IF so, how’d it go? I have a failing integrated Nvidia chip and was thinking of using the heat gun to reflow it. Anyone else had success doing such a thing?
When I worked at a place that made video cards only certain build engineers did that instead of using the expensive reflow station but it took experience. Perhaps the toaster oven would be better?
If it comes down to it, I would try this if it was my board. I used to see Mau assemble entire boards using a heat gun, however with BGA chips I worry that something would go wrong. I know there are videos on youtube mostly dealing with x360 repairs but here’s one of a laptop.
1 Like
Can you just put in a dedicated video card and not use the integrated nvidia chip or is ithis a laptop?
OK, I saw a post from another thread - sounds like it’s a laptop for sure…
It’s a laptop. It’s old though so I’m considering experimenting.
Yes, toaster oven may be an open. I’ll check with @packetbob.
If it will fit we can try it…
It will fit a board up to 6.5" x 9.5"
I assume it is old enough to have leaded solder (lower temperature setting)
I did the oven reflow trick on an old failing Nvidia graphics card, but this only prolonged its demise. But I got an extra few months out of a dead card before getting a new one. I believe there is a wealth of information about 15min over reflow tips around.
eg; Save a Dying Video Card with a Quick Bake in the Oven | Lifehacker
1 Like
Thanks Bob! I will bring it in on Thursday if I can get it taken apart by
then.
Thanks @lukeo!
Janet I wouldn’t bake the whole board, you’ll risk the parts on the back falling off. Not sure of the best solution here, hot air irons are not a precise instrument - I would use tinfoil to protect other parts on the boards (be careful of any batteries).
Thanks Tom! Very helpful. I did find some photos from someone online who surrounded the chip with foil to protect the other parts. I’ll remove most components from the board before trying this. Other than the bios battery…there aren’t usually any other batteries I should worry about on the motherboard are there?
Just the bios usually.
1 Like
Do we have a hot air iron or rework station at the space? I know there is that large station but I didn’t think it was working…
I’ve done it 3 times with two of the playstation 3s I have. But the they eventually fail again anyway, longest one lasted was about 2 months after I baked it. Prob need new solder to get the fix to actually be permanent in my case but I just ended up buying a 3rd PS3 anyway.
It was a simple hack. but did it the super unhealthy way and baked it in my oven. Cover the entire board in aluminium foil except for the chips you want to reflow. Level the board on a tinfoil tray or something. Place it in the oven and level it the best you can. Without pre-heating, turn the oven on bake to 200F for 10 minutes. After 10min crank it up to 450F for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes turn the oven completely off and let the board cool down for at least 1 full hour. I let mine cool down for 3-5 hours (would usually do it just before I’d go to bed and just take it out in the morning). This is the easy, “poor-man’s” way to reflow it, takes the longest but a nice slow warm up and cool down ensures the board is evenly heated the best you can without wrecking something with a heat gun or without access to proper reflow tools.
Make sure you remove any thermal compound from the chips with isopropylene or rubbing alcohol (70%+) before you do any heat treatments. This will ensure the best chance of things being heated evenly. (also clean all the dust off the board the best you can, for the same reasons but also I can’t imagine burning dust in the oven would smell very good)
After you’ve reflowed make sure to re-apply some high quality thermal paste. They sell it locally in store at NCIX, this is the stuff I’ve used: http://www.ncix.com/detail/arctic-silver-5-high-density-50-10715-1661.htm It’s just about exactly enough compound for 6 PS3 GPU chips 
Well. I baked the board and it worked! The video chip is now working perfectly. We’ll see how long it lasts, but so far, so good! I baked the board for 8 mins at 375 degrees then cooled it rapidly.
3 Likes
That’s great to hear! When I went searching online about this I was taken aback by the very high rate of relapse and then @laftho also having all of his PS3’s fail after reviving them. Outside of removing the chips, reballing them and soldering them in place is there any other steps that one can take to prevent future failures. Thomas recommended a high quality thermal paste but that didn’t seem to stop his PS3s from failing. Maybe a better heat sink and fan? Maybe always run your laptop with a laptop cooler. Do those even work?
Hey thanks. I did do a complete cleanup of fan and heat sink as well as replacing thermal paste. Hopefully that’ll hold for a while. Have never tried a laptop cooler so im intrigued. t is an old laptop but I’d like to run Linux on it and use it for projects. Also I hate the idea of chucking something that could be fixed.
This optical bay fan hack idea is interesting. http://forums.hackaday.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3492
1 Like
@DJMIPS the issue with the PS3s is more about the quality of the solder, which is a main contributor to the problem in the first place. A better heatsink & fan would certainly help but in most cases PS3s from those early years have a certain amount of hours before the solder simply starts to fail with the nominal temperatures they run at.
Recommendation of quality thermal paste is just good practice, despite it being in vain in my circumstances
@Janet glad it worked out!
Interesting! I wonder what the issue is with my Nvidia chip? I do know it’s
a common failure on my particular line of dell laptops.
LOL. I needed to make my heat sink/chips all pretty with silver paste.