Not Dead Yet – Engineering Against Waste

not dead yet

Engineering against waste. Two engineers, one hot-air station, and a queue of things everyone else already wrote off. We are tired of electronic waste. Send us defective electronics others would throw away; we attempt board-level repairs and document real repair cases.

Watch the latest teardown Start with the basics

CH1 · 2 V/div · 5 ms Signal restored

2Boards revived

0Declared dead, honestly

0.3 kgKept out of landfill

€ 0Charged for a diagnosis

The patients

Every episode is one board, start to finish. Nothing edited out — including the times we lose.

CASE 003

ASUS ENGT520 – Display problems after a short period of use

The ASUS ENGT520 SILENT is tripping. It boots up totally fine, but minutes later the screen goes wild with heavy glitches, pixel artifacts, and nasty lines. A quick reboot fixes the drama for a second, but then the visual chaos returns immediately. This is a textbook sign of overheating or dying VRAM. Since this silent card has zero fans, old thermal paste or bad case airflow is basically cooking the GPU alive.

We're waiting for the patient

CASE 002

Digital Multimeter – Faulty, not working

Display remains dark despite fresh battery installed. No continuity buzzer, no voltage indication, no measurable activity on any range. Test leads show intermittent connection and the battery compartment exhibits visible corrosion.

Root cause traced to a corroded battery clip causing a complete supply interruption, compounded by worn-out test leads with intermittent open circuits. Replaced the battery clip, fitted new test leads, cleaned corrosion residues from the PCB and battery compartment, and restored all electrical contact surfaces. Finished with a full functional verification across voltage, resistance, and continuity ranges.

CASE 001

Audi A4 B5 cluster · LCD pixel faults

Central display missing multiple segments. Odometer and trip information remain partially visible, but large sections of the LCD have become unreadable over time.

LCD panel affected by severe pixel loss. Replacement display is on hand and currently being fitted. Once installed, the cluster will be checked for full segment visibility and consistent operation.

How an episode runs

Same four stages, every time. If we skip one, we usually pay for it later in the video.

STAGE 01

Intake

What it did before it died, and what the owner already tried.

STAGE 02

Diagnosis

Schematic, multimeter, scope, thermal camera. Measure before touching anything.

STAGE 03

Surgery

Hot air, microscope, and the actual technique — filmed close enough to copy.

STAGE 04

Verdict

Works, or it does not. Cost of parts against the cost of a replacement.

Guides

The groundwork. Watch these first and the teardowns stop looking like magic.

G-01 Reading a schematic you’ve never seen before Beginner 14:20 G-02 Finding a short circuit without desoldering anything Beginner 11:05 G-03 Hot air, temperature, and why your pads keep lifting Intermediate 18:44 G-04 Switching regulators: what each rail should measure Intermediate 22:31 G-05 Mains-powered boards without killing yourself Advanced 16:52 G-06 Rebuilding a lifted pad and a broken trace Advanced 20:08

Electronics repair FAQ

Short answers about repair scope, location and diagnosis.

What devices do you repair?

We repair automotive electronics, graphics cards, consoles, laptops, appliance control boards, power supplies and other electronics where board-level diagnosis makes sense.

Where is Not Dead Yet located?

Not Dead Yet is based in Salzburg, Austria and focuses on board-level electronics repair and repair documentation.

Do you repair graphics cards and consoles?

Yes. Graphics cards and consoles are typical repair candidates, especially no-display faults, power rail issues, HDMI faults and short circuits.

How much does diagnosis cost?

Diagnosis is currently listed as free on the homepage. Parts are charged at cost if a repair is possible and wanted.

Do you repair automotive electronics?

Yes. Automotive electronics such as instrument clusters, control modules and vehicle display boards can be repair candidates when board-level diagnosis is possible.

Send us your dead

Got something written off by a service centre? Tell us what it is and what it did. Interesting failures get filmed, and you get the board back either way.

Submit a patient

We reply to everything, usually within a week.

What we takeGraphics cards, consoles, laptops, automotive electronics, appliance control boards, power supplies.
What we do notData recovery, anything still under warranty, and phones with the screen already off.
CostNothing for the diagnosis. Parts at cost if you want the repair done.