AlucarD86 wrote:

Quarz; 14,31818MHz; ±30ppm; 18pF; SMD; HC49SM

Hi, while it is impossible to know the parameters of the original crystal, that does sound like very basic combination of parameters for a 14.318 MHz crystal.

I think the HC49SM package is correct.

Thanks for your reply ! I did some more digging and it seems a lot graphics cards from the aera 1997 like the M3D are equipped with the same oscilator like for example the voodoo3 or even the Matrox Mystique which should be easy to obtain, its just that I kinda dont want to undo a working card in order to make the M3D work so maybe I will just get the oscilator and test it out. Its just that I have absolutely no experience with oscilators on graphics cards and how they work.

Well guys believe it or not I actually managed to repair the card and bring it back to life 😁 I have learned so many things regarding soldering and cleaning micro parts in the process that I could write a book about it xD
So in the end how did I do it ??

well...

it wasnt easy by a looong shot...

I bought a cheap Matrox Mystique from eBay which uses the same crystal oscilator as the M3D and was released around the same time ~1997.
The Matrox Mystique I got from eBay had the oscilator with the markings A159 which is the same one used for M3D cards.

So the card arrived in 3 days and I begun the soldering work. Unsoldering the oscilator from the Matrox Mystique was a piece of cake and putting it on the M3D was easy as well. But then I booted up Win98 and it did run without freezing till I got into an PowerVR game, then the screen would show me all kinds of weird artifacts at an unplayable state. So after that I thought the main powerVR chip was broken and I had a closer look. It turned out that 2-3 pins on the PowerVR chip were squashed and were touching each other.

removed the A159 crystal oscilator from the Mattrox Mystique

and soldered it to the Matrox M3D card

I noticed later that the PowerVR chip had some squashed pins so I straightened them and now it works all fine

So, I took out the soldering iron and some fine needle and straightened them out.

I wasnt expecting anything to be quite honest and was about to throw the card away when I tested it out and it freakin WORKED !!!!! After that I completely cleaned out the circuits around the chips with alcohol and gave it a proper clean and voila !! now it works like a charm and I even managed to speedrun Resident Evil on it !!! Talk about old and durable hardware !!

tested out Resident Evil which still looks impressive in 800x600 on the PC running the M3D

Please be aware thou that you will need a ton of patience and good soldering equipment to pull off the fine pin straigthening, also you really need to be advanced with the soldering iron and have an USB microscope to find the fine pins.

but overal the case was closed completely and I am a lot more educated on this antique of a card !! Also trust me !! You can wash it under running water and even dip it under water for a good clean ! Just let it dry for half an hour and remove extra moisture by using rice ! Trust me on this one.

peace out !

You stuck the card in a bag of rice to remove extra moisture? How do you know it worked? I've never heard of this, but sounds interesting.

feipoa wrote:

You stuck the card in a bag of rice to remove extra moisture? How do you know it worked? I've never heard of this, but sounds interesting.

Superstitious or not, when experiencing cold with head heaviness/congestion, we were given a small bag of rice to keep below the head while sleeping, in childhood days. It did feel better in the morning, argumentatively.

Nice repair work!
As for the rice I have heard it absorbs moisture too - I prefer to "bake" my washed electronics in the sun though 😎

Very nice work Alucard!

Thanks keropi and vetz ^^ remember your video on youtube got me invested into the whole Retro PC stuff ! As for the people concerned about washing PC parts with water, its definitely an option. There is a way more advanced method out there called subsonic cleaning where a water boiler is used to clean all kinds of electro stuff look it up online, of course a subsonic cleaner is needed and its for industrial use.

As for why I tried it out, I remembered that I managed to repair an old smartphone a friend of mine forgot in the washing machiene and caught water under the screen and inside and he wanted to throw it away but I decided to open it up and have a field day with it. Turns out that water isnt as corrosive on parts.

So I opened it up and covered it in rice since rice can absorb most of the moisture. Left it over night and on the second day the water under the screen was gone 😒 so I asembled the phone back together and what do you know it WORKED !!! So from what I learned from that experience is that people are just too afraid of using water on circuit boards.

My best advice is just take one of your older PC graphic cards and wash it under running water and let it dry out in the sun or under rice and test it out for yourself. Do this at your own risk but trust me its definitely an option or at least a last option, you could still use alcohol and wet whipes.

Another option people seem to be afraid of is cooking the card !!! Its also an option because pins get desoldered over time and sometimes you dont know the specific point without an USB microscope so by cooking the parts at a melting temperature in an oven you ensure that the connection will tighten up again. AGAIN do this as a last resort and last method if anything else fails like in my case ! I think Linus did bring back a graphics card with artifacts back from the dead by using the coking method, look it up ^^

we are all here to learn from experience and I am glad to share anything I know, cheers !!