TechTuber NorthWestRepair has shared a video showcasing the fault finding and repair of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition, one of the best graphics cards. What sets this video apart is that upon lifting the GPU, a bug was revealed. Unfortunately, a physical winged insect got in between the GPU and the PCB pads during assembly, with the worst possible timing.
Twitter’s @ghost_motley spotted the video and highlighted that it would be unusual for something like a flying bug to get into an electronics assembly cleanroom, so for an insect to get sandwiched into a graphics card would be a scarce turn of events.
The customer who contracted NorthWestRepair for the graphics card fix explained that they had a ‘brand new’ Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition, which they bought at a ‘resale place’ with no warranty. Presumably, it was a bargain. To no great surprise, the bargain GPU didn’t work. However, it showed some signs of life. When powered up in a system, the GPU fans would spin up to max speed, but there was never an image output to any monitor.
NorthWestRepair began investigations with the basics. The PCB was fully exposed after a quick disassembly of the Nvidia card. The repair tech went through all the usual steps an electronics repair guy would: probing for short circuits and required voltages, checking through a microscope for PCB faults and cracks, and containing the power circuits, oscillator, and BIOS chips.
Finally, the perfectly clean and functional PCB left the next most likely candidate for a fault as the GPU, so NorthWestRepair decided to lift the AD102 chip for inspection. Using his BGA desoldering gear, the TechTuber popped off the GPU and found the carcass of a winged insect. Its presence must have affected some BGA contacts and caused the no-picture error.
After a lengthy clean-up and re-ball session, NorthWestRepair fixed the GPU back in place, and testing revealed the once-dead RTX 4090 was now full of life. The video ends with the YouTuber testing one of the GeForce RTX 4090 FE in 3DMark benchmarking apps, and ensuring it was ready to be put into service. We are sure the customer would be happy with their new bug-free gaming experience.
Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
OMG, how much did it cost for such a repair? I expect someone lost money on this (aside from possible youtube ad revenue, if this video becomes insanely popular).
an insect(s) never broke my computer. however Lizards will often get into the fuse box of my air conditioning unit and get zapped when the lizard bridged the contact points with there body,
an insect(s) never broke my computer. however Lizards will often get into the fuse box of my air conditioning unit and get zapped when the lizard bridged the contact points with there body,
Happens "often" and not worth doing anything to prevent?
Crazy, I assumed all cards where boot tested before shipping. Definitely seems like an issue that should never have reached the consumer. But hopefully the guy got an absolute steal (all in).
Crazy, I assumed all cards where boot tested before shipping. Definitely seems like an issue that should never have reached the consumer. But hopefully the guy got an absolute steal (all in).
I suspect this was sold as a factory 2nd by mistake by whoever binned it
