kanecvr wrote:So... my working V5 5500 died - while sitting in a machine, powered off, doing nuffin'. The rig wasn't even plugged it, and it's been sitting for a couple of months.
Symptoms - black screen with red vertical lines when launching a game, and the computer hangs. Any ideea what could have caused this? It was working great when I last used the computer the card is in - two months ago - and when I turned it on today, it seems to be broken. I tried the card in another machine - same symptoms...
2D works great, no artifacting in desktop or dos. The spinning cubes in dxdiag display correctly, but when I try to launch a game, the computer hangs. Are v5 5500 cards known for dying while not in use? Is anyone familiar with this sort of issue or these symptoms?
I have a 3dfx collection and couple of 5500s (PCI and AGP), but I'm certainly not an expert. However, I haven't personally seen 3dfx cards fail this way. This sounds like what used to happen with cards from the mid 2000s when they sat in storage for years and the thermal paste solidified to the point that the card overheated the next time it was used. I'd be surprised if this happened with a V5 though... with heatsinks that tiny, they shouldn't instantly fry themselves when cooling is compromised.
I would take the card out and inspect it extremely thoroughly with a magnifying glass. Check every inch of it for debris, damaged components, bad\cracked solder joints, damaged traces, etc.
I've had other 3dfx cards that seemed to be dead that I resurrected by fixing dented\damaged legs on one of the ICs. Obviously with it sitting safely in the case with no prior problems, physical damage is unlikely, but its worth a check.
I've also had devices that looked fine that wouldn't function until I bushed off the surface with a soft tooth brush... then all was well. Presumably, some tiny piece of something conductive was wreaking havoc and just needed brushed away.
Not a very scientific response, but I hope it helps.
Now for some blitting from the back buffer.