Reviving the dead (GTX 570)

[Scoob]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice...

A little while ago I had a compression fitting fail in my water loop. The thing was nice and tight - but not too tight - yet it just let go. One of those things, sh*t happen, s*ds law and all that lol.

Anyway, my very expensive, special non-conductive EK Coolant got onto my Upper GTX 570 (an original Palit Rev 1 reference design) and killed it dead.

Since then I've replaced the card with another GTX 570 and all is working well. I stripped the block off the dead 570, ensured it was dry, before cleaning it with Iso-Propanol to displace any traces of fluid, then left it in a warm room for a couple of days.

I then visually inspected the card for any obvious signs of damage either from the fluid or any sort of short - nothing I could see. I then popped the old stock air cooler back on it.

Trying the card, well, it's a dead as a dodo and the fan doesn't even power up - yes it is all connected!

So, I have what was once my reliable GTX 570 back on my desk dead. It was a great card, bought cheap (£250) on the week of launch. It proved to be the better overclocker running cooler and faster than my subsequent Inno3d Rev 2 card I got for SLI, as well as my new EVGA card that replaced it. I'd really like to get this card going again!

So, with a dead card like this can anyone offer any advice that might aid me salvaging it? I've heard of baking cards, that should help with any dry/broken solder potentially, but what else have people done in such situations?

I admit, I was quite upset that I had a compression fitting fail at the time. However, I wasn't too worried as I'd spent out on the expensive coolant that was minimally conductive apparently. Plus I'd read plenty of stories where people had suffered leaks and, once dry, their hardware had worked just fine with no intervention. I, it seems, was not so lucky.

If the card is indeed dead then it's dead, I'd just like to try a few free options before it finally goes for recyling.

Oh, here's a weird thing that threw me when my card first failed due to the leak...

I was running SLI. When the top GPU failed the BIOS enabled my on-board 2500k GPU so next boot this "Standard VGA Card" was detected in place of the 570. Seem Z68 does that if you have a GPU in a PCI-E slot that's dead. Strange but true. Still, it totally threw me for a while as I still had a pair of GPU's reported! I thought I had some weird driver issue as a result and it's only when I opened the case to check everything was seated ok that I spotted the drip from the CPU fitting above the card...

All advice appreciated.

Cheers,

Scoob.

 

[JMMP]

Hi Scoob,
try with an hot hair dryer directly on the chip or some kind of industrial dryer!
Sometimes with hot usage or some kind of electric short may cause the soldiering on the chip melts and leaves the soldering point. So if you heat again (only the chip) maybe it will make all the soldering points again in place and correct that faulty contact!

 

[Scoob]

Hi JMMP,

Good advice. I forgot that I actually spent some time with a hot hair dryer on the naked board. However, I might revist that and give it a longer session.

It's the fact that the thing is entirely dead that suggests maybe a VRM or something has popped, though there's no visual evidence of that I can see.

Cheers,

Scoob.

 

[ccaution]

Hot air and having it into rice (!) helps with the water. But I think that's about it, ovens and ghetto reballing won't help in you case, imho

 

[seumasbeathan]

How long ago did you buy it? You could lie and say it just stopped working and try and blagg a refund

 

[Scoob]

Hi ccaution: cooked or raw rice?

seumasbeathan: that'd be a bit too cheeky. Besides, I bought it the week the 570 launched, so it's about as old as a 570 can be. Plus it'd be fairly evident to anyone that I'd had the block off.

I think I'll just dismantle it once again, use the hair dryer and just give it another close inspection. Likely it is indeed dead, but I'll give it a try.

Ironically I've managed to fix numerous "dead" cards belonging to others, usually just a dismantle / clean etc. jobbie, never a water damaged one though. Shame if I cannot fix my own...still, it's a little project for me I guess.

Cheers,

Scoob.

 

[Cody_h4x]

If you wrap it in aluminum foil, and place it in the oven for several minutes it could rejoin any lost contacts on the PCB. I know linus made a video on youtube about it, although it only works if it's a lost or crappy solder

 

[Scoob]

Hi Cody_h4x,

I am considering baking, but only as a last resort.

I do wonder...my coolant likely has some pretty nasty chemicals in it (the stuff really stinks, I used to get quite dizzy and headachy when my old rad had a tiny leak from the fumes alone) So, these chemicals could have done something really nasty to the board / solder / chips potentially.

Scoob.