Showing posts with label Computer Hardware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Computer Hardware. Show all posts
Graphics Card Fixed!!!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Well, surprisingly (at least for me) heating the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit worked!!! I am so excited! I was really just expecting the computer screen to start showing artifacts and when it didn't I tested it in COD 4 on full graphics and it ran fine. If you're graphics card isn't working right, definitely try baking it, but if you are going to heat the card to the temp I had it, I would recommend clamping the GPU and the memory down so that they don't fall off when the solder melts. I used clothespins, so you don't have to buy really sophisticated clamps or anything. This is the first time I have ever tried a solder reflow technique, but the results are amazing!!!
Project update #1
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Hello World!
I apologize for not posting sooner, but I have been busy with school and I didn't feel like I had anything to talk about. I will start off with the projector. I recently did some research (after adjusting the mirror repeatedly) and found out that between the main mirror housing and the lamp there is a small rectangle box that is composed of four mirrors (one on each side) that is called the light box. Some of the info that I found suggested that the mirrors may have shifted, thereby causing part of the display to be darkened. From what I gathered, it is possible to fix the light box if you are very careful in removing it so that it doesn't break. So far I haven't actually taken a look at the light box in my projector.
As for the Radeon X1800 XT, I have tried heating it several times, but nothing has worked. I have just about given up on fixing it, but because it is a fairly powerful graphics card, I think I will try one last ditch effort. My plan is to clamp the memory chips and the GPU to the board so that when the solder melts, they don't fall off. I will then place the card with the GPU pointing down on a cookie sheet, supporting the card with three small aluminum foil balls. If all goes well up to this point, I plan to heat the oven to around 450 degrees Fahrenheit, maybe higher. (You can find many tutorials on how to re-flow the solder on a graphics card on YouTube)
Now, on to the steamer. I cleaned out the water line that ran from the base, to the iron, but that didn't seem to be clogged. I also found a small tube in the basin that you fill up with water when you start. the tube appeared to be clogged and I assumed that was the problem so I removed it, but when I tried to clean it out I discovered that it was not clogged but it was actually a filter. It was very difficult to replace the filter in the basin but I managed it. The I never actually fixed it because the person to whom it belonged needed it and decided that he would try to send it to the manufacturer.
I hope to post about more projects soon, so stay tuned, thanks for reading.
P.S. For those who are interested in 3D modeling, Blender version 2.60 was just released. you can download it here
Also, if you are a student you can get AutoDesk Inventor and other AutoDesk software for free by clicking here and signing up(its not a 30-day trial, its the real thing).
I apologize for not posting sooner, but I have been busy with school and I didn't feel like I had anything to talk about. I will start off with the projector. I recently did some research (after adjusting the mirror repeatedly) and found out that between the main mirror housing and the lamp there is a small rectangle box that is composed of four mirrors (one on each side) that is called the light box. Some of the info that I found suggested that the mirrors may have shifted, thereby causing part of the display to be darkened. From what I gathered, it is possible to fix the light box if you are very careful in removing it so that it doesn't break. So far I haven't actually taken a look at the light box in my projector.
As for the Radeon X1800 XT, I have tried heating it several times, but nothing has worked. I have just about given up on fixing it, but because it is a fairly powerful graphics card, I think I will try one last ditch effort. My plan is to clamp the memory chips and the GPU to the board so that when the solder melts, they don't fall off. I will then place the card with the GPU pointing down on a cookie sheet, supporting the card with three small aluminum foil balls. If all goes well up to this point, I plan to heat the oven to around 450 degrees Fahrenheit, maybe higher. (You can find many tutorials on how to re-flow the solder on a graphics card on YouTube)
Now, on to the steamer. I cleaned out the water line that ran from the base, to the iron, but that didn't seem to be clogged. I also found a small tube in the basin that you fill up with water when you start. the tube appeared to be clogged and I assumed that was the problem so I removed it, but when I tried to clean it out I discovered that it was not clogged but it was actually a filter. It was very difficult to replace the filter in the basin but I managed it. The I never actually fixed it because the person to whom it belonged needed it and decided that he would try to send it to the manufacturer.
I hope to post about more projects soon, so stay tuned, thanks for reading.
P.S. For those who are interested in 3D modeling, Blender version 2.60 was just released. you can download it here
Also, if you are a student you can get AutoDesk Inventor and other AutoDesk software for free by clicking here and signing up(its not a 30-day trial, its the real thing).
Artifacting Video Card
Monday, August 8, 2011
This is a project I have been working on for about a month and so far I have been unsuccessful. It is a radeon X1800 XT that displays pink lines across the screen and the screen goes black soon after booting up the computer. A friend of mine, an electrical engineer and a pc gaming enthusiast, suggested that it might be the memory on the board. I have been trying to heat up the memory in hopes that it will reflow the solder, but so far I have gotten zero results. Below are pictures of the video card and the artifacting that is occurring.
I originally tried heating it in the oven at approximately 380 degrees Fahrenheit, and then letting it cool for a while. Achieving no results with this approach, I contemplated using a heat gun but could not think of a suitable way to insulate the rest of the board. At this point I was ready to give up on the project altogether, but I acquired a butane-fueled torch/heat gun/soldering iron that was the perfect size for what I needed it for. I am not sure how hot it gets but I am sure it is far beyond 200 degrees, even on low. I originally attempted heating the memory(pictured below) on medium-to-low for 3 minutes. That approach did not work and now I am going to try heating it on high for 3 minutes. I am planning on increasing the heat and time until either the video card is ruined or it is fixed. I will update you when either happens.
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