Restoring an Overheated PCB Board

Roll the driver back to that before the faulty driver was released, then wait for a better update. But do go to the electronics recycler and get a bad board as you say then try oven baking it and beware of the toxic fumes this may produce.

Any idea of what the time in the oven, temperature, and board position should be used during the baking process to allow solder reflow and prevent harm to the on board components? I would think I should also be cautious of the material the PCB is placed on in the oven and air flow considerations.

The only issue I have with a surplus board is finding one that has the type of damage I suspect my PCB has. Thoughts and suggestions of a place to find one would be helpful. E-Bay has defective GPU's offered sometimes but they are normally DOA in the listings. I may have to experiment with my present GPU.

Think I'd try a heat gun first, like a blow dryer but the commercial scale instead. Though I watched boards become hot enough for flow to occur never has it been beneficial.

The heat gun idea had crossed my mind when I read about this on the EVGA site.

I have in the past had a great deal of exposure to heat guns applying heat shrink film as a covering to home designed aircraft for RC use. What I remember is the guns I had exposure to moved a lot of air and I am not sure how well liquid solder and blowing air would mix with surface mount components. I fear cross channeling of solder could occur because of air pressure across the board creating a situation that would be near imposable to reverse.

I have requested an answer from the site mentioned by another poster in this thread. This site has been down this road before in one form or another and they may have an abundance of information if I can get to it.

My intentions are to continue my search and keep collecting suggestions like yours. They are very much appreciated and when combined they may reveal a best possibility model others and I can use for solder reflow work on PCB electronics exposed to excessive heat.

If you run across any more thoughts or suggestions please continue posting.

Bwire,

You mentioned "Radiant heat most likely a better method" and I think you are onto something here. Certainly better than exposing the entire card to radiant heat in an oven. It will take more time and I have that available as well as patience.

What type of equipment would one use to do this? Heated air at a very low PSI would direct the heat to specific areas of the cards without too much concern for re-chaneling of the solder. Is there an inexpensive tool you have in mind that will direct heat of 400 to 450 degrees (an assumption) toward specific solder joints while isolating other joints from the full effect of the heat?

I might be able to manufacture a tool using a reostat, a non-conductive heat resistant handle, fine wire similar to what is used in an electronic lighter ignition element, and an air brush compressor with a fine nozel to control the directed heat at very low pressure. I will need enough air supplied to only direct the heat down to the joint I desire to apply it to. Heating the wire internally to the nozel would be best and provide some shielding to adjacent materials on the board. This may be doable as long as I can shield the wire coil inside the tiny nozel leaving room for air to pass thru.

This will require some thinking given the amount of air pressure and fineness of the desired heat stream. It would be some work to do this right but I can forsee many uses for such a tool.

Unless you have been trained to use a heat gun on a PCB then my advice would be NOT to try it.

You stand a large chance of totally wrecking the board.

It is highly possible to blow some of the smaller components off there pads.

I would also not recommend the use of a home oven to bake a PCB.

Tobugrynbak,

Thank you for your information.

I gave you a good post rating for your reply because it offered some information that I have not yet discovered anywhere else.

I also suspect you are correct that this will have a limited chance of success if any at all. This is why I am asking others for input in a tech forum instead of only in a non-tech user only forum. I am learning as this discussion develops and the things you expanded on are likely the reason nearly everyone whose post I have read and claim to have done this state or allude to it not a permanent fix. Nearly all expect issues a few months down the line.

The good news is if I don't do this I will have to buy another 2 dual GPU cards. On the other hand if I do try this I may need to buy 2 cards right away (failure) or in a few months (temporary fix).

I still need to continue collecting information on solder reflow temps, and exposure times. Unfortunately surface mount solder equipment is not available at the local equipment rental outlet. It likely is available for rental from General Electric's rental and lease division but at a cost that would make a new card purchase seem cheap.

As you said these cards are constructed with unrepairable garbage, as just about any PCB card is. Even thru hole repair without the proper workstation using conventional solder gear can be challenging. I've allready been down that road fixing a once non-functioning surface mount multi layer PCB board in a dual band hand held Amateur radio. I got lucky and it worked for a few years until I sold it noting the work I had done. It gave me the opportunity to make those contacts I desired with the International Space Station orbiting overhead.

I could also sell these cards, they work unreliably and I would not get much for them. Selling something like this is not what I want to do to another person unless they are sold as DOA for repair parts or partially functioning.

Given all of this there is really no reason why I should not try this. I have nothing to lose but a little time to disassemble and reassemble the cards. With this in mind I still want to get the best information I can prior to proceeding with the limited resources I have to work with. The goal is doing the best job I can given what I have to work with.

Tobugrynbak,

I looked here in the Tampa area where i reside and found there is a manufacturer of vapor phase reflow equipment locally.

I may be off base with this idea but let me ask a couple of questions. I am thinking of contacting this company and asking if they would mind putting my boards thru the vapor phase process.

1. Can this process be used to reflow the solder already applied to the PCB without the application of additional paste?

2. If I could get this company to place these boards in their equipment and redo the solder is there anything else I should be prepared to do to make the boards ready other than disassembly of the cards down to single board levels?

3. Do I need to get any information about the type of solder used initially in the manufacturing process on the boards?

4. Am I way off center with this idea or marching down the best path?

5. From what I learned recently, if there are solder heat balls formed with the overheating of the board will this method redistribute those balls or must the area be cleaned and paste re-applied first?

6. Did I miss anything (questions) as a novice to this field of soldering?

Note: I also messaged you with these questions not knowing if you would see them in this thread. I hope you don't mind.

hold nvidias feet to the fire and get them to waranty replace the board, if they will recognize the driver fault was thiers they will probably do this for a shipping fee, I read about baking main boards to get solder reflow but would not bother with it myself, time and effert would best be spent in other areas of interest,

Good luck

Sinc Mitch ret peugeot mech
now I need to reconfigure my old netscape browser to keep me logged in when I post

I'll post up my pm response to monthow here .

"Generally the vapour phase process has 4 different profiles depending if it is lead or lead free solder, thin or thick board. There are other subtelties involved but thats the main concern.

No additional flux or solder paste is required for reflow work, though a squirt of flux wouldn't hurt in the propagation of heat.

However to get the board to a level where it can survive the Vapor Phase process may damage the board. Most of these boards are multi layer and are notorious for breaking vias/pads when trying to remove pins or sockets.

There is of course a cost to run your board through there process.

Fun cost money how hard do you want to laugh?

I question the financial viability in this repair, as places like Ebay are full of vendors selling new and not so new graphics cards for not a whole lot of peso's.

Remembering that your only reflowing the board which may or may not resolve the issue.

As an intellectual challenge I can understand it, but BGA's really are painful to deal with.

As for knowing the manufacturing process of your board, if the solder is bright & shiny it uses lead solder, if its dull its unleaded solder. If the Vapour phase oven is set for unleaded process it will do both as leaded solder has a lower melting point. A good operator will work it out by looking at it. Galden doesnt get contaminated as such.

Hope that helps"

Due to RoHS requirements it is highly likely that this board is made using unleaded solder.

I would not recommend running this board through a reflow oven again. Some of the components (especially through hole connectors) will not be able to take the heat that is required to reflow a lead free board.

It is possible to change BGA's with the correct equipment but it is not an easy job to do and is probably not worth the effort.

As a technical exercise it is quite nice to try to repair the board but for the cost and time and effort involved you should think about just getting a new graphics card.