I also tried adding coolers on two main chips, and recapping the card, but no change.

Well, that won't help much, because it's GENDAC/VGA passthrough issue.

wavy picture might be due to bad ground - try reconnecting all cables
or might be monitor issue - try turning monitor off, counting to 10 and back on

V2 - probably like most voodoos nowadays needs full resoldering, old oxidized solder cracks under thermal stress, card freezing after getting warm is a perfect symptom for marginal joint on one of the pins somewhere

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-09-15, 09:08:

I also tried adding coolers on two main chips, and recapping the card, but no change.

Well, that won't help much, because it's GENDAC/VGA passthrough issue.

GENDAC dying or some weak solder point? Maybe I should reflow GENDAC solder points? 🤔

rasz_pl wrote on 2022-09-15, 10:01:

wavy picture might be due to bad ground - try reconnecting all cables
or might be monitor issue - try turning monitor off, counting to 10 and back on

V2 - probably like most voodoos nowadays needs full resoldering, old oxidized solder cracks under thermal stress, card freezing after getting warm is a perfect symptom for marginal joint on one of the pins somewhere

I tried two passthrough cables and few VGA cables to monitor, no change. Monitor (btw. it's LCD, not CRT) also doesn't have any problems with other VGA cards. Plus it's strange that there are no issues while on POST screen.
That's why I'm puzzled when it comes to it... 😕

Hmm, then it's off to my bucket of flux and refreshing pads on it. Time to fire up the old microscope 😬

Solo761 wrote on 2022-09-15, 15:17:

The Serpent Rider wrote on 2022-09-15, 09:08:

I also tried adding coolers on two main chips, and recapping the card, but no change.

Well, that won't help much, because it's GENDAC/VGA passthrough issue.

GENDAC dying or some weak solder point? Maybe I should reflow GENDAC solder points? 🤔

on your VGA card. Voodoo is Turned Off in "plain DOS or BIOS". It doesnt generate any signals, its full passthru

Solo761 wrote on 2022-09-15, 15:17:

I tried two passthrough cables and few VGA cables to monitor, no change.

I didnt articulate myself clearly 🙁 while the _picture is "wavy"_ try:
-reconnecting all cables
-turning monitor off, counting to 10 and back on
-another one I forgot: Bypass Voodoo, that is connect monitor directly to VGA

too see if anything changes. This is called troubleshooting. Instead of guessing and doing blind things you test components one by one while looking at direct result. Bad ground might be due to bad cable, or dirty/oxidized connector.

Solo761 wrote on 2022-09-15, 15:17:

Monitor (btw. it's LCD, not CRT)

go into options and click Recalibrate

Solo761 wrote on 2022-09-15, 15:17:

Plus it's strange that there are no issues while on POST screen.

nothing strange about that, it uses different mode/timings

Solo761 wrote on 2022-09-15, 15:17:

Hmm, then it's off to my bucket of flux and refreshing pads on it. Time to fire up the old microscope 😬

on V2

When Voodoo 2 cards first came out 2 cards I had died of heat. They both exhibited the wavy lines issue prior to dying.

rasz_pl wrote on 2022-09-16, 04:28:

on your VGA card. Voodoo is Turned Off in "plain DOS or BIOS". It doesnt generate any signals, its full passthru […]
Show full quote

on your VGA card. Voodoo is Turned Off in "plain DOS or BIOS". It doesnt generate any signals, its full passthru

I didnt articulate myself clearly 🙁 while the _picture is "wavy"_ try:
-reconnecting all cables
-turning monitor off, counting to 10 and back on
-another one I forgot: Bypass Voodoo, that is connect monitor directly to VGA

too see if anything changes. This is called troubleshooting. Instead of guessing and doing blind things you test components one by one while looking at direct result. Bad ground might be due to bad cable, or dirty/oxidized connector.

First, thank you for your reply, but as mentioned I already tried all of that. It wasn't blindly doing everything at once. It was step by step. This problem isn't something that happened one afternoon. I've been experimenting and changing and testing stuff slowly for last two months. What I tried, a bit more detailed than in original post.

- Image is rock solid during POST phase of motherboard bootup (when it counts RAM, detects HDDs). It gets "wavy" if I enter BIOS or let it continue. Funnily it's "wavy" on VGA BIOS screen prior to POST screen, it's OK just at this point, to make things more strange... Yes, it's probably different vertical/horizontal refresh rate for POST screen vs "plain" DOS screens, but image quality difference is huge. One clear and sharp, the other...
- I changed the cables, pass through and VGA. so they were definitely reconnected.
- If I connect monitor directly to VGA card there are no problems.
- This is problem I have for last three months, monitor was definitely off in the meantime. Even more than counting to 10. Plus, as mentioned, if I connect it straight to main VGA card, or other computers, via VGA of course, image is fine. That kinda rules out the monitor as source of the problem.

So I wouldn't say I was "doing blind things"? I tried everything hardware related, one item by one item.
When all I tried didn't change anything I, even tried putting it in another configuration (two actually), with freshly recapped motherboard, just to see if there's some issue with power delivery from motherboard to the card. But no, again, no change.
Additionally, if I replace install Voodoo2 in it's place there are no more waves. So that pretty much narrows the issue to this specific Voodoo1 card.

And that's the point of this topic, if there's some usual culprits on these cards, like bad solder points on some chips, that can cause this and can be fixed as all points to Voodoo card beeing the source of this.

rasz_pl wrote on 2022-09-16, 04:28:

go into options and click Recalibrate

Issue is not blurry image but wavy. Pixels going left-right instead of standing still. Recalibration would only solve horizontal and vertical positioning and pixel mapping.

Solo761 wrote on 2022-09-15, 15:17:

nothing strange about that, it uses different mode/timings

Yes, but not really helpfull to figure out where potential issue is 😬

Shagittarius wrote on 2022-09-16, 04:40:

When Voodoo 2 cards first came out 2 cards I had died of heat. They both exhibited the wavy lines issue prior to dying.

Unfortunately Voodoo1 is the one with wavy lines 😕

I might try putting fan next to it (them actually, in both, V1 and V2 configuration) to see if it helps. If it does then it's definitely heat issue 😑.

ok, so you confirmed its not cables, its not any of the active voodoo chips or gendac, so what is left is VGA connectors and switching chip on the back of the card https://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/v … /QS3L384QG.html
now, is the image wavy while displaying accelerated 3dfx game ? if yes then its the connector in the card and not the switch

Solo761 wrote on 2022-09-16, 10:57:

First, thank you for your reply, but as mentioned I already tried all of that. It wasn't blindly doing everything at once. It wa […]
Show full quote

rasz_pl wrote on 2022-09-16, 04:28:

on your VGA card. Voodoo is Turned Off in "plain DOS or BIOS". It doesnt generate any signals, its full passthru […]
Show full quote

on your VGA card. Voodoo is Turned Off in "plain DOS or BIOS". It doesnt generate any signals, its full passthru

I didnt articulate myself clearly 🙁 while the _picture is "wavy"_ try:
-reconnecting all cables
-turning monitor off, counting to 10 and back on
-another one I forgot: Bypass Voodoo, that is connect monitor directly to VGA

too see if anything changes. This is called troubleshooting. Instead of guessing and doing blind things you test components one by one while looking at direct result. Bad ground might be due to bad cable, or dirty/oxidized connector.

First, thank you for your reply, but as mentioned I already tried all of that. It wasn't blindly doing everything at once. It was step by step. This problem isn't something that happened one afternoon. I've been experimenting and changing and testing stuff slowly for last two months. What I tried, a bit more detailed than in original post.

- Image is rock solid during POST phase of motherboard bootup (when it counts RAM, detects HDDs). It gets "wavy" if I enter BIOS or let it continue. Funnily it's "wavy" on VGA BIOS screen prior to POST screen, it's OK just at this point, to make things more strange... Yes, it's probably different vertical/horizontal refresh rate for POST screen vs "plain" DOS screens, but image quality difference is huge. One clear and sharp, the other...
- I changed the cables, pass through and VGA. so they were definitely reconnected.
- If I connect monitor directly to VGA card there are no problems.
- This is problem I have for last three months, monitor was definitely off in the meantime. Even more than counting to 10. Plus, as mentioned, if I connect it straight to main VGA card, or other computers, via VGA of course, image is fine. That kinda rules out the monitor as source of the problem.

So I wouldn't say I was "doing blind things"? I tried everything hardware related, one item by one item.
When all I tried didn't change anything I, even tried putting it in another configuration (two actually), with freshly recapped motherboard, just to see if there's some issue with power delivery from motherboard to the card. But no, again, no change.
Additionally, if I replace install Voodoo2 in it's place there are no more waves. So that pretty much narrows the issue to this specific Voodoo1 card.

And that's the point of this topic, if there's some usual culprits on these cards, like bad solder points on some chips, that can cause this and can be fixed as all points to Voodoo card beeing the source of this.

rasz_pl wrote on 2022-09-16, 04:28:

go into options and click Recalibrate

Issue is not blurry image but wavy. Pixels going left-right instead of standing still. Recalibration would only solve horizontal and vertical positioning and pixel mapping.

Solo761 wrote on 2022-09-15, 15:17:

nothing strange about that, it uses different mode/timings

Yes, but not really helpfull to figure out where potential issue is 😬

Shagittarius wrote on 2022-09-16, 04:40:

When Voodoo 2 cards first came out 2 cards I had died of heat. They both exhibited the wavy lines issue prior to dying.

Unfortunately Voodoo1 is the one with wavy lines 😕

I might try putting fan next to it (them actually, in both, V1 and V2 configuration) to see if it helps. If it does then it's definitely heat issue 😑.

Once these wavy lines started appearing on my Voodoo 2 fans would not help to correct it. I had to put a fan on the 3rd Voodoo 2 I got and that one never got the wavy lines. Voodoo 1 and 2 aren't too far apart architecture wise.