What 2D card are you using and how did you chain them together (I know you used your cable, I just want some more details)?

Also - did you ground the metal shell, or are you just relying on pin ground signal(s)?

The easiest way to test the two separately is to set up and use your computer as normal, but with both cards in the system. Plug the monitor into your normal video card. From there, install Canopus or Voodoo drivers and see if the card is detected in Windows. If it is, install a game, such as tomb raider 1...the original version, not Steam or GOG or anything. Then select the GLIDE renderer. One you start the game, it should be rendering through the Voodoo. Your 2d card will show something other than the game. At that point, change your monitor cable from the 2d card to the 3d card. If you see correct output, the card is working and your cable or the pass through portion of the card is flawed.

Perfect test....thanks a ton!!

One other question, does anyone know if the 9 pin minidin 6 foot cables that are on Amazon have all 9 wires in them? They are 9 pin minidin to 9 pin minidin, but I want to make sure they have all 9 wires as I am going to just get one of those and solder the wires of it to a VGA cables wires as my soldering on the minidin adapter was not great at all!

Will report my findings...

EDIT - Windows sees and installs the card, so I know its at least recognized, so the cable is bad would be my guess....

As ~fitzpatr said, check your card without the cable. Make sure it has 3D output (e.g. in-game). I have the same card (and possibly the same schematic, iirc I found it here on vogons [wiki?]). Made a cable by cutting a VGA cable and soldering a connector to its end. If in doubt, search for "male 9pin Mini DIN plug for Promedia GMX system" on eBay to get the correct plug.

Tested it out last night, and it does have 3D output...so that is good...

For the cable, I just dont have a steady enough hand apparently to solder those wires onto the 9 pins on the minidin without getting solder between the pins, which I guess caused my issues with my first attempt....buying a 9 pin minidin cable for a few extra bucks and going to solder the wires together with a VGA cable according to the pinouts (same ones you mentioned above) and hoping that does the trick.....

Any chance you could post photos and/or video of the process of creating the cable? I've got a couple Canopus cards and live in fear of the day that the cables get broken or lost. Having a guide on how to create a replacement would be ultra nice! 😀

Sure, I would be glad to...once I get one working!!

Hoping this method of just splicing two cables together will do the trick....the cable cost a little more but I can get it working, it was worth it....should be here tomorrow or Wed.

Thanks! I look forward to your guide!

I've found a few pinouts sheets and reports of various success or failure, but I've never found a detailed how-to guide for regular n00bs. This would be most helpful.

From one noob to another.....I am hoping this works out.....soldering the VGA wires to the small pins of the minidin adapter just isnt gonna work for me due to the small space!

I received the cable and was going to start making it, but decided to slice one of my thumbs half way across at work....so its all stitched up and wrapped.....will have to wait a few days before I can make this thing and report if it works!! Box cutters are the worst when they slip!!!

Yow! Get well soon.

After a week of letting the thumb heal and getting stitches out, I finally took a shot at this

I bought a 9 pin mini din b male to male cable. The b type have the offset pins in top row that the Canopus needs and cut it in half

I cut a good VGA cable that had all 15 wires

I stripped the wires on both, only stripping the 9 needed on the VGA cable according to the pinout photo.

Using a Multimeter I tested each wire with each pin on each cable for continuity to see which pin corresponds to which wire and noted them

I soldered the wires together according to the pinout diagram photo soldering 1 to 1, 2 to 2, etc and covered each soldered wire with individual heatshrink tubing

Once finished I tested the cable

Good news is that it worked. Bad news is that I think the card is messed up as the colors on the screen were off a bit. In post, instead of white letters and numbers they were an off white, almost gray color. In Windows 95 the colors look Almost normal but faded and kind of not as crisp and bright. Almost like there is a light grayish tint over everything.

So my issues continue. Not sure where to go from here...cable seems fine and soldering on each wire was good and complete. The cables were both good cables so I don't think they are the issue. The length of the cable is probably twice as long as a normal pass-through if that matters

Anything I can do to the card or look for to try and remedy this?

Was the shielding on the cable still covering the area where you did the modifications? I don't know if shielding issues would cause the problem you're having, but its a thought.

Smack2k,

How did this end up working out for you? Were you ever able to have any success with your Canopus card and the cable you made?