Retro restoration goes better when you slow down. Many cards are damaged more by rushed cleaning, guessed capacitor swaps, and heat abuse than by the original fault.

Before repair, document the card

• Front and back photos in good light.
• Part numbers, memory chips, BIOS label, and connector layout.
• Any prior repair signs: scratched screws, flux residue, lifted pads, replaced fans, or missing stickers.

First-pass inspection

• Corrosion, cracked inductors, damaged traces, bulged or leaking capacitors, and broken fan wires.
• Bracket damage, bent outputs, and signs of storage moisture.
• Whether heatsink mounting pressure looks uneven or improvised.

Safe early tests

• Test in a known-good system with the correct period or stable reference driver.
• Note POST behavior, BIOS screen quality, and whether corruption starts before the OS loads.
• Log temperatures if the card can reach the desktop safely.

What not to do first

• Do not reflow as a default diagnostic step.
• Do not replace parts before confirming the failure pattern.
• Do not scrub labels, silkscreen, or fragile fan stickers you may want for identification later.

Good restoration threads preserve the history of the card while fixing the actual problem.