Video artifacts during POST!! Should I put my GPU in the oven? YES!!

[HarvesteR]

Hello again,

This week has been one of those where everything seems to explode in your face... A few days ago, a tall truck went past my street and clipped the net cable, leaving me isolated from the world (we have overhanging poles here), then a biker rammed the rear end of the car... (not serious, but now we got a broken tail light)

And now this is happening to my rig... I'm getting artifacts consistently now, even during POST... A quick search showed that it's probably the video card... and it seems this is one of those things that can't really be fixed without getting an entirely new card...

Well, my GPU (eVGA GeForce 8800 GTX 768) is not covered by the lifetime warranty, so RMAing it is not an option... nor is buying a new one at this point, so I have to find a way to fix it... Even if this fix only holds for a few more months... I could replace my card later, but right now it's just not gonna happen...

To make things worse, I don't have a backup card (not one that will fit in my motherboard anyways)...
So, I'm ready to try a desperate solution.

A google search of my problem brought up a very bizarre, but at the same time plausible idea that could work... at least some people are claiming to have had success with it...

Basically the idea is to strip the card of all plastic parts, and stick it in the kitchen oven

[Thai09]

What an absolutely hillarious  and entertaining story, is it for real?!

I guess you should try the baking solution, because it sure looks like your card is caputo, sorry!

By coincidense, I have a similar card as a reserve - in Denmark - but the problem is I'm currently in Thailand, so I can't ship it to you!

Sorry...

Cheers [smiley=cool.gif]

[HarvesteR]

Thanks for the quick reply man, and the offer

[HarvesteR]

Ok, I decided I'm gonna do it... The card is fried right now... it can't get any worse...
I went out and got some thermal paste for when I put it back together... and the guy at the computer store thinks my fix could work... so let's see...

I just wish I had a backup card so my rig wouldn't be down and out if this 'procedure' goes south...

Hmm.. now that I think of it, I have this 16MB 3DFX card from the steam age... It's almost not a graphics card these days, but at least it has a VGA port

[HarvesteR]

DEAR GOD!!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS EVEN THOUGH I'VE DONE IT MYSELF!!!! O M G!!!!!! THIS IS INSANE!!!

IT WORKS!!!!!!!

I am posting this from the very computer that just had it's video card baked in a 200

[Rich H]

Wow, nice one! Good to see a remedy is at hand! Still got the same performance that it used to have?

[HarvesteR]

It seems to be as good as new!!!

Dear god!! I still don't believe it!!!

[HarvesteR]

Ok, I've managed to gather myself again enough to post pictures of my 'fix'
Sorry for the blurries... my mobile camera is behaving badly

Card stripped of all removable parts:


Propped up on 4 tin foil balls:


She's ready to burn now!!


Fresh out of the oven!! Good as new!!!



I'm still laughing in case you're wondering!!

[jime59]

There's been quite a few people who've had success using this method.
http://www.hardforums.com/showthread.php?t=1421792

Glad to hear that it worked for you. 

[HarvesteR]

That's where I got the idea!! over 40 pages of people successfully baking their hardware back to life!! 

Too bad I couldn't register there to thank the OP... apparently they banned gmail adresses from creating accounts  and I don't have any emails on other providers...

Well, it works!! Myth confirmed!! 

Cheers

[HarvesteR]

Just a follow up: left the rig on for the entire day and the card held up!! I wasn't playing or stressing the card all that time, so I thought a little pressure test was called for. A quick play test earlier had shown some unusual lag on ArmA 2, but I just attributed it off to the natural tendency the game has to lag depending on the mission you're playing...

So I thought I'd do a little benchmark to see if there was any perf loss after the fix... Well, there was a strange phenomenon during my little test... The game started up fine, just as before... but after about 5 seconds into the actual mission, the lag mounted up and stabilized at abut 3-4 FPS...  The strange part is that alt tabbing out of the game and going back into it seemed to relieve this lag, and then it mounted up again after a few seconds...

But I can't pin this on the fix just yet... It's too late today to go into extensive trials... Tomorrow I'm gonna test with a freshly started rig and see if the problem is still there... there might have been apps running that could have caused the lag and the blame would not at all fall on the GPU then... so let's see...

Anyways, even if I did lose performance for gaming... at least I have a working computer now... remember I couldn't even have it on before the oven fix... and this card was due for replacement soon (wishful thinking  )

If only the fix holds up for another month... or even a few more weeks...

Well, I can always bake it again if I need to 

Cheers

[FuturePilot]

If you try baking your mobile phone let me know! 

[olderndirt]

Several years ago, a friend's floatplane was upside down in a lake - don't ask.

[HarvesteR]

[quote]Several years ago, a friend's floatplane was upside down in a lake - don't ask.

[RaptorF22]

That's awesome!!!!!
Ugh, my iPod is acting up, maybe I'll bake it!!!
Congrats on your mini-mythbuster success.