Linoleum wrote on 2024-01-25, 18:29:

I have acquired a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP and having problems confirming it is in working order... Although I own a P3 board with the correct AGP version (1.0 with 3.3v), it only works with my TNT2 and NO OTHER AGP card (subject for another discussion perhaps). The closest machine I have available to test it is a P4 equipped with ECS P4S5MG motherboard. Officially, it's an AGP 2.0 with a universal AGP slot. But it's most probably a 1.5v AGP slot.

So I can fit the card in, get the computer to post, have a video signal, but I get "text artifact" (if there is such a thing). Something like snow screwing up the screen (while any other cards tested in that system does not). So the Voodoo 3 is alive, but my question is: is this artifact generated by the fact it's working with 1.5v or is the card bad plain and simple? In other words, what is an expected Voodoo 3 behavior when used in an AGP 1.5v slot?

Return it. It's no good.

With AGP its "if it fits it sits". Universal AGP is indeed universal and will work with both voltages. Voodoo3 would not produce any picture on 1.5V

>snow screwing up the screen

pull out your phone out and take a picture. Its most likely bad ram/ ram soldering joints going bad due to age, but it might be something else. TLDR: this voodoo3 is bad.

Your P3 board doesnt happen to be AT or AT/ATX combo? Might need a 3.3V mod where you solder a wire from ATX 3.3V pin directly to AGP power. Of course this only works if
- the problem was AGP power, it often is with Voodoo3
- onboard 3.3V regulator is really producing 3.3V and not 3.4V or 3.5V like some do. In case of higher voltage you would additionally need to disable this onbaord regulator so it doesnt try to fight 3.3V from supply.

The plot thickens… I tried the 3dfx flashing tool and it says “there is no build information for the selected hardware”. EEPROM is dead or corrupt? BTW it’s a V3 3000 from Dell…

EDIT: it's not... I just reflashed the eeprom. No dice!

EDIT 2: has anyone witnessed a miracle where a GPU comes back from the dead stronger than ever? After torturing the card in GLQuake where the game was unplayable, crashed and the card burning hot, the computer rebooted itself with redlines in the screen and I decided to let it cool down for an hour. Then, turned it back on without any artifact during POST, Windows looked good, ran GLQuake at 800x600 16bit perfectly, Jedi Knight perfectly and video files perfectly. What the hell happened?! I didn't touch the card, nor the vga cable... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-01-25, 20:57:

Your P3 board doesnt happen to be AT or AT/ATX combo? Might need a 3.3V mod where you solder a wire from ATX 3.3V pin directly to AGP power. Of course this only works if
- the problem was AGP power, it often is with Voodoo3
- onboard 3.3V regulator is really producing 3.3V and not 3.4V or 3.5V like some do. In case of higher voltage you would additionally need to disable this onbaord regulator so it doesnt try to fight 3.3V from supply.

That's a long story... I added a fan to my TNT2 by soldering it directly to the board where there was supposed to be a fan connector (for the pro version I assume). While fiddling inside my computer, I moved the end of both wires and they touched... Spark + smoke, and the fan stopped of course. But everything else was fine! I thought only the fan circuit from the gpu was affected. BUT, I then tried a ton of other AGP cards and none, with the exception of the TNT2, worked. So I probably fried something on the board that only the TNT2 uses to power the fan, while the same circuit plays a major role in all other GPUs! All the caps look good, but beside that, I have no clue what to look for...

sounds like you fried your mobo 5V or 12V delivery to AGP, easily fixable. You will need a multimeter, soldering iron, a piece of wire, and motherboard taken out of the case of course.