatile when it comes to PC stuff so not only do I do the tech side of things I also hang with the gamers and such...

Thanks dr. b

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

Hmmm, I thought the oven was going to be destroyed by the title....

On that thought... I work up at 3am for work one morning, popped breakfast into the microwave, set it for 6 minutes at 30%, then went up to shower and get ready. 30 minutes later I come downstairs and the kitchen was filled with smoke. When I looked at the microwave, the display said it still had 30 minutes to go. Yup, I set it for 60 minutes at full power in my groggy daze.

Wife got a new microwave...

 

[Tubingluvr]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

People think I'm crazy when I tell them I clean my computer keyboard in the dishwasher.
My best friend is a computer guru and he showed me this trick.
Need to have the heat dry turned off and let keyboard air dry....works like a charm.
Have to put keyboard upside down on top shelf.

 

[jakebrake]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

i'm still trying to get past angus with cutting oil in the oven (gag!).

 

[htv]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

The wife and I came home after a weekend of camping and boating for the weekend. After un-packing and settling down from the exhaustive weekend I noticed that my $300.00 Seiko watch had moisture under the bezel. I took it off threw it on the kitchen counter and told my wife that I was ticked that my expensive watch to me at the time was not waterproof and have to take it to the jeweler to get repaired.
Meanwhile I go outside and tend to cover and secure the boat while my wife went to the shower. So I come back inside and decide a chicken pot pie would fill a void in my inerds. I guess at this point I need to point out we had an old fashion stove that had an ongoing pilot light so the oven stayed warm. I crank up the oven temp to 350 or 400 to cook my pot pie. After about 5 minutes I hear this bang and clank in the kitchen but couldn't identify where the noise came from. My first thought was it must be a g.d. mouse. Now the oven is nice and toasty so I open it to cook my pot pie. Oh, now I know what that noise was. There was my watch, in pieces. WTF! Did I do that? My lovely and thoughtful wife comes out of the shower and tells me "I put your watch in the oven to see if would dry out."
Yeah we're still married going on 20 years. I adjusted and remember to look in the oven, or microwave, or blender or any other appliance before I turn it on.

 

[mddubya]

Re: Violating the wife's oven

The wife and I came home after a weekend of camping and boating for the weekend. After un-packing and settling down from the exhaustive weekend I noticed that my $300.00 Seiko watch had moisture under the bezel. I took it off threw it on the kitchen counter and told my wife that I was ticked that my expensive watch to me at the time was not waterproof and have to take it to the jeweler to get repaired.
Meanwhile I go outside and tend to cover and secure the boat while my wife went to the shower. So I come back inside and decide a chicken pot pie would fill a void in my inerds. I guess at this point I need to point out we had an old fashion stove that had an ongoing pilot light so the oven stayed warm. I crank up the oven temp to 350 or 400 to cook my pot pie. After about 5 minutes I hear this bang and clank in the kitchen but couldn't identify where the noise came from. My first thought was it must be a g.d. mouse. Now the oven is nice and toasty so I open it to cook my pot pie. Oh, now I know what that noise was. There was my watch, in pieces. WTF! Did I do that? My lovely and thoughtful wife comes out of the shower and tells me "I put your watch in the oven to see if would dry out."
Yeah we're still married going on 20 years. I adjusted and remember to look in the oven, or microwave, or blender or any other appliance before I turn it on.

Ouch,