dr_bowtie
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2009
- Messages
- 281
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...
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...