Temporarily Repair a Lost Cause Graphics Card by Heating it up in an oven

Written By: Gaspard Leon
  • Comments: 114
Temporarily Repair a Lost Cause Graphics Card by Heating it up in an oven

Difficulty

Difficult

Steps

14

Time Required

30 minutes - 2 hours

Introduction

Graphics cards “burn out” and are not usable after 5-10 years of operation. As these "burn outs" occur, some graphics cards can be recovered temporarily using these steps.

While following this guide, be extremely careful- this procedure can potentially damage your GPU beyond repair. Applying heat to a video card for a continuous amount of time will melt the solder connections and potentially repair any damaged solder points.

WARNING: Be cautious of toxic gas that is created when heating up plastic, solder, and electrical components. Always wear protective clothing and gloves when handling heated materials. Ensure you properly ventilate the area you are working in and do not breathe in toxic fumes.

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    • Send the card back to the manufacturer for repairs if the warranty is valid. This procedure will void your warranty.

    • Check to see if your warranty is valid. This can be done by looking up the serial number of your graphics card for retail cards in most situations. For OEM video cards, the warranty is tied to the system and may expire sooner then a retail card.

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    • If the graphics card is still installed into the system, begin by removing the card.

    • Unplug all applicable cables from the graphics card as highlighted in blue, your card may have more or less cables

    Thank you so much Gaspard, I really wondered by hearing this technique. I will surely do this next time rather than throwing it in the bin :)

    Chris Edwards -

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    • To remove your card you'll need to remove the screw(s) from the back of the card

    • After doing so ensure that there is no other things blocking the card from being removed from the motherboard

    • Remove the card from the PC

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    • Precision screwdriver(s): usually Phillips #0 and/or #1.

    • Aluminum foil to cover heat sensitive components while propping the card up onto the tray.

    • Thermal paste to replace the paste afterwards.

    • Paper towels to rub any excess of old heatsink compound from the components. (Alcohol wipes work as-well)

    • An oven.

    • A baking tray.

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    • Preheat the oven to 385F (195C).

    • Experiment with lower heats first, and increase temperature as necessary.

    • If you've already finished this guide once and are baking again, increase the temperature slightly - 395F (200C) or 400F (205C).

    • Most of these temporary repairs only consist of the expanding/shrinking of bumps under the surface mount of the graphics chip. Therefore, a lower heat may work as well.

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    • While the oven is pre-heating:

    • Locate specific guides for disassembling your GPU if these steps are inapplicable to your GPU.

    • Remove the screws or clips holding your fan and any duct-work to the video card.

    • Gently take the fan/duct-work off.

    • Remove any old heatsink compound from the chips (using a paper towel).

    • Place the screws in a safe place.

    • Remove plastic components. Plastic will melt in the oven, and produce toxic fumes.

    • Elevate GPU around the edges, never let the components touch any surface.

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    • Use any provided times as an estimate - different materials melt at different temperatures.

    • Heat the GPU slowly.

    • GPU completion times: PS: 3-6 minutes, Xbox: 4-6 minutes, desktop boards: 12 minutes, laptop boards: 8 - 12 minutes, GFX: 8 - 15 minutes.

    • Be patient. If your oven has a window, check if the solder has melted visibly.

    • Set the timer on your oven for 5 -10 minutes.

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    • Prevent the GPU components from touching any surface by elevating the edges of the card with foil.

    • Do not leave the oven unattended.

    • Place the GPU on a baking sheet with the side with most of the chips facing up.

    • Place the baking sheet or dish in the middle of the oven.

    Can you specify which side to have up?

    Matthew -

    iMac 27 » de 2011 bloquer sur la pomme au démarrage. Et quand j’arrive à passer la pomme c’est un écran blanc qui apparaît. J’ai absolument tout essayer. Toutes les combinaisons de démarrage possible. Changement de disque dur… nettoyage complet intérieur. Arriver au bout de tout les forums j’ai oser essayer ce tuto et miracle sa a fonctionner. Mon iMac a redémarré du premier coût. Combien de temps ça va durée je sait pas mais pour le moment je suis heureux

    Romone NarvaloW -

    I would not recommend placing it on alu foil, as this will conduct heat and (static) electricity and to prevent to soldering your gpu to it I would use baking paper instead.

    Ronnie NL -

    Generally, the side to face up is the side that the display ports comes out of. So with the card facing the correct direction (desktop gpu), the motherboard pcie plug (long thin plug) will be on the bottom, the display connectors will be on the left, and the power connector/s will be on the top at the right

    Joshua Minett -

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    • Vent the oven 5 - 10 times by opening the door. This will regulate temperature.

    • Movements can cause liquid solder to solidify incorrectly and ruin the card.

    • You will notice a smell from the molten solder/flux.

    • Do not use fans for cooling.

    does the power connector will be effected by heat or no?

    Hisham -

    The power connector on mine stayed intact through the full 385f for 12 min. So did the dvi connector. No need to remove

    Joshua Minett -

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    • You have 2 options:

    • 1. Test the card quickly without reinstalling the fan/heatsink.

    • Do not operate the GPU with heatsink/fan removed for more than 30 seconds.

    • 2. Reinstall the fan/heatsink, then test the card.

    • Repeat steps 2-9 if GPU fails test.

    • Proceed to step 10 if GPU passes test.

    • Most people will want to test the card to see if it powers on and passes the POST.

    What are advices for fixed vga..

    buddhikaamarasena -

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    • Apply thermal paste onto the main chip or on the connection side of the fan.

    • Place the heat-sink over the GPU carefully, lining up any screws or clips.

    • Apply heatsink on thermal pads as applicable.

    • Use only a small amount of heatsink and spread evenly using a card, or apply pressure evenly when connecting components.

    • If there is thermal tape or pads that were removed for the reflow, place these back in their original position.

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    • Insert and tighten all the screws carefully. They are quite small, and the PCB may be damaged if the screws are over tightened.

    • Tighten the screws in an alternating pattern. E.G. Top left, Bottom right, Top right, Bottom left. With more than 4 screws, use a "Star" pattern when tightening the screws ensuring all screws are evenly tightened.

    • Clean off any noticeable dust on the GPU.

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    • Reinsert GPU into GPU slot on motherboard.

    • Monitor GPU temperatures while PC is at idle, opening programs, while performing intensive tasks.

    • GPUs overheat at around 90C

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    • Verify that the fan was reconnected (if there is one).

    • Verify that the fan spins when the PC is powered up.

    • Verify the GPU works and is detectable by the system.

    • A good program to get is GPU-Z. it can display the GPU temperature on supported cards.

    Final note: it might or might not work depending on the problem with your card, and the type of card, however if the card is a paperweight already, it's worth a shot! ;)

    Gaspard Leon -

    My GTX 570 failed dramatically yesterday not even allowing booting into the Windows environment. After 10 minutes on gas mark 5 (and a half) all is well this morning. I had seen this technique used on games consoles, but never considered it for PC cards. Thanks VERY MUCH for this guide.

    Christopher Jones -

    My GTX 460 has been failing for about 2 weeks and until yesterday has been displaying white lines even during the BIOS POST. I wasn't willing to try this on my mother's oven, instead I used a heat gun and a laser thermometer to monitor the temperature. I started at the lowest temperature possible and gradually increasing until ~160°C, applying heat mostly on the memory chips and GPU for about 10 min. The problem has vanished completely :D

    Even though I didn't quite follow this guide, it gave me useful directions, thanks!

    AndreLDM -

Author

Gaspard Leon

Member since: 24/04/10

2840 Reputation

103 comments

I fixed my friends dead out-of-warranty Leadtek Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB card using this procedure

That was 3 weeks ago, and he's still using it daily since then

We forgot to plug in the fan connector and his temperatures reached 124C while playing a game

Since then he reconnected his fan and it's working fine

Thanks for reading, hope it helps someone

Gaspard Leon -

How long did your reflowed graphics card last? Is it still rocking?

Lim Chi Yuung -

The card did eventually fail, i believe around 4 months later - the guy ended up buying a new card

Gaspard Leon -

Hi everyone,

I also fixed a almost dead NVIDIA 512mb MXM II card, at the first point I put the card 8 min to 190ºC aprox, it improved the performance but not yet to run.

Then i repeated the operation with 205ºC and 10 min and the card ran perfectly, add some thermal paste and it's solved.

Thanks for this manual it's very usefull!!!

javier -

I just finished doing this with an evga gtx460 i got from a friend of mine. It was throwing up artifacts and crashing constantly before. Now it's stable for over 10 minutes. It looks like it's fixed but only time will tell. Wish me luck and thanks for the guide!

Chris S -

Hey, how long did it work for?

Mahmoud Pathan -

It is such a nice way you have done it but the process need too much care and there is a big threat of PCB damage due to manual working so you need to be more careful and if someone is worried about the PCB he need to get a better auto pick and place BGA rework station this is specially made for these types of reworking. Here I have seen some blogs that have so many machines and process you can choose according to the type of reworking you want. I am sure you will like it.

http://bgareworkstations.wordpress.com/

Harry Potter -

i was very worried about my oven because it not heating well now i have learn a lot from here ...

http://www.ransomspares.co.uk/cooker-rep...

Andre Matthew -

Hi all i did exactly wat needed to be done my card buggered up while playing Diablo 3 with all settings to max performance and max graphics quality i baked my card and it worked putting my mind at rest in fear of spending hundreds on a new card so this guide has saved my computer and has saved my hip pocket ( only thing is cant be sure enough on how long this will last ) also my graphics card is a PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 (AX7850 2GBD5-DH) just to give you an idea on wat type of card i have and if similiar cards to mine will work also by doing this guide

Shane Blewitt -

How long did your reflowed graphics card last? Is it still rocking?

Lim Chi Yuung -

Report to your duty sir!!

mine transistor exploded at @ 15minutes *evga gtx 570

Dis madafaka guy is txt'ing me, thats why i exceeded the 10min...

rakman jnaide -

I recently did the procedure on an out-of-warranty GTX 780 Ti but sadly it was at a friend’s house and he only had a small toaster oven… the temperature was too hot and the capacitors begin to pop off the board like popcorn after only 8 minutes… a bit of entertainment, but no result

Gaspard Leon -

My brother did this several times on his Asus laptop motherboard for over a year (“many” times he said) and got some extended life out of it before he was forced to replace the computer.

Gaspard Leon -

@ mods :

sorry gona double comment...

- (for grammar improvement's & more details)

- for humanity (yeah! let's help humans xD , @ants go help your selves)

Reporting to your duty sir(s)!!

mine, transistor (am I correct that cylindrical silver colored thingy,1 transistor only pop'ed) exploded at @ 15minutes mark

*evga gtx 570

cause, Dis madafaking guy *i dont even know* just txt'ed me at wrong time, like, wth (he must be a !&&* sent demon for me

thats why i exceeded the 10min mark...

followed every steps correct'ly

rakman jnaide -

@mod's:

sorry for triple posting !!

omg!! just tested my evga gtx 570 , it worked !!!

(so that cylindrical thing is just a cover.... my bad..

now, i need to observe if its stability...

rakman jnaide -

My brother's GTX 560 started acting up after 3.5 years, showing stutter in Windows boot-up, games and any other graphics-intensive task and inability to run 1080p. He was ready to dump €150-€200 on a new one but I talked him into trying to reflow it despite his safety conserns. Having never tried to reflow any electronic component, let alone in a home oven, I was a bit precarious and only "baked" it for 10 minutes at 190oC. Then I let it cool for 15 minutes with the oven door closed, followed by another 15 minutes with the door open.

IT WORKED! The look on his face was priceless. Problem is, he was kind of wishing to have to get a new one. :)

gstouras -

This works for me. Thanks so much. I have ATI R9 270x 4GB Sapphire that displays red pixelated lines on bios and it does not display after loading the OS. I just remove the fan and heatsink, clean up left over thermal paste, put it in the oven(used aluminum foil to avoid touching the tray). put the oven on 200C and set it for 5 minutes. after that i test it and it worked.

snotorio -

What about plastic parts on laptop board?

Arman -

With a laptop board it is best to use a heatgun.

Pip -

Gts 450 was fixed. I was anxious and scared to try this but im glad i did. I wrapped the card in foil only leaving the graphics chip exposed. I put it on the oven toaster for about 7-8 minuted and now the lines were gone. Im on a desktop by the way. Thanks!1

Arkaem -

It works better with a heat gun and then you can focus the heat on the gpu instead of the other components. I've done it on quite a few graphics cards, mac mini gpu's and some laptop motherboards. I run the heat gun on high for 4 minutes and heat the surrounding area so it doesn't bend or warp and focus most of the heat on the GPU.

Tim Porter -

Is that gpu fixed boards still working.?? I tried this by heat gun and oven on different Mac boards so just curious to know how long it will last. Any feedback much appreciate. Cheers

Upendra Patel -

Last night my 7850 pcs+ wont boot up so tried this thing and it works! Thank you so much!! Will be updating here next week if my card is still running :D i hope it this will last a year or more tho

Karl Kangleon -

Anyone reading this guide in 2016 - please note that the premise is a bit flawed, you're not really "re-flowing" the solder on the circuit-board, at least that's not the part that fixes the card usually, it's a temporary expansion or contraction of the "bumps" underneath the surface-mount chips the GPU or memory modules that causes the card to work again (at least for a while) the upshot of this is that even a temperature that doesn't melt the solder can actually work for a while as well.

Gaspard Leon -

I had a GTX560 Ti from Asus,green artefacts,crashes,only worked on 1024x768 with no acceleration,tried this tehnique around 11 minutes at aprox.200°C and it worked flawlessly,now let's see for how long.i also installed MSI Afterburner and pumped up the idle fan load to 40% just to be sure it stays cool,hope this helped someone.

PS:plastic objects on the board will melt,so you better remove them

bularcaanca -

I just fixed a GTX460 by putting it in the oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 8 minutes. Used the trick with the scrunched up balls of aluminium-foil and it worked! Amazing. Before, I had these horizontal white lines all over the screen. Removed the plastic with the fan and covered up the plastic connections with aluminium-foil.

Sam Decrock -

Yes! Buggy, half dead Radeon 7970 salvaged from the trash. Baked at 195-ish degrees C for about 8 min.

But come on, why is everyone making aluminum foil balls? Make little cones, much more stable. :)

hansson1984 -

This fix is still going strong!

Second time repair now for my aging 8800 GTS....(having also previously resurrected an old RROD X360 board with the same method). It was displaying classic artifacts..Blue vertical lines across the screen and disrupted graphics.

Preheat oven to 220C (200C with Fan assist)

Remove everything...connectors, heatsink, fan, thermal pads and paste.

Clean gently but thoroughly - if using tissue; blow to ensure no fibres remain.

Protect all but GPU by wrapping in Aluminium foil.

Rest the board on four little scrunch balls of foil on a baking tray (normal side up).

Cook for exactly 10 minutes.

Remove immediately and allow to cool for at least 30 mins.

Check the board is OK by starting up PC with naked board...Do not run for more than 1-2 minutes without heatsink!!!

Reapply thermal pads and paste, heastsink, fan and power connector for the fan (if needed).

Reinstall and you are good to go...

Last fix worked for about 10 weeks...I'll let you know how long this one goes for.

Daniel Davies -

Instructions unclear... my dick is now stuck in the toaster...

Dan mone -

gg

twelvechar

Gaspard Leon -

I repaired my GTX660 TI. I did everything as described and cooked it for 9 Minutes. I used a towel to get the card out of the oven as my oven gloves were too thick and the card constantly slipped out of my hand ;-)

Hayo Greenwood -

Trying to fix a gtx 980 Ti the oven fix made it work for like a few minutes then it died, I retried the procedure and it died in a few seconds.. Any advise?

cryptonite26 -

This is just a temporary fix, and shouldn't be treated as permanent. The next step up would be to have the chip removed, use a stencil to reapply solder on all the contacts, and then when the chip is perfectly in place it gets melted from the other side (through the chip) to melt it down before letting it cool.

Due to the difficultly involved in doing all this, I wouldn't take doing this lightly.

Jason -

Reballing is the right method not this bullshit

Peppigners 1980 -

Wish I could fix my GTX 1080 like this =/ *sigh Guess I'll just have to RMA the card via Gigabyte.. That's gonna be a real pain in the ass -_-

jafaruddin93 -

Success with a Radeon HD 5670 on a thrift store box I'm planning on flipping! Thanks for the guide.

Matthew -

YO GUYS Heres a tip when putting it in the oven u can make it work even better ,talking from personal experience ,put a socket from a ratcheton on the gpu (21 in my case) it work like a charm :) And srsly i am not joking :)

Nedko Kostadinov -

can someone tell me what setting to use on the oven, up and bot heating or air circulation?

Anukun Thurner -

A complete alternative to this guide is to just identify the chip that needs reflowing, and using a heat gun to heat it up. If you have or can get something like kapton tape, do so. It can be used to shield everything around the chip you are heating up from being exposed to the same amount of heat and causing their own problem. Otherwise, use aluminium foil, along with some clips (I find the tiny ones you use for crafting work best, but be creative). Then finally heat away, making sure you have some understanding of what is too hot or not hot enough.

Jason -

My GTX 670 showed sometimes some symptoms of corrupt VRAM in 2D mode evident as 2D artifacts but never in 3D games. After the symptoms also occured as 2D artifacts in 3D games the card crashed and wouldn't allow booting.

So I baked it. Now the GTX 670 works again, or at least I didn't damage it. I put the card on baking paper and on a rost. Nevertheless, I did three mistakes. 1) Preheated to 210°C and THEN put the card in. Bad. 2) after 5min increased to quite high 220°C. Bad. After 10min I saw that one display port jumped off and all the capacitors were tilted sideways. 3) I quickly pulled the card out to ambient temperature. Bad.

Luckily I put the card with the GPU, the capacitors and all the other heavy parts upwards, otherwise they would have fallen off ("pro tip" :D). Now the card works again and I lost a DP port. :D Although it works now, I'll probably get a new card.

lukie80 -

Thanks! I'm so happy that you at least proved that even with some mistakes, this method may still be working though! No worries about trying to be so careful (if you're ok with losing a DP port LOL). Thanks for the comment bro!

Gom zalito -

Is it safe to use the oven afterwards to cook food, etc.

Does baking your gpu in your oven make your oven toxic and unusable to cook food in?

Tanner McKay -

I don't think so. Most components in there (included plastic) can support more than 250°C so you're not incinerating anything that creates any fumes. I suppose a burnt pizza leaves more toxic fumes than baking a GPU, IMHO.

Gom zalito -

Of course is toxix, many acids used in the industrial process will evaporate in your Oven and in your Lungs

Peppigners 1980 -

This Method is very stupid and dangerous because you give an amount of heat on all the card and not all the components are thermo resistant till 200-220 Celsius , is so hard to buy a cheap heating gun and giving heat only on the GPU instead of all the card???? This method is dangerous also for your health bevause all the chemical substances used in the industrial process for the production od the card will evaporate in your oven and in your lungs…….if you are happy do it but if you are a bit intelligent take a heat gun or a rework station to do the reflow procedure……..bye

Peppigners 1980 -

Done it with my R9 270X from Club3D. Someone there decided that 1 fan was enough. Baked it for 9 minutes @200 degrees celcius. It kind of revived it! Thanks to all the commenters, if you weren't here I would NOT have tried this!

tristan-floyd -

Oh boy, so satisfactory! Im here to post that I've done it with my 4yrs old EVGA 560Ti. 4 days ago, it crashed while I was gaming and after that it started to show artifacts on BIOS, on setup, on POST, and even on windows load, it wouldn't boot either (crashing with BSOD driver reset error), although I could boot on Safe Mode (with millions of artifacts) and saw this guide, and all these comments that made me try it at last.

So, I've cooked it for 12 mins at low temp in my gas oven (don't have thermometer so I decided to put it in medium).

After slowly cooling it first near the oven and then blowing with a fan some cool air from outside, I tested it with no luck (I forgot to connect the power cable, but didn't realize LOL) and decided to put it for another 8 minutes in the oven at maximum.

I instantly tried again, and after it doesn't boot I finally realize I wasn't connecting the power (so dumb of me lol). After that it booted up again normally! So far it's working now, I'll post whenever it dies again!

Gom zalito -

is it still alive?

Shibō san -

Due to hard times, losing a job and all...I tried this. I Have a Evga 560ti. Its over 6 years old. The first time it artifacted was in may 2016. I baked it in my microwave Oven for 8 mins at 190C. Card started working great. It worked well for a year. Then it started artifacting again in July 2017. I baked it again and it started working again. But since July 2017 It seems to start artifacting after 2 weeks. And subsequently I have baked it 3 times already. It works but only for a few weeks at a time.

So the lesson is the first bake and success story lasts the longest. Subsequent bakes don't last long.

I think its time to plunk down for a new card. Whats saddening is that last year summer 2016 there was the gtx 1060... And this year still its the gtx 1060... Nvidia didn't release any new cards!

Lurker316 -

You need a professional reballing if you want that your card lasts more time

Peppigners 1980 -

Did this on my son's hd 7870, it lasted a year.... My son started leaving his PC on all night and it crapped out again. Going to redo it and see if I get lucky again. Lol. But a year fix for such a simple method isn't bad at all.

Indigo Cordova (Indigo79) -

If I understand correctly, reflowing does not solve the problem in the long run because it actually lies in the solder bump area within the underfill, where the main die makes contact with the substrate.

These are tiny balls, almost impossible to fix but with the application of heat the problem is temporarily rectified so as the underfill is moved around etc and some contact may be re-made temporarily, but is largely design error in the chip production and in the end a full swap out is the only real solution.

The issue is *not* in the larger solder balls found where the substrate makes connection to the board, as most people expect.

But it could be in some cases with a warped or bent board.

BHelweg -

I baked my 780Ti and it works. While in baking, DP port, HDMI port, and 6 silver capacitor were peeling off lol. I baked with 200c at 8 minutes. I solder back that 6 capacitor, but seem impossible to solder back the DP and HDMI port because too small pins. I hope this reviving card will last forever huhu..

Azreim Amy -

Hello,

I have a GTX580 (bought 07/2012) which last weekend started showing artifacts on my screen. After doing all the relevant research for software related issues and before going to buy a new (yet expensive) GTX1070ti, I googled “how to fix graphics card”. I ended up here.

After the “baking” process (205oC - 12 minutes) I am really happy to say that the card seems to now work! I hope that it will continue so up until Xmas.

Thank you!!

Marinos Klouras -

GTX 580, artifacts…fixed and working like new…

saved me from buying new gtx 1080…This is beautiful hack

Mr. Architect -

I did this on an AMD R7 265 and after exactly 20 days it died again! Will try to cook it again! Like the title says “temporarily repair”… You should do this while browse for a new gpu. Just bought a 1060 for replace it.

Regis Souza -

Second cook, day one… all good for now!

Regis Souza -

how is it now? xD

Shibō san -

I have tried this on my GTX 970, baked it for 8 minutes in 200 c.

I hooked it up, the display goes on but the resolution is set on 600X800.

Goes into windows, can’t change the resolution, so I tried to reinstall the drivers but it didn’t do anything.

Suddenly the screen goes off, I restart my PC and it works the same way until it gets to the sign in screen, then it turns off.

Any ideas before I give up on it?

Amir -

You could try a few more minutes, give it around 12 instead of 8. Also make sure the oven is fully preheated first. If that doesn’t do it then I would give up and get a cheap used one from eBay or something.

Steve K -

Just tried this fix on my GTX780 which developed the infamous code 43 error - after following this info I above, I was still a little skeptical, but I am happy say that the video card now works perfectly and even runs a little cooler courtesy of the fresh Arctic Silver under heatsink.

Great stuff - thanks.

Kevin -

Did this to reflow an old GTX550ti in March 2017, it is now March 2018 and it has failed again. There has been occassional tearing in the picture for approximately 3 months. Giving it another go to try and squeeze a bit more life out of it but I am less optimistic about this working for a second time on the same card. Just waiting for it to call down and enjoying that fresh spring smell of cancer in the air while I wait.

Steve K -

Resolution stuck at 800x600. I think it’s safe to say it’s dead. Time for a replacement unfortunately.

Steve K -

J’étais sceptique mais ça a marché :D

J’espère que ça va durer, à voir les autres commentaires c’est du temporaire… J’essaierai de reposter si la carte retombe en rade.

Radeon HD 7850 achetée en ~2012,

Panne début 2018, plantage pendant une game et ensuite écran noir juste après le logo windows (chargement des drivers freezant un écran noir).

Pleins d’erreurs de Vram (>1 000 000, arrêt du test manuel)

Ressuscitée au four :p

———————————————————-

It worked !

Radeon HD 7850 from ~2012, broke in 2018, oven fixed a week later :)

Darween -

My R9 270 died after a very heavy use with very dirty disipators. After clening averything, tried the cooking and it worked! Hope it will last.

Lguarin -

After a few stutters over the last months my GTX 780 Ti died. After reboot it was still recognised but the infamous yellow error sign was there (Error code 43). Wiped all drivers, baked the card for 9 minutes on 190C/380F, reinstalled, and to my surprise.. This fix, after 8 years, still works! Don’t be afraid to try before spending 500,- on a new card.

CDJW HVA -

I got the display working after doing the oven baking as described here which saves my graphic card of acer 5920g nvidia 9600m gt card. Then I found the dual display is set to” auto” by default and I changed it to “ dual “ mode and now even though sometimes I get the black screen in lcd display my cry monitor works fine. So everybody who has problem with black screen, better to check the bios settings before changing the graphic card. Thanks again everybody in this site given the feedback on oven baking.

prasad.wm -

Had a Radeon RX 270 that only worked in 2D, where 3D acceleration was completely gone. Up to the point of complete 3D failure, there was now and then graphic artifacts in some games when the card was heating up - like white boxes and texture errors.

Disassembled fans and heatsink. Put 4 spacer screws where the GPU cooler is normally mounted, to lift it above the baking tray.

Baked for 10 mins. @ 200C, turned off the oven and opened the lid to let it cool down slowly. After approx. 10 minutes I took it out and let it cool for another 5 mins. Reassembled heatsink and fans, and put fresh cooling paste on the GPU.

Though I’ve read many of the comments here, I was still a little surprised that it actually worked - so thanks for the tip :-)

Kenneth E. -

I think my gtx 970 broke from putting it inside of my backpack and traveled with me to my friend’s house. It has no physical damage as I have opened it and viewed it, but it is not being detected by BIOS now. The lights and fans are on, and power properly connected, but I can only use my integrated gpu now. So could this method work for me?

Kevorex Wang -

before that i need to know something ….actually if i insert the gpu in the pc it could n’t start (fans spins for second and turns off). So should i do the reflow stuff or should check the card’s circuitary using a multimeter for failed stuffs such as vrms, mosfet, etc,. Any ways im planing to use a heatgun instead of oven becoz i dont have a oven :|………

im having a GTX 750Ti 2gb from zotac…………….

Prithviraj -

If you planned to do it with a multimeter, did you find any help/tutorial for it ? Oven method didn’t work for my 980Ti so I might try this, but didn’t find anything about it, only some videos of guys doing it without exlpaining much.

Alexandre -

Thank you for this tutorial and the updated posts on lower temperature requirements. Wrapped my dead iMac mid-2011 GPU in foil, exposing only the chip. Baked it for 10 minutes at 325 º F and allowed it to cool slowly to room temp. Works perfectly now! This gives me time to locate and buy a backup / refurbished GPU. Has been working for a week so far. Will post back on it’s next bake to see how long it lasts.

iMac (27-inch, Mid 2011) - 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7

AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2048 MB

Robert -

Hey, I encountered this problem recently and I thought of solving this problem by myself and here I am.. So I wanna try this method ASAP, what I wanted to know is that whether it is OK to put the card in the oven without the ports covered?

I hope someone will reply soon because I'm very nervous about this method.

Uzman -

How much dangerous it is to use the oven to cook food again .

Vla Bog -

I built my rig just over six years ago with:

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7970 OC 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (11197-01-40G)

10 days ago it failed for the first time in the middle of Prey: Mooncrash. Both monitors went completely dark - the card crashed.

Rebooted the machine and got artifacts spanning the height of displays, until it would crash again before even loading Windows.

Exposed the GPU core and applied heat directly to the core with hot air rework station:

Aoyue 850A++

Held the the nozzle a couple inches away from the core and slowly moved it around on both sides of the board at 70% heat for ~ 5 minutes. Not very scientific, yet this yielded improvement. I could boot into Windows without the card crashing, and there were less artifacts on the screen, but the resolution was low.

Applied heat again. This time used FLIR camera to get real data. Got GPU to 160C+ for 10 minutes. PRESTO CHANGEO! Been working like a champ for 24hrs.

Lucky to work in electronics lab.

Daniel Cantilo -

Still going strong

Daniel Cantilo -

Repaired a EVGA GTX 780ti with the following recipe: 8 minutes @ 190 degrees in  a pre-heated oven.

Sébastien Wirz -

No luck here with a GTX 980Ti that did not start up at all before (and after…).

Method :

- 9-10 minutes at 195°C~, no luck

- 9-10 minutes at 205°C~, no luck

- 15 minutes at 210°C~, and no luck, symptoms were still the same, the computer won’t ever power up when the card is plugged in.

I hope this works better for you ;)

Alexandre -

I didn’t learn this technique from here, but I have been keeping my Nvidia GTX 660 Ti alive for the past year using this same trick. It was due to be replaced with a HD 7970, but this has kept the GTX alive and well. Thanks for taking the time to write a iFixit article about it! Also, never ever put the GPU in the oven with it’s chip facing down. It will fall out of it’s socket if you do and once it goes out you’re pretty much out of luck forever.

Mathys Oliveira -

Didn’t work for an ATI 290 that the BIOS didn’t recognize. (Fan spun up and VRM’s were warm to touch though.)

- 380 for 9 mins, no luck

-395 for 9 mins , no luck

Just an FYI but second time “browned” the fan power connector (from white to a brownish hue). There was advice to de-solder everything you could before baking. Card was dead and long out of warranty so didn’t worry about it. Vapor chamber cooler still works so likely will ebay it. Have a 290x with some artifacts (yellow vertical lines on basic graphics driver) and Windows gives errors when installing the ATI drivers. Going to bake that too and will post results when done.

Scott H -

I tried it on mine, so far everything works better. No black screen since 3 days when I did it. I hope it keeps going like that. One question, where does that:

“Re-couler la soudure peut marcher sur certains circuits, mais de nouvelles informations montrent que ces réparations "rapides et temporaires" sont en fait causées par l'élargissement ou la contraction des bossages de soudure en dessous des puces montées en surface comme le GPU ou les puces mémoires (ce qui est possible à des températures moindres). “

come from exactly ? I read everywhere online that it is the resoldering that works.

BOBOUDA -

Unfortunately, heat is the enemy of electrolytic capacitors. If the capacitors are on there way out, this excessive heat may finish them off.

Have you replaced the electrolytic caps after doing this process to prolong the life of the card?

AlexZander -

I tried "baking" my card in the machine. My iMac would stay on (gray screen) in safe boot mode, so it would heat up on it's own. I turned it on and laid it flat on the screen for about 20 mins, hoping the internal heat would help reseat the graphics chip. (Seemed from the videos I saw, we want the chip to move down towards the front of the computer)

Really I was just hoping for it to work for a few minutes while we grabbed some much needed files.

After a few attempts, the iMac is up and running. It's been on all night syncing files to the cloud. I'm sure this is a temp solution, but might be worth a try if you're not prepared to take everything apart.

cshafferwhite -

I baked my AMD RADEON R9 280X and It Worked! However For everyone that wants to do the same keep in mind that it is only a temporary fix. For example if you are saving money for a new GPU , but you still want to play games. I will have an update when the GPU dies again. Also for people that have a button for accelerating fans DO NOT cook the graphics card for more than 10 minute otherwise it will short something. I honestly cant believe that it worked!

Hrisi -

Don't preheat oven for best results, better to build up temperature than shock it instantly hot

Use 190c without preheat 13 minutes

After use 200c for 5 minutes

Open oven door and leave to cool 20 minutes+

If doesn't work try putting flux around GPU chip, heat for 8-9 min on 200c heated oven

Make sure clean after with isopropyl alcohol to remove flux other nearby components

Or can use smd hot air station around GPU chip with flux go in circle around CPU when you see it wiggle with the hot air movements keep going for 5 sec and then stop it will naturally seat onto the bga pads with the solder in right place

If GPU has lots of underfill as sides you may need remove it or pointless

Apple Cake -

i did the same for mac book pro about 7 times, and in end i put 370 degree about 10 minute.Then i reduced memory from 16 gb to 8 and also downgrade to 2011 osx to decrease power consumption. it is significant i also planing in future upgrade harddrive but i already can see difference. Heating lappy get down around 70%

davidfrack -

Fixed my HD5770 from MAC, anda a GTX1080. thanks

Nuno Leite -

Baking in an oven can damage capacitors; a heat gun allows for the use of flux and so a more permanent repair.

Anwar Shiekh -

The original instructions were pretty flexible, and now after many people have edited, some of the information is a bit jumbled… One of these days I’ll come and tidy it up again but for now this information is AT-YOUR-OWN-RISK, if it brings someone a few more months or weeks of joy using their broken-computer, great, but if someone burns their house down, or their wife leaves them because of the smell - NOT MY FAULT! :)

Gaspard Leon -

?? Just brought an MSI R9 270X back to life, I hope it last enough to prices to drop down ?

Enrique Marcano -

As a person repairing graphic cards for hobby, I would like to ask the author, how exactly the following defects should be repaired with the method offered here (my personal statistics):

1. A MOSFET in VRM, which goes short

2. Faulty PWM regulator, doubler or MOSFET driver

3. A missing component, i.e. a small ceramic capacitor at the PCI-Express line

4. Degraded graphical memory

5. Defect of the CPU (faulty memory controller)

6. Ripped off pads (usual at RAM near the PCIe connector)

7. Damage of the PCB (basically, a cut wire)

8. Improperly flashed BIOS

I would also note, that according to a typical ROHS soldering profile, temperatures beyond 220°C hold for not longer than 10 seconds. In addition, the electrolytic capacitors typically have a maximal operation temperature of 105°C (storage temperature 15-35°C).

If your graphic card still has some value, please do not follow. Sell it as it is. After baking nobody will take your card for repair, since GPU and RAM will be most probably permanently damaged.

acid -

Hi,

I tried it with a EVGA GTX580, which only worked in 2D SVGA and showing white horizontal stripes (so most likely an issue with VRAM), in a preheated oven @ 200 °C. After 10 minutes, when I just wanted to switch off the oven, two electrolytic caps popped up. I'm going to try replacing the caps and test the card, If I can get replacements of the caps. So If possible, remove caps before baking and populate it again after that.

Greetings

Steffen

Steffen K -

I had a dead Aorus 1080 ti Xtreme, came here to find a solution. The toturial seemed to mix up at some points and I wasn't sure if I should follow them. Did some research for it and voilá~

Do that at your own risk, I can just tell you what worked for me best at this specific model.

I baked her at 215°C (preheated) for 12 minutes (Backside up).

Before the bake:

Artifacts and crashing constantly.

After the bake:

Furmark burns fine, no issues anymore. Happy card, happy me.

Aki -

i fixed my 1060 gpu with heater instead of oven method,it works for 9days days then it went dead again,its a hit or miss,it may permanently fix for someone

Pranav Prakash -

tried this with two cards , a gtx 780 that had artifacts. ,my oven is missing the temperature chart so i eyeballed it.
left the card in for 10 minutes and i am typing this comment from a pc using that same 780. perfect result.
the second card was a 1050 ti thats now in my brothers pc. both cards have been used hard for gaming and after 6 hours, they both work perfectly.

the asxut -

Merci à toi ô grand Gaspard Leon

Mon Mac Pro 2009 vient de retrouver une 3° vie avec sa carte graphique

:)

tibo hème -

I Fixed my GEFORCE RTX 3070 GAMING Z TRIO from my friend. My younger brother throw it and after that, I went to my friend and he fixed it, now it is stable.

Christina -

The technician did this to my Graphic Card, Apple comp from 2011 like three years ago and it has been working perfectly until 2 days ago which crashed again same way as before. They have done same treatment again, lets see how long this mac goes on from now...crazy...Im aiming for 20 years of the same make, only 8 years more to go hehe

Torrens -

HELLO! FOR WHOEVER HAS those syptoms with their PC, respectively GPU:

1. A short time after playing a game i got a BSOD stating "video scheduler internal error" and shortly after i got green artifacts, pc froze up. Restarted with no gpu signal.

2. Some time got signal, entered windows normally, and after a short while got artifacts again and pc froze up, restarted itself, no gpu signal.

3. Switched gpu ports, display port and hdmi. Nothing worked.

4. Switched PCI-Express slots, but behaved the same like this: "entered windows normally, and after a short while got artifacts again and pc froze up, restarted itself, no gpu signal"

5. At some point no pcie slot nor gpu output slot worked anymore, it just didn't output video signal.

6. The GPU WORKED NORMALLY when VIDEO DRIVER was not installed, and DID NOT WORK when video driver was installed. (when installing video driver, when setup tries to load the driver installing, image goes black and when it comes back, it comes with artifacts and it locks up.

Mihai Dani -

THEN I HEARD about baking the GPU, and it seemed a little bit too extreme. SO... I ACTUALLY managed to FIX IT this way:

- Took a very good and powerfull hairdrier

- Turned on to the maximum and i blew very very closely to the back position, or back spot of where your video chipset is located on the GPU for about 5minutes. I did move it corner to corner of the aria of the chipset and also corner to corner of the entire backside of the gpu.
I also continued in the same action to blow side ways in the direction of the video chipset, WORKS even if you HAVE A BACKPLATE on the gpu.

I checked with my hand the backplate of the gpu for temperature and it was so hot that i couldn't touch it. After that i just left it so it gets cold again by itself.

AND TO MY MAXIMUM UNEXPECTENCE AND SURPRISE, put back the gpu and NOW the GPU works perfectly normal again.... -_-

This is for whoever have the same issue and wonders how to fix it quickly without actually following the headache of the normal baking process.

GOOD LUCK!

Mihai Dani -

IF IT DOESN'T WORK, try again to do the same procedure but try to heat it even harder, sideways and on the backside of the chipset (even though you have a backplate). Probably you didn't heat it up enough in the first time or you don't have a very powerfull hairdrier.

IF you mange to get it working again... DO A CUSTOM PATTERN in your GPU monitoring software for the fans to COOL IT DOWN extremely more better than you had it before. Try to do 100% of the fans when gpu goes to 70-75. So the gpu never reach again 85-90+celsius degreese in gaming. Otherwise it seems like something in high temps it's troubleing the chipset.

Mihai Dani -

UPDATE: with hair dryer didn't last until i opened a video game.

How i actually FIXED IT:

Bought a heat gun.

Disassembled the gpu to be left only with the pcb and cleaned it.

Cover the capcitors with foil and plastic fan connectors with aluminium foil.

Put gpu in place with chipset facing up, make sure it's steady and raise it from the ground level with some aluminium foil balls.

Set heatgun on 400 degrees celsius.

Heat the gpu in a circular clockwise motion, revoluting from center (the chipset) -> outwards and then close the cicle going inward again towards center and repeat for 9 minutes. Your area of work should be from center (chipset -> all the way to the vram around the chipset included)

Hold the heatgun while heating the gpu at 10-15cm above the gpu AND when you first start the process hold it farther away (like 30cm) so the gpu heats gradually first time, and after 10-30sec come in close to 10-15 cm.

So far now it works perfectly, did benchmarks and tested games and it seems it's running like nothing hpnd

Mihai Dani -