dm- wrote on Yesterday, 07:28:

nvflash detects gpu even without soldered eeprom.

most likely gpu/card is damaged

Could it be then that the card needs reballing?
He could try pressing the core to see if the contacts reappear?

this is old card with leaded solder balls (giant 0,76mm).
no reballing required.

visible physical damage? missing components? if none - gpu replacement. you can get one new on ebay for around 20$

dm- wrote on Yesterday, 09:07:

this is old card with leaded solder balls (giant 0,76mm).
no reballing required.

Could you expand on this? It's actually interesting to learn why no reballing is necessary.
Probably too big to crack, but I'd like to create a note on this.
BGA repair is the thing that I dread the most. It requires experience.

Like motherboard BIOS, doesn't this one write data to the vram? Maybe it failed internally and is mixing addresses/data lines, making ram scan impossible or conflicting? Tha fact that it has 4kb istead of 44kb size points toward some dead internal something (bios), broken traces (like you suggest) or core issues. IDK how he got it but it isn't impossible it got hit hard. No mats/mods would work on this one?
Just an ignorant guess.

The money is not the point, I guess, but the challenge of repairing it.

Thanks

nvflash will detect gpu w/o flash or even ram installed. almost nothing required to run gpu.
with bad flash chip nvflash may stuck on reading firmware or return an error of "no flash present/ unknown flash/ etc"

solder cracks are thing for lead-free gpu's after ~ 2005y, a tiny balls combined with lead-free solder.
gf2 gts chip has very big 0.76 leaded balls. if there is no physical damage then this is not the case.

it's just easier to replace gpu to brand new from china. ~ 20 min

dm- wrote on Yesterday, 10:10:

nvflash will detect gpu w/o flash or even ram installed. almost nothing required to run gpu. with bad flash chip nvflash may stu […]
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nvflash will detect gpu w/o flash or even ram installed. almost nothing required to run gpu.
with bad flash chip nvflash may stuck on reading firmware or return an error of "no flash present/ unknown flash/ etc"

solder cracks are thing for lead-free gpu's after ~ 2005y, a tiny balls combined with lead-free solder.
gf2 gts chip has very big 0.76 leaded balls. if there is no physical damage then this is not the case.

it's just easier to replace gpu to brand new from china. ~ 20 min

Interesting. This is why I can put nvflash along another card for tests.
Thanks