shake 'n bake - Fixing a broken nVidia 7900gs from a Dell 9400 / e1705

Fixing a nVidia 7900gs video card from a Dell 9400 / e1705 using the shake 'n bake method.

Update: As many commenters have noted - do not use as much thermal paste, and if you can, use a chemical cleaner to clean the thermal paste off - no sandpaper or scraper - this technique still works 100% ok as shown in the video though.

See full details at:
http://stuff.thatblogs.com/content/shake-n-bake-fixing-dead-nvidia-7900gs-del...

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• dell
• 9400
• e1705
• nvidia
• shake n bake
• repair
• fix
• video card
• oven

[Sima577]

wow easy with that thermal paste there way 2 much of it

[goldlark]

@Sima577

Indeed!

[MasterCodex]

Good tutorial, only I would've used a chemical made to clean the gpu surface instead of the sandpaper. You want that surface to be as smooth as possible in order to transfer as much heat as possible.

[goldlark]

@MasterCodex

Yep, good advice - I was just using what I had around the home.. I only used a clean scraper on the GPU - no (visible) scratches.

[tobyw87]

Damn you really creamed the thermal paste on there... Don't think it needed quite that much....

[goldlark]

@tobyw87

Yep!.. I've learned the error of my way!

[softrealtydude]

Insane... After no other options with my GeForce Go 7950 GTX 512MB NVidia card, I thought why not try this. Heated oven to 395 F, baked for 8 minutes, let cool for 50 minutes, reapplied thermal paste Artic Silver 5 Thermal Compound.

To my shock and amazement, my video card worked in full resolution mode. No more boot up artifacts either. Only time will tell how long this lasts.

[geersch]

@VicRattlebass: I used a T7 size Torx screwdriver to remove the heatsink.

[geersch]

Did the shake and bake fix today on a 5 year old Inspiron 9400 which broke about half a year ago (green lines accross the screen). Worked like a charm. Thanks!

[VicRattlebass]

Great video! I have the same laptop (Inspiron 9400), same GPU (7900GS), and same problem (screen won't turn on, etc). I want to try out your fix here. What size torx screwdriver do you use to remove the heatsink from the GPU?

[balkanhills]

Worked fine for me.  Very surprising. Thanks for the video.

Thermal paste about the size of a grain of rice will be fine, on top of the chip.

Use old credit card to scrape off old paste - safer than a metal scraper.

200 degrees centigrade (celcius)

[durdle1701]

I almost cooked this at 200 degrees F but then remembered the guys accent. Converted the 200 C to 390 F in America. But the dam thing was fixed. I don't know how the hell you guys figure this stuff out. But thank goodness you do.

[tranceorkester]

@HackSDK The reason it works is because the solder points between the GPU (big chip on the card) and the card itself softens up and thus repairs small microscopical cracks made by the constant heating and cooling.

[tranceorkester]

Also, when taking the card out of the oven - be very careful with it, do not touch components, turn it over or anything. Just let it rest a few minutes, since the solder is softer, it could knock components off the card more easily. Other than that, its a cheap (while temporary) fix. These cards runs too hot, in a combination of probably being a victim of the RoHS directive, which forced led out of the solder used today for environmental reasons.

[tranceorkester]

One should not use any tools like he uses for this, especially not sandpaper.

Use small amounts of solvents/cleaners intended for this for best result.

Also, the amount of paste is excessive. The point of it being there is to ensure a perfect with between the GPU and sink by evening out the smallest unevenness.

Having too much could have the opposite effect. Should be a thin coat.

[HackSDK]

also whats the science behind it