Some of you may have experienced the tragedy of a computer being attacked by bugs. Some of them self-destructed and were electrocuted inside the motherboard or power supply. Some of them laid a bunch of eggs because of the warm environment inside. When they were discovered, only a large number of egg shells were left. However, foreign YTR recently disclosed in a video an RTX 4090 graphics card that was successfully attacked by bugs. The card could not be used for mysterious reasons, so it was entrusted to YTR Northwestrepair, which is famous for repairs, for repairs. Because of this relationship, the graphics card with a special cause of failure was dismantled and the bug remains inside were discovered.
When it comes to bugs, many people have a bad impression. Most common insects in houses are pests, such as flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches and ants. They all have the habit of living in human houses and eating a variety of foods. Among them, cockroaches are the most capable of spreading their traces, and they even like dark and warm places. Therefore, when computers were not so “bright” in the past, there were many cases of cockroach invasion causing computers to suddenly become paralyzed. Therefore, the environment around the computer needs to be kept clean and cleaned.
There is a bug in RTX 4090, foreign YTR found out after searching through the graphics card
A small bug can paralyze an entire computer, so places that produce computer components, even core chips, are naturally very cautious and must be isolated from the outside world. This is to ensure that any microorganisms or dust that may affect computer components should not appear in the factory. However, at this time, there happened to be a faulty RTX 4090 graphics card, and the remains of a bug were found sandwiched between the GPU and the PCB board. Obviously, before the GPU core was soldered, the remains of the bug had already fallen on the PCB. The production line could only do simple automation work, and directly covered the GPU and soldered it. Only then did we have a completely faulty RTX 4090 with a real “bug” inside.
Northwestrepair carefully removed the radiator from the graphics card before performing repairs, then used an electric meter to carefully check whether there was any residual current in all components, and connected the test power supply to check all components. The current stage seems to be the same as common maintenance operations. After identifying the abnormal areas of the circuit, these areas can be repaired. Even a bug needs to be dealt with. Considering the price of the RTX 4090 graphics card, it may still make sense for users to spend money to repair such a graphics card.
As the video progresses, the repairman takes tools to desolder and remove the GPU chip. The foreign object that caused the failure was among the exposed dense contacts under the chip. Considering the proportions, perhaps it was just a bug less than the size of a 1-yuan coin, but it was able to go through many battles and pass through layers of checks to reach the GPU contacts, gloriously causing a high-cost graphics card failure. In terms of its short life, it can be regarded as a perfect special attack, hitting a flagship graphics card representing the RTX 4000 series in the human world.
However, even if the insect bravely carried out a special attack, it could not escape the eyes of the repairman. After removing the remains of the insect, the repairman re-soldered the GPU, put it back in place, and checked the problem again. Fortunately, except for the short circuit caused by the insect carcasses, there were no other problems. The graphics card was eventually repaired and returned to its original owner. However, it is indeed surprising to see what kind of assembly plant allows bugs (or wreckage) to have the opportunity to escape the protection at each level, enter the product line and self-destruct, and even be sold to consumers through random sampling inspections.
Northwestrepair says the card came from the second-hand market and does not come with a warranty. Therefore, it fell into his hands for processing. After a thorough investigation of other peripheral components found problems, I had no choice but to open the GPU. Fortunately, I found the cause of the failure, and the card has been able to operate smoothly since then. As for the bug, since we can no longer see its prototype, we can at least confirm that it has a pair of wings and is extremely small. It may be a fly or an insect of similar size.
As a side note, all program failures are called bugs. The term came about in 1946 when a moth was trapped inside a relay, causing a computer failure at the Harvard Computing Laboratory. Unexpectedly, this meme can still be implemented on a graphics card in 2023. For the owner of the card, it is probably a joke that is not funny at all.
Source: KOCPC Chinese