Help with 8800 GTS 640mb

[MikeMurder1969]

I have an 8800 gts 640mb that I paid around £300 for a few years back in my intel quad core pc running vista home premium. I neglected a scheduled clean of my rig for a few months and the thing got clogged with dust and was running poor.
I cleaned it out as I normally do but since then I was unable to get the pc to start, it gets to the welcome screen, pauses a while with only half the screen loaded and the blue screens.
I was able to boot up in safe mode but that's all, I have tried every restore point on my pc and have even restored it to factory but still the same problem persists.
My friend let me try his new gforce 9500GT 1gb, I installed it and the factory reset I tried earlier completed without a hitch, with this card my pc ran smoothly.
When i reinstalled my old card I was surprised to see the pc boot up properly but as soon as I restarted after instaling the latest drivers for my 8800GTS the problem returned and my pc seems no better than a paper weight.....

Have I ruined my beloved 8800GTS 640mb? Is it possible to have cards repaired?
I was convinced it was a driver issue because I can boot up in safe mode... I don't want to buy another costly graphics card because all my gaming is now done on my PS3, if I do replace it would the card my buddy let me try (gforce 9500GT 1gb) be a candidate for a replacement of similar performance standards?

Sorry for the essay

 

[rolli59]

You can try baking it http://www.google.com/search?q=baking+a+graphics+card&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US
You would need about 9600GT for similar to better performance.

 

[wa1]

maybe it's time for a new card?
Your 8800GTS has served you very well for years...

9600GT is not so bad and not too expensive too...

 

[MikeMurder1969]

I am dumbstruck!!!

rolli59, you are a star.... just saved me some £££'s and you saved my Gainward Gforce 8800GTS 640mb

i followed the instructions to the letter and baked it for ten minutes at 190 degree's Celcius, you could of knocked me over with a feather when my PC fired up (posting from it now).

I am one seriously happy gamer... not because i saved some money but because i saved my card thanks to you guys... CHEERS!!!!

 

[wa1]

wow, it's nice knowing your Card is come alive again...
Seriously, i would never try that baking method...

 

[MikeMurder1969]

i had nothing to lose, paid £300 for the card just over 3 years ago so no guarantee on it, as it was it was a paper weight.

The more i think about it the more i can understand why it fixed my card

 

[MikeMurder1969]

Three days on and it's still running sweet, instaled fallout three last night to "stretch it's legs" so to say.

I wouldn't recommend it if your card was still under warrantee but if like me. You have nothing to lose then go for it, just remember to follow the instructions in the link posted for me further up

 

[mjsharma]

well...are they usin a microwave oven? cos in my oven manual its written that aluminum foils shud b avoided

 

[MikeMurder1969]

Microwave wouldn't work as they heat food by exciting the water molecules within it.
I used a conventional fan assisted oven.
Btw my graphics card is still going strong, I was worried that this fix would only be temporary but those fears have been put to rest.