I would just fire up Quake II and let the demos run continuously. Then measure both TMUs with an IR gun.

From what I understand, the second TMU is not even detected. This is no issue, as the Voodoo2 can run with just one TMU. That's actually what the Banshee is and the second TMU can also be disabled using a registry value.

Now if you can find out which TMU is not detected by using an IR gun is probably worth trying - if he has an IR gun, that is.

Does he really need an IR gun?
I mean just put the finger gently and see if it gets hot.

Unlikely that it gets hot. If it would be bad in a way to make it getting hot, the card probably would no longer work. If at all, it remains cold(er) as it is not detected and not used.

derSammler wrote on 2020-02-15, 21:43:

Unlikely that it gets hot. If it would be bad in a way to make it getting hot, the card probably would no longer work. If at all, it remains cold(er) as it is not detected and not used.

Uhm right, so he probably means that the one that is working will be at least warm(er)..?

walterg74 wrote on 2020-02-15, 22:02:

Uhm right, so he probably means that the one that is working will be at least warm(er)..?

That was what I meant yes. As for the IR gun, I just assumed that anyone with an interest like ours would own one. You can get some really cheap ones that work fine for hobbyists.

lost77 wrote on 2020-02-16, 00:08:

walterg74 wrote on 2020-02-15, 22:02:

Uhm right, so he probably means that the one that is working will be at least warm(er)..?

That was what I meant yes. As for the IR gun, I just assumed that anyone with an interest like ours would own one. You can get some really cheap ones that work fine for hobbyists.

Just my two cents, but I've used and tested a few hundred cards in the last few years alone and I've never used an IR gun. The number of unexplained genuine chip failures I've seen (as opposed to bad passive components or physical damage) is extremely low... probably less than 15 cards, and they tend to be newer BGA parts that I don't have the skills or equipment to repair (for example, Radeon 9800 series cards with bad memory). I did recently purchase a FLIR One with the intent of using it for all sorts of non-computer related things, but also for diagnosing component failures... but I admittedly haven't had to use it yet.

I would honestly lean toward external failure (almost always physical damage) as the cause of a TMU being bad on a Voodoo 2 before I blamed it on a chip failure. Check all the legs of the chips and check all the traces for any damage or broken\missing surface mount components.

EDIT: Actually, it doesn't even sound like there's definitely a problem now that I read the OP again. Have you actually played any games or seen any graphical artifacts on this card?

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2020-02-16, 05:36:

Just my two cents, but I've used and tested a few hundred cards in the last few years alone and I've never used an IR gun. The n […]
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lost77 wrote on 2020-02-16, 00:08:

walterg74 wrote on 2020-02-15, 22:02:

Uhm right, so he probably means that the one that is working will be at least warm(er)..?

That was what I meant yes. As for the IR gun, I just assumed that anyone with an interest like ours would own one. You can get some really cheap ones that work fine for hobbyists.

Just my two cents, but I've used and tested a few hundred cards in the last few years alone and I've never used an IR gun. The number of unexplained genuine chip failures I've seen (as opposed to bad passive components or physical damage) is extremely low... probably less than 15 cards, and they tend to be newer BGA parts that I don't have the skills or equipment to repair (for example, Radeon 9800 series cards with bad memory). I did recently purchase a FLIR One with the intent of using it for all sorts of non-computer related things, but also for diagnosing component failures... but I admittedly haven't had to use it yet.

I would honestly lean toward external failure (almost always physical damage) as the cause of a TMU being bad on a Voodoo 2 before I blamed it on a chip failure. Check all the legs of the chips and check all the traces for any damage or broken\missing surface mount components.

EDIT: Actually, it doesn't even sound like there's definitely a problem now that I read the OP again. Have you actually played any games or seen any graphical artifacts on this card?

Well....

The card wouldn't know to simply not use a bad TMU. If you have no visual corruption in games, then it is likely not bad and is some kind of software or driver issue. If there is visual corruption, then I would first investigate all the things I mentioned.

I accidentally destroyed some of the pins on a TMU once and the Voodoo 2 card worked fine using just one TMU. I am guessing something similar might be the problem for walterg74. The non-active TMU didn't get hot while playing. I gave up repairing it, those pins where too small for my skills.

lost77 wrote on 2020-02-16, 19:57:

I accidentally destroyed some of the pins on a TMU once and the Voodoo 2 card worked fine using just one TMU. I am guessing something similar might be the problem for walterg74. The non-active TMU didn't get hot while playing. I gave up repairing it, those pins where too small for my skills.

Did you have to disable the bad TMU yourself? Seems odd that the drivers would be set up to detect a bad or missing TMU and keep working with reduced performance.

Nope, I didn't have to do anything. The voodoo 2 architecture actually support 1-3 TMUs and 3dfx used one for the banshee and two for the Voodoo 2. A version with three didn't make sense at the time, dual texturing wasn't even implemented in games yet.