Can this video card be repaired?

[hazazil]

Recently I switched computer cases and accidentally dropped one of my video cards on the carpet. Since in the new case it does not work. It shows up in device manager, but has code 43. I was running crossfire with 2 of the same card and i've tried switching pcie slots/power cables/ etc. nothing works. last night i was looking at the card and noticed that one of the many gold connectors that makes contact with the pcie slot itself when plugged in is broken off. i'm thinking that it's not making contact on that one spot and was wondering if and how i would go about repairing it. Any help is greatly appreciated!

The card is a Sapphire Vapor-X HD 4870 1GB GDDR5

http://www.couponsunlimited.us/sapphire-pcie-video-card1.jpg

 

[house70]

Fixing that would require doing some heating up, which in turn will damage the adjacent board. I say it is a lost cause.
I mean, if you feel adventurous, you can go ahead and try it, but anything short of a permanent bonding solution will fail.

 

[dish_moose]

Show us a picture - then we can make a better decision.
-Bruce

 

[hazazil]

I couldn't figure out how to upload the photo here so i put it up on my webhost

http://www.couponsunlimited.us/videocard1.jpg

i am feeling adventurous The card was 150.00 and I have another that is identical. The product is not manufactured anymore and it would be nice if possible to repair it or at least to take a shot at it before just tossing it out. If it can't be fixed, then i have no choice but to accept that and move on

 

[esrever]

thats normal...

 

[hazazil]

sorry, i took a picture of the wrong spot. i have now updated the pic. see how one , if not two of those look broken.

 

[esrever]

well you can probably do it if you just got a thin strip of tin foil and carefully glue/solder it on with contact but that would require some skill and you can easily mess up and destroy it.

 

[hazazil]

i just wasn't sure how to bond whatever material that would replace the missing piece to the existing piece. i figured if i glued it there wouldn't be a connection between the two because the glue would be inbetween. have you or anyone you know/heard of doing this before? i wonder if there is a very thin metal that is not as fragile and soft as aluminum foil that could work

 

[esrever]

no idea but you have to somehow get contact with the board if that is the problem.

 

[hazazil]

yah, i agree. i was clueless as far as what material to try to use on it so i appreciate the idea. i will end up trying it if no one else can come up with anything better. do you think i could bond the strip of aluminum foil to the existing piece with a small dab of solder? or the solder gun would be too hot and ruin it?

 

[andrewcarr]

That's normal, look at pictures of new cards on newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517
I thought the same thing, when I first installed my GPU, then noticed they all have that. Although the second one may have a bit coming off, still should be able to make contact, so will be fine. Some other component must be fired sorry

You should be able to pick up a used one or even a new one though on Ebay, for not too much.

 

[esrever]

I actually would have no idea but I think it could be done. The pcb should be able to stand some heat, as long as you don't melt it too much.

 

[punahou1]

yah, i agree. i was clueless as far as what material to try to use on it so i appreciate the idea. i will end up trying it if no one else can come up with anything better. do you think i could bond the strip of aluminum foil to the existing piece with a small dab of solder? or the solder gun would be too hot and ruin it?

Don't use aluminum foil! Check out the neighborhood computer store to see if they have some throw away cards then use an exacto knife to cut off a similiar piece. If you have a soldering iron wrap copper wire on the end so you can make a fine heated point for the solder... Go slow and heat up the solder until it binds both pieces of metal.

 

[hazazil]

i have 2 identical cards. when i remove the other and install this card only the computer posts led "2a" stays there and can't see video. other card as primary works fine. i've tried this card in 2 different slots with and without crossfire cable hooked up. i've tried switching the pcie cables from power supply from the ones that were hooked up to the working video card and same thing. Code 43 and yellow exclamation point in device manager. i've tried uninstalling/reinstalling/updating drivers etc. by looking at it and taking into consideration i dropped a card , it makes sense that it could've done damage especially where this one is damaged. it worked perfectly when it was in my old case.

 

[hazazil]

Don't use aluminum foil! Check out the neighborhood computer store to see if they have some throw away cards then use an exacto knife to cut off a similiar piece. If you have a soldering iron wrap copper wire on the end so you can make a fine heated point for the solder... Go slow and heat up the solder until it binds both pieces of metal.

good advice! i had some old video cards and stuff laying around but think i threw them all away cause they were out of old computers. i have a butane soldering iron. do i have to use copper wire? i have some electrical solder that i used awhile back to replace some capacitors on a computer mb.

 

[house70]

You could use one of these pens for repairing the rear de-fogger in vehicles.

 

[87ninefiveone]

The second from the last gold connector is supposed to be shorter. As previously suggested Google it, or take a look at any PCIe x16 card on Newegg.

If the device is viewable in windows you might try right clicking it and disabling it. Then re-enable it and see if it shows up as normal. If it does there's some sort of driver conflict happening. For instance, lots of EVGA cards with nvidia chipsets experience problems with a conflicting Realtek ethernet driver. Rolling back the Ethernet driver to a generic one within windows often solves the problem. Since you said you built a new system something like a driver conflict could easily be the cause as opposed to dropping the card. Do some digging online and see if you can find other people with the same hardware error code from windows using your card and find out if they’ve had the same problem.

 

[punahou1]

good advice! i had some old video cards and stuff laying around but think i threw them all away cause they were out of old computers. i have a butane soldering iron. do i have to use copper wire? i have some electrical solder that i used awhile back to replace some capacitors on a computer mb.

The copper wire wrapped around the soldering iron gives you a very fine tip to heat the solder for tight spaces. Have the wire extend from the soldering iron about a 1/4 inch. In looking at another post it sounds like this may not be your problem if it is normal for that connector on the board to be short. There may have been some sort of static charge that effected your board when it was dropped on the carpet in which case, its going to be difficult to identify the effected individual component of the card.

 

[hazazil]

The second from the last gold connector is supposed to be shorter. As previously suggested Google it, or take a look at any PCIe x16 card on Newegg.

If the device is viewable in windows you might try right clicking it and disabling it. Then re-enable it and see if it shows up as normal. If it does there's some sort of driver conflict happening. For instance, lots of EVGA cards with nvidia chipsets experience problems with a conflicting Realtek ethernet driver. Rolling back the Ethernet driver to a generic one within windows often solves the problem. Since you said you built a new system something like a driver conflict could easily be the cause as opposed to dropping the card. Do some digging online and see if you can find other people with the same hardware error code from windows using your card and find out if they’ve had the same problem.

I built the new system over 2 years ago. Both cards have worked flawlessly in crossfire mode since the build up until i dropped one of the cards. It does show up in device manager but with a yellow exclamation mark next to it. Also gives code 43 that windows stopped the device. I have the 2nd identical card installed and working fine so it can't be driver issues. i have tried disabling it and reenabling it, different drivers, swapping power cables and everything to rule out everything else other than some issue with the card itself.

the gold connector on the end appears to be broken because it's angled at the end. I have done alot of research with regards to code 43 and video cards. Apparently it usually is driver issue but it could be a broad range of things. Thanks

 

[hazazil]

The copper wire wrapped around the soldering iron gives you a very fine tip to heat the solder for tight spaces. Have the wire extend from the soldering iron about a 1/4 inch. In looking at another post it sounds like this may not be your problem if it is normal for that connector on the board to be short. There may have been some sort of static charge that effected your board when it was dropped on the carpet in which case, its going to be difficult to identify the effected individual component of the card.

ahh. i wish i would've known of that trick when i replaced a 2 bad capacitors on my brothers motherboard. it was a real pain! Possibly static electricity, i have no clue. Thanks