VOGONS


First post, by Zoltar716

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Hey all, super long time lurker and first time poster. This group is such a wealth of knowledge I've never had to register and ask a question till now (sigh 🤣)

Took a shot at a lowball ebay offer on an STB Blackmagic Voodoo II 12MB. To my surprise I won it and upon receiving its missing 3x SMD caps. Hmmmph. Debating on firing it up to test or just bite the bullet and order some to replace all (digikey is usually my goto) This board doesn't look like it was abused but missing three I'm afraid to fire it up.

Would it be detrimental to the health of it to start only having 12/15 capacitors present?

[Edit] Yes, I wasn't paying attention to the pictures well when reviewing its condition 😞

Reply 1 of 4, by chuky

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You shouldn't plug a card if you noticed it's missing some caps. Depending on where they are missing I think you can fry memory chips or the main chips. I don't know much about electronics so I'm just repeating what I remember seeing in videos. If the seller was already missing caps there's a big chance that he or someone before him already plugged the card and maybe fried some chip.

Reply 3 of 4, by sdz

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There is only one regulator on a V2 card. If the caps right next to it are there, having the other caps missing won't damage the card in any way. Worst case scenario the card will be somewhat unstable.

Reply 4 of 4, by Zoltar716

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Thanks all. I took a chance and it loaded up just fine and recognized the card. Ordered some Nichicon capacitors for it. One of the main chips has some corrosion too on the legs so I have to get it cleaned and reflowed. Should clean up nicely (hopefully).