Solved Zombie GPU

badrobot · Jul 26, 2021

I have a very old R9 290 GPU that recently died in my daughter's rig. I am sure it is dead after testing it on 4 different PCs. I even posted it to sell online for parts.
Until I came across Linus' Youtube video baking his dead/defective GPU. But unfortunately, the baking method did not work for him. There is probably a very serious problem on his dead GPU.
With nothing to lose, I spent around 30 minutes to try the method. I removed the fan and got rid of the thermal paste, pre-heat oven to ~~385c~~ 385F and baked the dead GPU for 7 mins (as suggested in the video). And guess what? It's ALIVE!!!!!
Using it right now on my secondary PC while posting this. :)

BunnyJ · Jul 26, 2021

I love the idea but I think the temp was 385 fahrenheit and not centigrade.

badrobot · Jul 26, 2021

BunnyJ said:
I love the idea but I think the temp was 385 fahrenheit and not centigrade.

Well, I may have messed up the unit, but fortunately, it worked! Thanks for pointing that out... Hahaha..

BunnyJ · Jul 26, 2021

badrobot said:
Well, I may have messed up the unit, but fortunately, it worked! Thanks for pointing that out... Hahaha..

I did the conversion and 385c would be 725f.. that would bake the GPU. LOL

badrobot · Jul 26, 2021

BunnyJ said:
I did the conversion and 385c would be 725f.. that would bake the GPU. LOL

But I think it works the same with some people who tried the method using 385F/196C for 12 minutes. I did double the temp for half the time. :)

BunnyJ · Jul 26, 2021

badrobot said:
But I think it works the same with some people who tried the method using 385F/196C for 12 minutes. I did double the temp for half the time. :)

I really want to know who came up with that idea first? Bake a GPU?? It's like,, who ate the first lobster.. nasty looking things.

badrobot · Jul 26, 2021

BunnyJ said:
that would bake the GPU.

I think that is the whole idea anyway...
It has something to do with melting down the soldering lead and fix any broken soldered connection much like re-seating a RAM or a CPU. But that is assuming that you don't have bloated capacitors, etc. which is a different issue. Mine didn't show anything like that that's is why I performed this baking method. Really glad it worked!

badrobot · Aug 4, 2021

Wow.. this zombie gpu is going strong...

BunnyJ · Aug 4, 2021

badrobot said:
Wow.. this zombie gpu is going strong...

Good to hear.

jh30uk · Aug 4, 2021

It reflowed the solder into the dry joints, it will work for a while but how long is anyone guess.

It was normally the VRAM chips back then as the solder ball method they used to fit them would break over time going from hot/cold/hot/cold and the flexing during this.

Happen to my 8800Ultra, oven fixed it then I sold it cheap.

johnlgalt · Aug 4, 2021

badrobot said:
I have a very old R9 290 GPU that recently died in my daughter's rig. I am sure it is dead after testing it on 4 different PCs. I even posted it to sell online for parts.
Until I came across Linus' Youtube video baking his dead/defective GPU. But unfortunately, the baking method did not work for him. There is probably a very serious problem on his dead GPU.
With nothing to lose, I spent around 30 minutes to try the method. I removed the fan and got rid of the thermal paste, pre-heat oven to ~~385c~~ 385F and baked the dead GPU for 7 mins (as suggested in the video). And guess what? It's ALIVE!!!!!
Using it right now on my secondary PC while posting this. :)

I have an LG 55" TV that is a bit over 10 years old now, but I've had to use a 'bake' method on the motherboard to have it reconnect the micro-solder connections 2 times in 3 years. So far, though, it keeps coming back to life. I'm assuming that the process (and the principle behind it) are similar as to the one I used for my LG TV's mobo.

Glad it worked for you as well.

badrobot · Aug 4, 2021

jh30uk said:
It reflowed the solder into the dry joints, it will work for a while but how long is anyone guess.

It was normally the VRAM chips back then as the solder ball method they used to fit them would break over time going from hot/cold/hot/cold and the flexing during this.

Happen to my 8800Ultra, oven fixed it then I sold it cheap.

I actually "over baked" this one because I messed up between "C" and "F". It is twice as hot when I did it... haha...

jh30uk · Aug 4, 2021

You are lucky none of the parts fell off it but you did have it the right way up to keep them on via gravity. :wink:

badrobot · Nov 12, 2021

Just an update, this GPU is still running strong. I think overbaking it (twice the temp) made a big difference :ROFLMAO:

wordsworth · Nov 12, 2021

badrobot said:
Just an update, this GPU is still running strong. I think overbaking it (twice the temp) made a big difference

Yea, but how does it taste? Kind of metallicky like burnt brownies I'd imagine. :wink:

I came across this idea at the badcaps forum a couple of months ago while repairing an old AMD card. Makes sense but I don't know how long such a repair will last. Keep us posted.

badrobot · Nov 12, 2021

wordsworth said:
Yea, but how does it taste? Kind of metallicky like burnt brownies I'd imagine.

I came across this idea at the badcaps forum a couple of months ago while repairing an old AMD card. Makes sense but I don't know how long such a repair will last. Keep us posted.

The idea of baking is like re-soldering all the caps and ICs which are thought to be loosened up when your GPU gets hot enough to "soften" the solder (lead) and the vibration from the fan causes loose contact. It sounds funny but at the same time logical.
There is a possibility that it will last as long as the caps are still good.

jvickers · Nov 12, 2021

Question, what's the actual resolution of the 'refurbished' GPU?

badrobot · Nov 12, 2021

jvickers said:
Question, what's the actual resolution of the 'refurbished' GPU?

Right now it is running on 3440X1440 on my 34" monitor.

jvickers · Nov 12, 2021

Well, then... It looks like need to start removing fans and thermal from old cards and preheating the oven! Hey, it can't hurt on a card that's not even being used.

badrobot · Nov 12, 2021

jvickers said:
Well, then... It looks like need to start removing fans and thermal from old cards and preheating the oven! Hey, it can't hurt on a card that's not even being used.

exactly.