Summary
- Resistances TODO
- This card has a badly damaged HDMI, but the DVI displays a picture. It also gets a blank screen on driver load.
- I have an identical card that is scrap, so I would quite like to try fixing the HDMI using the scrap card as a donor.
- This is likely just practice, as I don’t expect to get a working card unless I can also work out why it crashes to a blank screen on driver load. There is a reasonable chance the core is faulty.
- MATS passes, so the memory should be OK.
Replacing the faulty HDMI
As a warm-up, I have removed the HDMI from the identical donor card using some leaded solder on the connector pins and legs. Then, pre-heating to 100+ degrees C and using 440 degrees C hot air from the back of the port.
As you can see, it’s badly damaged, I hope it hasn’t shorted anything.
I repeat the above steps to remove the port from this card. I then clean up the connector pads and tried to remove the solder from the leg holes as much as possible. I found this a little time-consuming, preheating seemed to help a lot. I don’t have a desoldering tool, so just used a soldering iron and braid.
To solder on the replacement HDMI port, I tinned the pads and connector legs. Then I started at one end and soldered each leg in turn. Finally, I prodded each leg to check that it has in fact soldered. It looks OK:
Testing the card
- Unfortunately, the HDMI port doesn’t seem to work. The DVI port still works and there is still a picture.
- I will likely just have to put this down to practice. I would have liked to know if I made a mistake replacing the HDMI port or whether the damage it sustained perhaps led to the core also being damaged.
- I am not sure this card is actually fixable, but there may be further learnings to be had. I would like to know more about how the ports work. I can check some voltages if I get a chance.
Update 31/12/2023 – more testing on a Linux system
This card is a curious one for me, as I never really got to the bottom of it.
- mats 367 passes
- mods 118,178 and mfg (most tests pass) fails, as mods does not recognize the board type (see pic)
- Linux desktop seems to load the drivers without error, but no picture from either port – need to confirm if the DVI port is working pre-driver load, as it appeared to work previously (original testing notes)
Next steps
- Recheck if the DVI port works pre-drivers
- Possibly the card works, but with no IO, try some light load testing as a 2nd card. This could be interesting e.g. if the board can do work, but some of the circuit is damaged or possibly the IO parts of the core?
- See if mods 400 knows the board type