Video Card Repair?

[bigbeark]

I have an Evga e-Geforce 7900 GS that just stopped working. I booted up and heard the Linux Mint startup music, but the screen was blank. I powered down but there was nothing on the second boot attempt. There are various Mosfets on this card, as well as various poly caps, but everything looks good.

The cooling fan works but that's it. This card has the six-pin extra connector, wonder if the PSU did it in.

Is there any procedure or tips anyone can offer to fix the card?

[mockingbird]

Re: Video Card Repair?

That family of chip has a short lifespan.

There are three possible modes of failure here:

1) The lead free solder has fatigued and the BGA isn't making proper contact with the PCB
2) The solder between the GPU substrate and die has fatigued
3) The GPU is damaged (which was known to happen with this family)

Case 1 is the best prognosis... You send it off to have it re-balled, and you're set.
Case 2, re-balling will also fix it, but the fix is temporary (this is the most common mode of failure). Even if the BGA solder to PCB bond is sound, the GPU die might still seperate from the substrate
Case 3 means obviously that the card is kaput.

If you _must_ have an old GeForce, then you can still buy them off eBay... I have a 9800GT with an Arctic Accelero S2 with a 120mm fan mounted on it and it runs cool this way. I do it because I want an nVidia card with s-video output.