VOGONS

Search

Common searches

Voodoo 5500 PCI - I think it's broken! :-(

Topic actions

First post, by retro games 100

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

From the moment I switched on the PC's power, I heard a clattering sound coming from one of the voodoo 5500's fans. One of the cooling fan blades was banging against the side of its fan holder, which I thought was a bit odd. I switched off the power, and then disconnected this fan from the V5500. Rather than plug in a new fan on to the v5500, I left the "broken" fan disconnected, and just placed another motherboard-powered fan right next to the broken one. It gives off plenty of cool air, so I am sure this is OK for some basic testing.

To cut a long story short, I had lots of problems with this graphics card, so I decided to format my HDD and start all over again.

But even installing windows 98, I could see a few light blue pixels here and there, indicating potential "graphics corruption". ??

Once win98 was installed, along with the V5500 graphics driver, I continued to see odd light blue pixels here and there on the desktop.

I tried running a 3dfx game inside windows98, and the PC just locked up.

I tried going to the 3dfx tools section, and clicking every "reset to factory default" button I could see, but that didn't help - I just wondered whether the previous owner had overclocked the card perhaps? Actually, I'm not sure how I can a) check this or b) reset it, if it has been overclocked.

I am wondering whether the card has some bad video ram?

Microsoft dxdiag tests perform badly - locking up the computer.

This is a bit depressing. 😢 Any ideas please people? 😐

Reply 1 of 8, by keropi

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

did you try it in another motherboard? if yes and still have the same symptoms, then the V5 is a goner... bad pixels and lockups indicate a dead VGA. but first try another mobo. IIRC V5 is very power-hungry!

🎵 🎧 ⏳ ⚡ PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 2 of 8, by retro games 100

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
keropi wrote:

did you try it in another motherboard? if yes and still have the same symptoms, then the V5 is a goner... bad pixels and lockups indicate a dead VGA. but first try another mobo. IIRC V5 is very power-hungry!

Thanks for your advice - I will try another mobo. However, please note - I have successfully tested a different V5 in this current mobo, without encountering any problems. Also it's worth noting that I'm using a good PSU - a Corsair HX520.

But I suppose it's just possible that since my earlier successful tests with another V5, something has gone wrong with my current mobo. I have a 2nd identical mobo which I need to test anyway. It won't hurt to simply swap out the current mobo, with this other mobo, and then rerun my V5 tests. I'll post back later with some results...

Edit: It's just dawned on me that there is a simpler way of doing this. All I have to do (I think) is to replace the potentially broken V5 with a different V5 I tested earlier. If that works, then it must be the (first) V5 which is broken.

Reply 4 of 8, by retro games 100

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
keropi wrote:

yes, tha will do the trick 😁

OK, I've managed to get the first half of my testing done quite quickly, by simply swapping out one V5 for another. The 2nd "good" V5 worked perfectly. dxdiag = ok (no flickering on the spinning cube, or even worse, lock ups), and also a windows-based 3dfx game worked without error.

I will "edit back" soon with my final test, which is to put the "broken" V5 back in to the mobo, and retest it.

Reply 6 of 8, by retro games 100

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
keropi wrote:

I fear your "broken" V5 is really broken... 🙁

It is!!! 🙁 😢

I've just put it back in to the mobo, run dxdiag again, and it locks up the machine performing one of the 2D tests.

<sound of retro games sobbing>

Reply 7 of 8, by keropi

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

no big deal if you ask me... V5 is more like a "collector's item" ...

🎵 🎧 ⏳ ⚡ PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 8 of 8, by Malik

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Very interesting! I've been following the whole progress.
The moment you get to know which ONE of the possible hundreds of culprits causing the problem, it really elevates your morale. You feel like you could...like you could...TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! (TM) (Lightning accompanied).
Something like reading one of Sherlock Holmes' case files! 😁

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to General Old Hardware
Close window
Close window