Solved Zombie GPU

PerpetualCycle · Nov 12, 2021

But you know now you have to feed it brains.

badrobot · Nov 12, 2021

geneo said:
But you know now you have to feed it brains.

I engineered it to take 12v of electricity instead... :lmao:

ThrashZone · Nov 13, 2021

Hi,
Shake and bake

But seriously is the temp in the op correct you seem to say otherwise in other posts ?

badrobot · Mar 22, 2022

ThrashZone said:
Hi,
Shake and bake

But seriously is the temp in the op correct you seem to say otherwise in other posts ?

Should be 385F.

badrobot · Mar 22, 2022

After 8 months... still going strong this zombie GPU...

Haydon · Mar 24, 2022

Stick on a celebratory engraved bronze plaque 'Phoenix GPU Rose From The Ashes'

johnlgalt · Mar 24, 2022

I originally liked the OP when BR made it - because that is the same method that I had used to revive the logic boards for my old (10 years old last year when I finally replaced it) LG 1080p TV. Those chips can run hot and can break the assembly-line micro-solder joints used, according to numerous videos I found about baking the mobo to revive the TV.

The first time i died 3 years ago, I bought a replacement TV, then a couple of weeks later I read online about the baking, and tried it. it worked. For 2 months. Baked it again, and it worked for 2-3 months, Baked it a third time after doing more research and finding some alternate instructions that were both 1) better worded and 2) more accurate) and I got it to work for over 2 years without a glitch, until last .. October. And that was when I decide to replace it.

Glad to see yours is still kicking as well.

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

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. :)

View attachment 4143

View attachment 4144

It was probably a loose solder connection.

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

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

Plus the utility bill. :)

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

BunnyJ said:
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.

My guess is it's the same person who thought up the idea of putting a HDD in the freezer.

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

badrobot said:
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!

If it was a bad capacitor it would still be broken.

BunnyJ · Mar 24, 2022

Winuser said:
My guess is it's the same person who thought up the idea of putting a HDD in the freezer.

Never heard of that before

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

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

With the heating and cooling of the GPU it could happen again.

badrobot · Mar 24, 2022

Winuser said:
With the heating and cooling of the GPU it could happen again.

I am not gaming on this GPU anymore. It is on my second PC. So, I guess it may live longer than I expected.

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

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

I can see it now. Hey Hon, what's are we having for dinner. We're having baked GPU.

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

BunnyJ said:
Never heard of that before

That is an old trick to get the HDD running just long enough to get the data off of it. The idea got mixed comments, so I don't know for sure if it actually worked.

Winuser · Mar 24, 2022

badrobot said:
I am not gaming on this GPU anymore. It is on my second PC. So, I guess it may live longer than I expected.

It's possible that it might outlast the computer it's installed in.

badrobot · Mar 25, 2022

Okay, I think I did it again. This time with a dead SSD.
I have this very old Crucial SSD that I've been using a lot for Windows 10 Insider before and it died a few months ago. Both of my PCs are not detecting it anymore. So again, with nothing to lose, I took it out of the case and tried to revive it. Only this time, instead of baking it, I used a mini heat gun on it for 3 minutes on each side. And voila! It's back again!!!!

https://imgur.com/a/MOcFqFF

badrobot · Mar 26, 2022

Well, well, well... the "heat method" seems to be working on any IC board. Fired up my heat gun and tried the same method on my "bad" flashdrive. It's also alive again!