I'm guessing games act the same right?
Could you try those STB cards instead? Any other machine to test the Voodoo 2 cards in?

F2bnp wrote:

I'm guessing games act the same right?
Could you try those STB cards instead? Any other machine to test the Voodoo 2 cards in?

I no longer have the STB cards 🙁. I've now tried pretty much everything... Different PCI slots, different graphics cards (G400, GF2, GF4MX), different drivers and i even removed the Yamaha PCI sound card and tried a different PSU. I also noticed the screen had a bit of interference with the Voodoo 2 installed (a light strobing/scrolling effect).

I'm guessing it's probably a duff card as i know my PC works with other Voodoo 2 cards (confirmed with STB and Creative V2s). I don't have another old PC to test it with either 😒.

YIKES! My Matrox G400 Max almost caught fire!! I was just messing around with the V2 again and then i could smell burning plastic... The G400 fan then emitted a nasty loud noise and started to smoke! I've never pulled the plug on anything so fast 🤣.

Got to admit i've never witnessed such an epic 40mm fan failure. I've heard of fans running dry and melting, but this was LOUD and my PC room stinks now 😖. The card itself still works and the heatsink looks fine... It's just the fan that's wrecked.

PowerPie5000 wrote:

YIKES! My Matrox G400 Max almost caught fire!! I was just messing around with the V2 again and then i could smell burning plastic... The G400 fan then emitted a nasty loud noise and started to smoke! I've never pulled the plug on anything so fast 🤣.

Got to admit i've never witnessed such an epic 40mm fan failure. I've heard of fans running dry and melting, but this was LOUD and my PC room stinks now 😖. The card itself still works and the heatsink looks fine... It's just the fan that's wrecked.

You might want to dial back the clocks to normal G400 speeds until you can get a new fan in place. There's a reason why the original G400 gets by with just a heatsink and the MAX needs a fan.

The cooler on the Max is one of those that forgos most of the heatsink fins in order to inset the fan. There's not much power dissipation with a G400 but without the fan that heatsink is worthless.

Good thing i'm not using a Matrox G400 anymore, i only used it so i could test the Voodoo 2 with another GPU. My other G400 has a generic active VGA cooler with a 3-pin connector (i can plug it into the fan port next to the AGP slot on my mobo)... I used to have another G400 with a Zalman northbridge cooler attached to it, but it spanned accross a couple of empty slots 🤣.

I'm currently going through my old graphics cards and getting rid of them. I also found my old Kyro II which i never got round to using properly (and i never will 😁). It's a shame i never kept my pair of STB Voodoo 2 boards.

Another thing i find odd... I managed to get the Voodoo 2 card working for about 5 minutes and the Voodoo 2 display tab showed 'Voodoo2 1000' when usually it just shows '3dfx Voodoo2'. It crapped out again after that and the whole system became unstable (i couldn't open anything without it lagging or freezing up).

I had some issue like this... can't recall exactly but I think it was a driver problem. Windows would lock up within seconds, and/or I'd get freezes when accessing the control panel [which often was misbehaving in some way too].

I'd remove the cards, clean out the old drivers, install new drivers, install the cards. If that doesn't work, reinstall Windows and see if that helps.

At different times those two procedures have cleared up my V2 issues.

Incidentally there was also an issue with some matrox cards having a memory conflict with V2s I think, but that wasn't the problem I had.

ratfink wrote:

I had some issue like this... can't recall exactly but I think it was a driver problem. Windows would lock up within seconds, an […]
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I had some issue like this... can't recall exactly but I think it was a driver problem. Windows would lock up within seconds, and/or I'd get freezes when accessing the control panel [which often was misbehaving in some way too].

I'd remove the cards, clean out the old drivers, install new drivers, install the cards. If that doesn't work, reinstall Windows and see if that helps.

At different times those two procedures have cleared up my V2 issues.

Incidentally there was also an issue with some matrox cards having a memory conflict with V2s I think, but that wasn't the problem I had.

My Voodoo2 freezes the PC every time i try to access the display properties, control panel and even DXdiag (it becomes unstable if it doesn't hang completely). Installing Win98 again is a last resort as i thought driver cleaner pro would remove all old driver remnants? I'm trying to use it alongside a 64MB GF4 MX440 at the moment. I have no issues with lag or crashes when using the GF4 MX on it's own.

Just tried the reference DX6 drivers and it tells me my Voodoo2 is a Creative 3D Blaster in the device properties (which it isn't - it's a Procomp G111). Was it possible to flash the Voodoo2 bios back then? Did it even have a video bios??

This behaviour is what I got repeatedly with various drivers, that's why I said clean up, remove the card etc. I think it's just a driver problem.

PowerPie5000 wrote:

Was it possible to flash the Voodoo2 bios back then? Did it even have a video bios??

No, and no. The problem that you have is, as ratfing pointed out, a common one and driver related. If everything else fails, reinstall Win98 and it will work.

When all else fails, format the hard drive and reinstall Win98SE 😜.

elfuego wrote:

PowerPie5000 wrote:

Was it possible to flash the Voodoo2 bios back then? Did it even have a video bios??

No, and no. The problem that you have is, as ratfing pointed out, a common one and driver related. If everything else fails, reinstall Win98 and it will work.

I'll reinstall Win98se as a last resort tomorrow *sigh*... Is it best to install the 3DFX drivers before or after updating DirectX (currently using DX 9.0c at the moment)? I think DirectX will probably need updating before i install the GF4 MX440 drivers though. I'll also be using the latest/final reference Voodoo2 drivers if the board works, and Win98se will no doubt install some generic Voodoo2 drivers during a fresh OS install.

Do one thing at a time.

1. format c:
2. install Win98
3. install needed system drivers
3. install Geforce driver - don't install DX yet
4. install V2 drivers (Win98 doesn't have it)
5. try it out

only then do what you want, new DX... if it works of curse 😉

kixs wrote:

Do one thing at a time. […]
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Do one thing at a time.

1. format c:
2. install Win98
3. install needed system drivers
3. install Geforce driver - don't install DX yet
4. install V2 drivers (Win98 doesn't have it)
5. try it out

only then do what you want, new DX... if it works of curse 😉

None of that worked, but it doesn't matter now as i'm thinking it's definitely a faulty card... I've just borrowed a 12MB Creative 3D Blaster (Voodoo2) and it works perfectly in the same system. I wonder if there's any chance the faulty Vooodoo2 is actually a Mac version and that's why it's not working?

Thanks for the suggestions guys 😀.

There isn't a Mac version of voodoo 2 really [no bios - see above]. If people sell'em as such it's just to add some Mac-love to the price.

Any Voodoo2 will work in a Mac.

Damn shame if it's faulty cos yours is a pretty Voodoo2.

ratfink wrote:

There isn't a Mac version of voodoo really [no bios - see above]. If people sell'em as such it's just to add some Mac-love to the price.

Any Voodoo2 will work in a Mac.

Damn shame if it's faulty cos yours is a pretty Voodoo2.

Whats so pretty about it? Looks like a regular V2 apart from the single heatsink which i find strange. Does the middle/bottom TMU get hotter than the other two? It also displayed these faint wavy lines on my screen too (more noticeable at lower resolutions)... Some kind of interference?

Are you using it on a KVM or a cheap vga cable? Do you have other PCs switched on at the same time? Not voodoo-specific but I get wavy lines as a result of this kind of thing sometimes [not always the same machine]. Never tracked it down fully except to possibly a KVM cable [or just having cables too long].

ratfink wrote:

Are you using it on a KVM or a cheap vga cable? Do you have other PCs switched on at the same time? Not voodoo-specific but I get wavy lines as a result of this kind of thing sometimes [not always the same machine]. Never tracked it down fully except to possibly a KVM cable [or just having cables too long].

Just using a standard thick VGA cable (about 1.8m in length). It's been perfectly fine with every GPU i've tested in my PIII machine (which is quite a few now). It's not next to another PC either as they're in another room.