Kind of a Guide: How to Bake Your GPU for Fun and for Profit!

[Serg]

CPU, GPU, HDD, RAM everything plugged in, should work.

[pawn3d]

Can you bake a motherboard with integrated CPU soldered on?
I though heat hurts processors.

[Commander Wolf]

Can you bake a motherboard with integrated CPU soldered on?
I though heat hurts processors.

I've tried baking a board with a socket-ed Pentium M in it.

Didn't damage the processor, but as with pretty much everything here, your mileage may vary. Since we're trying to reflow stuff, you could very well damage the BGA contacts under a BGA processor if their material content and size make them melt faster than the BGA contacts under whatever else you're trying to reflow.

[rainham]

Well after working perfectly my m1330 oven backed MOBO died officially last nite!
the oven bake fix lasted for apprioox 1 week.

fun well it lasted!

I have intel vid MOBO coming in mail off ebay.

rest in pieces nvidia POS!!!

[moral hazard]

Why don't you bake it again?

[hlidskialf]

It worked for me too! (So far that is.) My G2S had the Nvidea 8600M chip go as so very many have after 2.5 years. Since I you can't even buy the replacement Mobo atm, and that's $400 I thought I'd give this a try first. Took 5.5hrs overall to disassemble, bake, and reassemble but so far so good! I can once again play games and movies!

One problem I do have now though, is my screen is functioning at half-brightness, even though the settings are the same as before. I'm pretty sure it's something mechanical I did, since I tested another monitor hooked up to my laptop and it THAT monitor came out bright and clear as ever.

Anyone have any ideas? I cannot find a button/tab where closing the monitor shuts off the light. I'm thinking that whatever is on this system for that function might be involved, but I'll be damned if I can figure out where it is.

Regarless, I am very grateful for this thread and the help it gave me. Cheers and kudos!
hlid.

[rainham]

Why dont i bake it again...indeed!
and so i did this time instead of 6 min for 8 min @ 385f.

and so far so good..tested with blueray movie and still running..typing on it now.

thanks again for the posts guys!

[moral hazard]

Good work, I hope you get more than a week out of it this time

[Melted Rabbit]

Taken and modified from my post here:
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=637

First off, I'm not trying to promote these guys and I have nothing to do with them, I'm not even sure if they would do work on any random PCB with BGA devices having solder ball or SOIC issues. For that matter, I am unsure if they even exist, so contact them first, their prices appear reasonable. At any rate the link:
http://www.firstphasetech.com/ibook-repair-g3-g4.html

Yes, I know it does refer only to the servicing iBook G3 and iBook G4. However, if one company does or did work like this others might do it. This service cannot necessarily solve the bad solder bumps on your nVidia G8x and G9x laptop GPU. That is a problem between the silicon die and the package. This service is most likely going to be useful for those individuals with parts that improperly mixed lead-free and leaded solder materials and processes. These parts were probably manufactured between 2004 until late-2007, but don't quote me on that. This service can only fix cracked solder balls and cracked solder joints on SOIC devices that are between the package and the PCB on a PCB. However, both reflowing and reballing an IC with a BGA package are both vaguely similar processes even when moving from device to device. A first generation Xbox 360 with cracked GPU solder balls is a problem that can be fixed using this service, hypothetically. At any rate, for any random part you will need contact this company before you send it in, obviously. Don't be surprised if this is only cost effective to do on valuable items. Don't be surprised if the board is unintentionally permanently damaged during rework. Also, expect the device to stop working again in time. This may occur perhaps somewhere on the order of two to three years, even if done professionally. If you have the BGA device removed and reballed professionally the fix should be more permanent, but expect it to cost a bit. It seems that GPUs with RAM modules mounted on the package have a low survival rate after reballing, but reflowing is less of an issue.

One last thing to add about the oven method, when BGA devices are soldered on to a board initially, the device is heated to ~400F and cooled. The parts should only experience temperatures that high for roughly 30 seconds to a minute. Otherwise one runs the risk of baking the chip and causing permanent damage or significantly reducing whatever was left of its lifespan.

Also, at ~400F in an kitchen oven, electrolytic capacitors will most likely rupture, which is bad (they do contain water after all). Electrolytic capacitors have cases made of Aluminum, nearly always cylindrical, have a rubber stopper in the base, and larger capacitors will be scored on top to allow the capacitor to vent due catastrophic failure. Electrolytic capacitors also usually have a dark colored PVC plastic sleeve with lighter ink and have a light colored stripe on one side indicating their polarity. At any rate, desolder the old capacitors and check the cost of replacement electrolytic capacitors at Digikey or Mouser before trying the oven method on something with electrolytic capacitors. I am assuming you know how to use a soldering iron to remove and replace, SMD and through hole capacitors, have a decent multimeter, know how to properly measure electrical properties with a multimeter, and know what the numbers on the various parts on the PCB mean.

[gone2vegas]

Well after working perfectly my m1330 oven backed MOBO died officially last nite!
the oven bake fix lasted for apprioox 1 week.

fun well it lasted!

I have intel vid MOBO coming in mail off ebay.

rest in pieces nvidia POS!!!

nevermind. I see there are plenty on eBay.


thanks!