Never being able to leave well enough alone, I though I would pull the RAM sinks off my newly puchased - used GF3 (oem card pulled from a dell). The oem cards use that pesky epoxy, so they don't come off easy, even after a long stint in the freezer. Alas they did pop off and I cleaned things up, slapped on some newer/bigger sinks and slid the card back in the rig.
Boot up and the post text is completely garbled, and a cold chill runs through me. I tried the card in another machine and it was still screwed, so i pulled it and threw it on the junk heap, overcome with self-loathing.
A few days later I put the card back in a junker machine, booted it and started to bend the back of the card back and forth, the garbling would get worse and better, but it was still a hosed card. Then I started pushing on individual RAM chips and finally isolated 2 chips in particular that when pushed on one end would make the screen go bananas. Conclusion - must have broken some contacts on these when I pulled the RAM-sinks. I pushed down hard on the afflicted ends of the 2 chips and rebooted and voila, a clean screen.
Oh joy! I broke out the JB Weld (SUPER epoxy) and mixed up a batch. I put a dab on the afflicted ends of the 2 chips and clamped em for 12 hours and here I am typing away on my fully functional GF3, brought back from the dead.
Moral of the story? There are too many to mention, but if you have hosed a card in a similar manner, know that you may be able to fix it.
Boot up and the post text is completely garbled, and a cold chill runs through me. I tried the card in another machine and it was still screwed, so i pulled it and threw it on the junk heap, overcome with self-loathing.
A few days later I put the card back in a junker machine, booted it and started to bend the back of the card back and forth, the garbling would get worse and better, but it was still a hosed card. Then I started pushing on individual RAM chips and finally isolated 2 chips in particular that when pushed on one end would make the screen go bananas. Conclusion - must have broken some contacts on these when I pulled the RAM-sinks. I pushed down hard on the afflicted ends of the 2 chips and rebooted and voila, a clean screen.
Oh joy! I broke out the JB Weld (SUPER epoxy) and mixed up a batch. I put a dab on the afflicted ends of the 2 chips and clamped em for 12 hours and here I am typing away on my fully functional GF3, brought back from the dead.
Moral of the story? There are too many to mention, but if you have hosed a card in a similar manner, know that you may be able to fix it.
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