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Voodoo2 random hangs/beeps (Ended up being Sound Card)

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First post, by skaarg

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So got a fancy new Pentium 3 866MHz system for free so I decided to pull my Voodoo2 from my Pentium 1 system for some fun tests. The problem is it wasn't entirely fun. I tried playing a couple 3D games and they look and run really great, except like every 10-15 sec the system hangs for a sec and during that hang it just makes a loud beep. This happens in every 3D game I tried.

In the Pentium 1 system I had no issues at all with the card other than significantly lower FPS in many games due to the older CPU.

I'm leaning towards the 100watt power supply is what's causing my issue, and the card/system is just not getting quite enough juice. I wasn't sure because reading online I saw a typical P3 system used ~60-70 watts, and the Voodoo2 pulled 12 watts (unless my google searching is wrong). It is definitely on the weaker side, but it was unfortunately what was in the system. I'm leaning towards seeing if I can find an SFX PSU that will fit in this computer. The attached pic is from a similar model that looks mostly the same so I should be able to fit one in there, unless anybody else has better suggestions?

Unless I'm completely wrong and this is maybe some other sort of issue. Some sort of Windows Me compat issue? (yes I know, I'm playing around with it for the first time) An issue with the card itself?

The only other PCI cards I have in here is an Audigy 2 sound card and a Davicom Fast Ethernet adapter.

Edit - Post below, actually found it was the Audigy 2 causing my issues. Now to figure that out!

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Last edited by skaarg on 2020-07-11, 17:38. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 4, by SodaSuccubus

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Do you have any heatsinks or active cooling on the cards? Voodoo's get frighteningly hot with fast CPUs. It's possible yours are starting to cook a bit.

Pentium 1s arnt fast enough to really work a V2 fully. Hench why it might not have bugged up

Otherwise you might wanna try another PCI slot. I know my 440BX board hates Voodoo cards in its first PCI slot and acts up if one is there.

Reply 2 of 4, by skaarg

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The Card has never had any kind of cooling. Should I get 3 little heatsinks with thermal tape and apply that? Are the RAM chips usually okay or do some put heatsinks on them too?

The case was completely open when testing. Airflow was honestly going to be a concern of mine if I did leave the card in there since the only exhaust fan is actually the fan inside on the PSU (beteween the PSU/CPU) and it exhausts through the PSU vents. If I did keep the card in there I was going to put it in the 3rd slot with one of those expansion slot fans in the 4th slot (like this: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Expansion … /dp/B0000510SS/ )

Tried a couple other PCI slots and had the same issues.

Reply 3 of 4, by SodaSuccubus

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skaarg wrote on 2020-07-11, 15:59:

The Card has never had any kind of cooling. Should I get 3 little heatsinks with thermal tape and apply that? Are the RAM chips usually okay or do some put heatsinks on them too?

The case was completely open when testing. Airflow was honestly going to be a concern of mine if I did leave the card in there since the only exhaust fan is actually the fan inside on the PSU (beteween the PSU/CPU) and it exhausts through the PSU vents. If I did keep the card in there I was going to put it in the 3rd slot with one of those expansion slot fans in the 4th slot (like this: https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Expansion … /dp/B0000510SS/ )

Tried a couple other PCI slots and had the same issues.

Three heatsinks and PCI fan should do fine. Try to get a heatsink size that fits as best as possible. Ram should be okay, but it never hurts to add some to them too.

Reply 4 of 4, by skaarg

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So funny thing, actually figured out it was not the Voodoo2 that was the cause of all my problems! It was actually the Audigy 2.

Removed the Voodoo, and tried Quake 2, but finally noticed a couple hitches that I had initially just assumed was caused by the onboard Intel graphics. Tried another game I had nearby, Mega Man X4, and it was doing the hang/beep every 10-15 seconds on integrated graphics and on a Rage Pro I had nearby.

Removed the Audigy 2, re-enabled the onboard sound in the bios and everything works perfectly! I'm likely still going to get the heatsinks and expansion slot fan still, but way easier to throw a different sound card in here than another Voodoo2 I don't own...

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