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gpu - Graphics card failure, anything I could try


My gaming PC has decided to die, it's not the first time but usually a quick ATX reset brings it back to life. Today it didn't.


I disconnect all unessasary devices so I've only got the case button / LED cables, GPU, CPU, RAM and power connected, the computer still didn't turn on.


I've not got a speaker on my motherboard so found a spare one I have for testing and when the machine starts up I get one long beep and two short beeps from my Award BIOS, which apparently means a video card error. I change it with the GPU from another machine and all works well.


Q: So I have a faulty graphics card (an nVidia 8800GT OC), is there anything I can try to resurect it?


Edit


So I tried the answer sblair provided, and bugger me it's only gone and worked! I pre-heated my oven at 200*C for about 5 minutes, put the graphics card in for about 5 minutes before cranking it up to 230*C for the remaining 5 minutes.


I didn't notice any plastics warping, bending, softening etc, however the 8 or so RAM chips did appear to sweat a bit, but this could be the residue from the thermal pads that I removed before.


I couldn't be bothered to put the fan back on just to test it, so I slapped the card back in it's PCI-e bay and this time got the normal, single BIOS beep... WOOHOO!!!


I did put the card on a bit of thick cardboard, didn't want to ruin any of my favourite pizza trays. I decided to use cardboard without a design on it, as this was surely only going to melt / burn.


So there we have it, oven + broken gpu = happy ILMV + hours more fun on COD:MF2


EDIT


So I managed this cycle three times before the GPU finally died, still squeezed a few months out of it but the thing finally surcomed to the power of my oven :P, still pretty happy though



Answer



If you are feeling adventurous, you could try putting it in the oven. I believe the theory is that micro-fractures in the soldering (which might be the cause of the failure) can be eliminated by re-melting the solder. Your mileage may vary...


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