Did a bit of baking today

Stan_Lite · 10-09-2010, 17:26

"What's the senile old git doing posting a baking thread in here?" I hear you ask.

I wasn't baking anything food related - I was baking a graphics card.

A bit of background. I've had a Dell M1710 for a few years now but for the last 18 months or so, it's suffered the common problem of the graphics card dying due to a faulty BIOS. I've been umming and aahing about replacing the graphics card for a while but, at about £300, I wasn't sure if it was worth it.

While I was away at work, I was doing a bit of a search to see if I could find a cheaper card anywhere and stumbled upon a video showing someone baking their card in an oven and it coming back to life. Apparently it has something to do with micro fissures in the solder or something like that. I thought "What the hell, I've nothing to lose.

I videoed my own effort and here it is.

Video of the laptop booting up before baking:

It's not clear from the video but it was basically a load of wavy lines and no display at all.

Some photos of the card removed and ready for baking:

Everything in bits:

The offending item with the heatsink removed:

Placed on some foil balls to let the heat get to it, ready for baking:

This video is the laptop booting up after the card has been baked for 10 minutes at 200C:

Ignore the change of OS from Windows 7 to XP. I couldn't find any stable drivers for Windows 7 so had to re-install XP. The original problem manifested itself regardless of OS - even Ubuntu (trust me, I tried several). Also ignore the old geezer with the camera reflected in the screen

It's working perfectly well now. There were a few artifacts visible for a short time after doing it but, now that everything has settled down, it's working as well as the day I bought it. I'm delighted - it's still a damn good laptop despite its age and I'm glad to have the use of it again.
I've seen a few accounts of people having performed this fix and many say it's been working perfectly for six months or more and still going strong. hopefully mine will be the same.

10-09-2010, 17:26	#1
Stan_Lite Stan, Stan the FLASHER MAN! Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: In bed with your sister Posts: 5,483	Did a bit of baking today "What's the senile old git doing posting a baking thread in here?" I hear you ask. I wasn't baking anything food related - I was baking a graphics card. A bit of background. I've had a Dell M1710 for a few years now but for the last 18 months or so, it's suffered the common problem of the graphics card dying due to a faulty BIOS. I've been umming and aahing about replacing the graphics card for a while but, at about £300, I wasn't sure if it was worth it. While I was away at work, I was doing a bit of a search to see if I could find a cheaper card anywhere and stumbled upon a video showing someone baking their card in an oven and it coming back to life. Apparently it has something to do with micro fissures in the solder or something like that. I thought "What the hell, I've nothing to lose. I videoed my own effort and here it is. Video of the laptop booting up before baking: It's not clear from the video but it was basically a load of wavy lines and no display at all. Some photos of the card removed and ready for baking: Everything in bits: The offending item with the heatsink removed: Placed on some foil balls to let the heat get to it, ready for baking: This video is the laptop booting up after the card has been baked for 10 minutes at 200C: Ignore the change of OS from Windows 7 to XP. I couldn't find any stable drivers for Windows 7 so had to re-install XP. The original problem manifested itself regardless of OS - even Ubuntu (trust me, I tried several). Also ignore the old geezer with the camera reflected in the screen It's working perfectly well now. There were a few artifacts visible for a short time after doing it but, now that everything has settled down, it's working as well as the day I bought it. I'm delighted - it's still a damn good laptop despite its age and I'm glad to have the use of it again. I've seen a few accounts of people having performed this fix and many say it's been working perfectly for six months or more and still going strong. hopefully mine will be the same. __________________ Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean I...