When is a dead Video Card....

[Andromeda43]

When is a dead video card really NOT dead? The Living Dead?

The answer to that question may just be: "When it's just dirty".

Today, my own video card just totally wigged out on me while I was working a forum on the internet.

My mouse started bleeding all over the screen. Everyplace I moved it, there were little red dots.

It was horrible. I though my resident poltergeist was playing a little Halloween prank on me.

When I tried to reboot the system to clear up the problem, my PC just beeped one long beep and refused to boot. NO joy in mudville!

I removed the old video card and installed a new one I had sitting on the shelf.

The system booted up without a hitch.

My next step would raise the hair on most readers.

That's OK since this is, after all, Halloween.

I took the failed Video Card to the kitchen sink and scrubbed it thoroughly with hot water and Dawn dishwashing detergent. I really concentrated on the ram chips.

(there was no cooling fan on this particular card) I did remove the ROM chip which was socketed.

After scrubbing and rinsing the card very well with warm water, I rinsed it again very thoroughly with denatured alcohol and then set it out in the afternoon sun to dry.

About three hours later, with the card now nice and dry, I reinstalled it in my PC.

With one hand on the main Power Switch, I booted the system.

The familiar little single Beep was a very welcome and Happy sound.

Seeing video coming up on my monitor was equally nice.

That was several hours ago and my computer is still running great.

No more video problems. My mouse pointer isn't bleeding all over the screen any more!

I've used that cleaning technique many times to reclaim an ailing ram stick, but this is the first time I've used it on a video card. (I'll never write off a ram stick without washing it first.)

Just a little dirt between the contacts of those memory chips can cause memory errors.

I hope this can help someone,,,,,somewhere,,,,,Someday.

Happy Halloween everyone,

Andromeda43

[gamehead200]

Yup, washing your cards usually does the trick... Even with motherboards!

Sometimes the soap can fill up the gaps in circuits and fix problems!

[rjz]

What? LMFAO

Go right ahead do that

[EchoNoise]

a couple of years ago my house got flodded, and the only thing wet inside my computer was the bottom bit and that was where my tv/radio card was... and to fix it, all i did was get a pan, soak it in boiling hot water, NOT SCRUBBING.. god no... and leaving it for about 30 minutes until the water cools down... and then cool blow dry it, and then let it sit for a day or two, and it was all fixed, no worries, and i still have it today working fine!

[Andromeda43]

Right!

All joking aside, dirt buildup on printed circuit cards has downed some of the biggest systems in the country.

CMOS circuitry depends on voltage and not current. Just a little voltage bleeding over from one pin to another on a cmos chip, can change the state of a logic gate and cause some really weird errors.

I found out about this phenominon a few years back when a friend of mine told me he had a contract with a very large company that made power handling controllers for Shopping Malls.

They would ship him their failed logic boards and he would clean them, repair them and send them back.

His technique for cleaning the boards was almost exactly what I outlined in my initial post.

I would be somewhat reluctant to wash a PC board with active components on it, like relays, or open coils.

Some modems have such parts on them.

I thank y'all for your participation in this thread,

Andromeda43

[RoRo]

Hi all, I just read about your video card, would this apply to vpg problums 2 i have a ati9800 pro?

[Andromeda43]

If it comes down to a problem which would cause you to toss the card,,,,,I think I'd sure try cleaning it first.

What can you loose?

If there's a fan on the card, you certainly wouldn't want to get it wet. Remove it first. Clean it by hand, carefully.

Good Luck,

Andromeda43