_StIwY_ wrote on 2023-01-14, 18:54:

I ended up tossing away the card to the garbage bin

Chances are you're going to end up regretting this. Lots of us have thrown out parts we regretted later.
A broken Banshee may be worth the same as a working Virge or working geforce MX or something but in the end it's your call..

Well If some one of you guys are interested i could send the video card for free, just send to me the pre-paid shipment label

what a nice person, you will definitely get PMs from people haha

Tetrium wrote on 2023-01-14, 20:06:

_StIwY_ wrote on 2023-01-14, 18:54:

I ended up tossing away the card to the garbage bin

Chances are you're going to end up regretting this. Lots of us have thrown out parts we regretted later.

(Off-topic)
A KT7A-RAID, GUS Classic, Awe64 Gold, and a PCI Voodoo3 2000... I cry a little every time I glance at a certain auction site to see about reacquiring some of them, or how much I've already spent doing just that.

_StIwY_ wrote on 2023-01-15, 10:37:

Well If some one of you guys are interested i could send the video card for free, just send to me the pre-paid shipment label

if you're in the USA, I'll take it

I'm from Italy, but i can watch the shipment cost if you like, i think it will be like 20 bucks or something outside Europe.

EDIT: Card not available anymore

Hi.

So it was me who got the card and I did some inspecting and testing.
I didnt see anything that could indicate what might be wrong but:
1, I found 1 pin on a memory chip that was loose, now fixed.
2, I got the card booting and it works both in windows and in 3d. Tested with Unreal.
3, The card runs extremly hot! Even in idle, is this normal for the banshee?
4, Sometimes the card refuses to boot. Reseating the card helps some times but what works almost all the time is tilting it slightly backwards.
I suspect that there is another cold solder joint somewhere.
5, The area around the voltage regulator gets really hot and, I guess its the factory flux around it's pins, has gotten really black and crusty.

So, can a pin on a memory chip prevent the card from booting entierly?
When the card boots it works great so even if it's a cold solderjoint or there like why does it work when it boots?
My suspicion is in the area around the voltage regulator as it gets really hot and if I tilt the card from this corner it boots.
I have gone over the memory chips and all legs seems like they are attached.

I'll attach some pictures of the card.

Nice update!👍
Some Banshees get very hot and some discoloration on the back isn't unusual, especially with a simple heatsink like that.
Still you could check wether that LDO works right by checking what voltage it's putting out. If it malfunctions the chip may be overvolted.
Also it's probably just from lighting but is it possible C107 has a cracked solder joint?

I'll check the regulator later today or this weekend.
Need to put together a test computer to be able to reach it and probe it properly.

C107 maybe looks a bit off but I think it's fine. Multimeter gives continuity but I'll reflow it just in case.
Here are pictures of it

Gotta love these stories, keep it up, get it stable. 😉

Glad to see my ex card on good hands. Unfortunately i had no tools, no skill and no patience for these kind of stuff.

About the hot heatsink it's normal.....the factory heatsink it is a joke....what they were thinking ?? They should have implemented a bigger one or at least fan on it.

Better not stress up old hardware, i suggest you to put some fan nearby to blow some heat away.

I have two Banshees and both run very very hot, I added a laptop fan to the heatsink and it made PCB at back no longer super hot.

Nice work reviving the card ~

As an italian i feel like i lost an occasion, as a vogon user i still feel like i lost an occasion 🤔, but i'm happy that everything went well.

I always over engineer my cases through modding to add fans in specific places for my older systems and also buy zalman coolers for my best GPUs, i know all too well how heat can easily kill a GPU, that's how my old 9700 pro atlantis died 😭

Did some more testing.
The regulator gives ~1.27v.

Some where on the card Im pretty sure there is another bad solder joint.
Most of the time the card wont boot, no BIOS message, nothing.
But when it boots after re inserting the card a couple of times it all works great until a reboot, same problem.

But what does work 100% of the time is "slightly" bending the upper right corner backwards.
Not much, not so much that the slight curv reaches the main chip so Im hoping its not a bad joint under there.

After the card boots it runs stable while browsing windows and while gaming.
Its just booting thats the problem.

So, what could cause it to not boot?
And what would hinderbit to boot but not matter when its booted and up and running?

I cans visually see anything and I have probed all memory chip legs with a magnifying glass and sharp tweezers. Cant find any more loose legs.
No shorts what I can see, no scratches.
I also reflowed the solder on sll components sorunding the regulator.

Im happy that its somewhat working thou!
I think there is hope. 😀

And yes, I do have a fan blowing over the card to keep it a bit cooler!

Do anyone know the initialization routine for the banshee?
What does the card BIOS check first?
And what do the motherboard check for first on the AGP?

I reflowed the solder on all passive components around the memory chips on the right side of the board.
Same issue.

I suspect it must be another memory chip leg but after probing them all I cant find any thats loose and I dont feel like risking reflowing them all.

Could one memory chip leg prevent booting all together?

Also tried starting the computer while pressing each memory chips one by one if maybe that would help me find the one with flaky solder joint. No luck.
Also tried pushing on the main chip, no luck.

It's possible that the legs of the main chip are making contact, i can't see anything over the heatsink but i would take it out and check every single leg.

Unfortunatly the main chip is a BGA chip sp no easy way of thesting.
So first Ill try to test everything else then some sort of reflow on the main chip might be needed.
Never reflow a BGA before, whats the best aproach?
As much no clean flux I can fit around the edges and hot air station?

filurkatten wrote on 2023-02-04, 11:01:

Unfortunatly the main chip is a BGA chip sp no easy way of thesting. So first Ill try to test everything else then some sort of […]
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Unfortunatly the main chip is a BGA chip sp no easy way of thesting.
So first Ill try to test everything else then some sort of reflow on the main chip might be needed.
Never reflow a BGA before, whats the best aproach?
As much no clean flux I can fit around the edges and hot air station?

Hot air without a doubt but i never did any reflow, if it's bga then it might be a cracked solder joint.

When throu the card again and have reflowed all passive components on the card.
Same issue, card only boots 100% of the time if I bend it slightly backwards from the upper back corner.
I suspect its the BGA under the main chip.
For surley just another memory chip leg would let it atleast boot to bios right?
Also I have the EEPROM that I need to check the legs one more time on.