GTX 580 PCI-E slot damaged... can it be fixed?

[ISI300]

Hello everyone. I was selling this card to someone and apparently during transportation, some portion of the PCI-E slot (not the lengthy part used for data lanes, the other one that's used for power and detection) is slightly damaged.

This is the only picture that I was so far able to get from him. I did ask him about damages to other portion of the card and he says there is none.
Any suggestion or is the card a brick now? The part that is broken off is not lost so I was thinking of somehow gluing it back on and soldering the pins. Or will that not work?

 

[Aquinus]

Don't sell it as working. The portion of PCI-E on the 1x side of the connector has connections that MUST be made. No PCB means poor contact and since the inner most pin appears to be broken, I would go so far to say that you shouldn't be selling this as a working GPU.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

I think you will be very lucky if you make an effective repair.

Even if you do manage to glue/solder the piece back on this will inevitably widen that part of the card. which will cause problems when it is re sited.

Assuming you fix it i think you will be very lucky to get it into a slot without it breaking off again.

An alternative might be a PCIe riser.







Where you could physically fix the card into the riser, ensure that it works then sell as is, the card is worth pretty much nothing as it is at the moment.

Shame to just give up on it.

 

[buildzoid]

It might still work the way it si now. If it doesn't then you probably have to cut of and replace the entire power connector since fixing individual pins is way more finicky.

BTW: for everyone else commenting he already sold the card and it got damaged in shipping.

 

[ISI300]

Thanks for the replies everybody. As buildzoid, the card was sold and damaged during transportation.

Is it possible to shorten the length of the rest of the pins son the few that have been chopped off make contact?

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Wont you then have to shorten the pcie slot ?

 

[ISI300]

Wont you then have to shorten the pcie slot ?

If you see in the picture quite a few of the left side of the PCI-E connector slot was shredded. I was thinking instead of trying to glue that small piece back on, just modify the card so that all the pins make contact?

 

[buildzoid]

Thanks for the replies everybody. As buildzoid, the card was sold and damaged during transportation.

Is it possible to shorten the length of the rest of the pins son the few that have been chopped off make contact?

That could work. However you might have to cut down the mounting bracket because the case might not be deep enough after yoou shorten the PCI-e connector

 

[OneMoar]

the real problem are the first 3 pin's the rest of them look intact enough to make contact
if you have the broken piece you could super-glue it back in place and then use conductive glue or solder to repair the contact
else you could try sanding the exposed section of PCB On the connector down to the edge of the contacts so it sits lower in the slot
might be enough to make it work
and no even if its repaired I would't sell it to anybody
its a 580 its 4 generations old

 

[revin]

TBH, I don't see how that section got broke like that

Unless there was no wrapping[bubble ect] around the GPU seem's really hard to hit that spot, even then the box should show damage

 

[RealNeil]

When you shipped it, was it insured?

Make a claim if it was,.......

 

[ISI300]

It was wrapped very well (or so I'm told, got it shipped by a friend) but apparently it was our darn incompetent postal system that ruined it.
As for selling it, it was sitting around being useless so I thought what the hell.
Sadly, I don't have the card at hand right now. So I'll just relay your kind suggestions and see what happens.
For the record, the card was fine before shipping so I wasn't exactly defrauding the guy. And after I got news of the damage and such and such, I ask the guy very clearly and persuasively to return it my own cost but he didn't and instead took it to some place where he says they specialize in this kind of work.
If he were to just return it as it was, all would be well but now that they have worked on it for two days and say it's irreparable I I'm not sure about asking it back (they were at first positive with giving a %60 - %70 likelihood that it could be fixed and no say in no uncertain terms that it cannot.
What do you think? Am I being unethical?

 

[ISI300]

Apparently not.

When you shipped it, was it insured?

Make a claim if it was,.......

Got a friend to ship it for me and he didn't insure it. I specifically asked him not to skimp on shipping.

 

[ISI300]

Ooooh, the sacred eyes of the W1zzard upon my unworthy topic...

 

[OneMoar]

the only other option would be epoxy
and it would require careful measurement and its very fiddly work
you would need to tape off the good section of contact and then using something like jbweld rebuild the damaged area to spec it would require careful work and a lot of sanding and the ability to use a micrometer
once you have the dimensions correct you would remove the tape and then using silver solder and a ultra fine tip recreate the contact points or if you can get it you could use gold jewelers -wire and simply insert it before the epoxy has completely set witch you solder and sand later

 

[Toothless]

It was wrapped very well (or so I'm told, got it shipped by a friend) but apparently it was our darn incompetent postal system that ruined it.
As for selling it, it was sitting around being useless so I thought what the hell.
Sadly, I don't have the card at hand right now. So I'll just relay your kind suggestions and see what happens.
For the record, the card was fine before shipping so I wasn't exactly defrauding the guy. And after I got news of the damage and such and such, I ask the guy very clearly and persuasively to return it my own cost but he didn't and instead took it to some place where he says they specialize in this kind of work.
If he were to just return it as it was, all would be well but now that they have worked on it for two days and say it's irreparable I I'm not sure about asking it back (they were at first positive with giving a %60 - %70 likelihood that it could be fixed and no say in no uncertain terms that it cannot.
What do you think? Am I being unethical?

Apparently not.

Got a friend to ship it for me and he didn't insure it. I specifically asked him not to skimp on shipping.

Ooooh, the sacred eyes of the W1zzard upon my unworthy topic...

Combine your posts! Triple posting is frowned upon.

 

[qubit]

It was wrapped very well (or so I'm told, got it shipped by a friend) but apparently it was our darn incompetent postal system that ruined it.
As for selling it, it was sitting around being useless so I thought what the hell.
Sadly, I don't have the card at hand right now. So I'll just relay your kind suggestions and see what happens.
For the record, the card was fine before shipping so I wasn't exactly defrauding the guy. And after I got news of the damage and such and such, I ask the guy very clearly and persuasively to return it my own cost but he didn't and instead took it to some place where he says they specialize in this kind of work.
If he were to just return it as it was, all would be well but now that they have worked on it for two days and say it's irreparable I I'm not sure about asking it back (they were at first positive with giving a %60 - %70 likelihood that it could be fixed and no say in no uncertain terms that it cannot.
What do you think? Am I being unethical?

I'd say that this isn't your problem any more. You were perfectly ethical by offering a full refund, but instead the buyer just tried to repair it, hence you now owe him nothing.

It's like any warranty voiding situation, where fiddling with the product voids it.

If the buyer demands a refund now just tell him the above, keep the money and forget about this card, it's his problem now.

Finally, damage like that looks more like he screwed up trying to fit the card rather than a shipping problem, but is instead saying it arrived like that. This kind of dishonesty is unfortunately quite common. Unfortunately, you can't prove this, so you can't say it to him, but it's worth keeping in mind.

I've got one of those cards and they're a bit big, heavy and unwieldy, so it could happen.

 

[Genobee]

Finally, damage like that looks more like he screwed up trying to fit the card rather than a shipping problem, but is instead saying it arrived like that. This kind of dishonesty is unfortunately quite common. Unfortunately, you can't prove this, so you can't say it to him, but it's worth keeping in mind.

I've got one of those cards and they're a bit big, heavy and unwieldy, so it could happen.

Was thinking the exact same. Damage of that variety is more in line with applying too much force when attempting to seat the card.

If it was properly packaged for shipping than the odds of that particular component of the card getting damaged seem very slim to me.

 

[RealNeil]

Damage of that variety is more in line with applying too much force when attempting to seat the card.

Agreed, or not having indexed properly. (not entirely in the slot when you apply pressure to it)