Maximum PC

Okay, so last week my nVidia 8800GTS video card that I bought new in 2008 started messing up. I got several Windows 7 "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" errors in a row, then my system locked up. I let it cool off for a while then booted back up, and I had permanent red lines across my screen from POST to windows that only changed with resolution. Windows device manager gave me a "code 43 driver not loaded due to device failure" error.

My first step was to contact EVGA customer support for an RMA, but I was told I failed to register when I bought the GPU so I was only covered for a 1yr warranty instead of lifetime. At that point I thought my card was toast, and resigned myself to getting a new one. While waiting to get paid I was googling the problem to try to learn what caused it, and happened on this link:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/gaming-software-graphics-cards/385857-baking-gpus-oven.html

I decided what the heck and gave it a shot. Removed heat spreader and fan, cleaned off card and all thermal paste, placed the PCB board on tinfoil balls on top of a baking pan to keep it elevated, and carefully put it in the oven for 8 min at 400F. Let it cool off for half an hour, re-assembled with fresh thermal paste, and to my amazement my card is working PERFECTLY! Eat it EVGA tech support

(Obviously I wouldn't recommend this if you had a warranty)

People have also done this with broken PS3s and 360s, although they use heat guns to heat up components instead of baking them. They call this "reflowing", though I'm sure it's an adaptation of Reflow soldering and not a technical term.

Anyway, glad to hear that worked. You might have to do it again, however, as with PS3s, the "fix" only works for a month or two. Then you'll have to bake it again!

For this reason, I think nVidia and AMD should sell their own branded oven mitts, lol.

I recently fixed a 9800gx2 by baking it.

385degrees for 8 min. About 6min into it I could smell that telltale odor of hot solder (more likely the smell is from the flux, not the molten lead).