VOGONS


First post, by sketchus

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Hi folks,

Hope someone can help. I found a 5500 super close to me and the chap selling it set it up to test it first. After a while he informed me that he was getting visual artifacts. Since he was about two miles away I took my retro rig to him so we could test it in my pc. Same issues. There's visual artifacts straight away, not just in windows.

I've attached a ton of pics of the card and a few examples of the artifacts. I can't see any obvious damage but I was hoping someone here may be able to help. The only thing that was at all suspect to me is one cap possibly had some residue around it but I can't say it wasn't just dust.

Thanks all.

Album:

http://imgur.com/a/O5liW06

Reply 1 of 17, by Justin1091

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Only thing I see is C98. Looks like someone put it there or replaced it. In all of the images I can find on Google of the card there is no capacitor at C98. Weird. But I could be wrong, maybe you just have a different revision. Still looks like someone put it there though.
This one doesn't have it http://www.speedy3d.com/reviews/v5_5500pci/01.shtml

Other than that check every memory chip for bent legs maybe. See if any legs touch eachother.

Reply 2 of 17, by sketchus

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Huh interesting. I'll ask the guy the history of his card see if he knows any thing about that.

I did try and check for bent legs as I'd seen that was a thing but couldn't find anything.

Reply 3 of 17, by chrismeyer6

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I just looked over your pictures and it looks like the cap at c63 might have a crack in the top it's hard to tell what the lines are.

Reply 4 of 17, by sketchus

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Wow yeah I see that too. I'll highlight it to the owner see if I can get another picture.

Reply 5 of 17, by sketchus

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Chap is talking about possibly baking it to see if it helps. I want to make sure that capcitor is okay, but in theory he won't destroy it right?

Reply 6 of 17, by chrismeyer6

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I'd replace that cap first. Putting the card in an oven can kill it I'd suggest against doing that.

Reply 7 of 17, by sketchus

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Will do, don't want to make it even worse.

Reply 8 of 17, by SirNickity

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Proper reflow technique involves temperature control and timed profiles. Heat high enough to melt solder is high enough to damage components. You have to ramp up quickly, get the job done, and then cool in a quick but controlled manner. The thermal profile for meatloaf is not as specific, and thus, conventional ovens do not have the kind of performance and control necessary to do the job correctly.

Re-capping is a relatively easy job, and is probably a good idea at this point, given the reputation of Voodoo 5 caps. I'm planning on doing it myself sometime soon. Akbkuku has a video on YouTube that can give you an idea what you're in for. Not necessarily a how-to, but a good prep. If you and the owner can work out an arrangement whereby terms of sale are contingent upon repair success, then it might be worth buying the caps to see if it's really that simple.

If not, a hot-air rework station can help with exposed ICs that may have poor solder joints. The GPUs are a league above that, though.

Reply 10 of 17, by sketchus

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Thanks for all the advice guys. The owner decided he wanted to go ahead with a recap. Luckily I know a guy locally I trust to do stuff like that, he repairs old valve tvs, Amigas and so on. I'm not convinced there isn't a deeper issue but can't hurt.

Reply 11 of 17, by sf78

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I´ve had similar errors appear with several ATI/Nvidia cards that suffered from heat related problems with the GPU and mem chips.

Reply 12 of 17, by sketchus

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Were you able to repair any?

Reply 13 of 17, by sketchus

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Sorry for the double post.

The chap I sent it to be recapped with says that the caps are perfect and not leaking in any way. So he believes it' s probably the memory chips. Is there a source for replacement chips? I've seen others suggest it's possible to take them from other cards.

Reply 14 of 17, by SirNickity

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Unless he knows this because he removed the caps, I would hesitate to accept that as job done. Retro Man Cave (YT) just did a video on the Laser Active Mega Drive box. It's a good example of what you may find. Remove a cap that "looks fine" and... woops, there goes the copper pad that has been eaten away by electrolytic fluid.

You can't see under them. You can't properly measure them in-circuit. The only way you know for sure is to remove them, and if you've done that, may as well replace them. Hence my approach to old capacitors: Replace, then worry about whether they're still good.

Reply 15 of 17, by LunarG

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I'm not an expert by any means, but doesn't c41 look a bit dodgy as well?

WinXP : PIII 1.4GHz, 512MB RAM, 73GB SCSI HDD, Matrox Parhelia, SB Audigy 2.
Win98se : K6-3+ 500MHz, 256MB RAM, 80GB HDD, Matrox Millennium G400 MAX, Voodoo 2, SW1000XG.
DOS6.22 : Intel DX4, 64MB RAM, 1.6GB HDD, Diamond Stealth64 DRAM, GUS 1MB, SB16.

Reply 16 of 17, by Justin1091

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Had another look

R122 has some solder on it's pad, maybe from faulty placed C98? I'm still not 100% sure C98 should even be there (look for other pictures of the card online, there is no c98 there).

But maybe more significant: is that a scratch near C52? Below the C52 marking. Could be dust though! Or something from the camera flash. All those traces below R139 also look bad, but I'm absolutely no expert here so could be nothing. You should grab a multimeter and do continuity tests, it's probably nothing.

Reply 17 of 17, by osckhar

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Hello,

@sketchus - I can help you to fix your V5-5500. Seems tsop sdram is bad. Not sure if you know me but you can trust on me 100%. Dunno if you want we talk here of details or we talk via email or via PM.

I am from Spain, you pay both shipping cost and my fees, but dont worry, you card will come back alive again.

Best regards,
Oscar.

I am not a wizard but I do 3Dfx cards reach anew HW Level. Repair & Mods & Collecting. Working in my own 3Dfx Museum Online based on Lab cards since 2001. www.3Dfx.es - Tweeter oscar_barea