Started diagnosing this non-working Voodoo3 2000 3000 PCI.

It had a bunch of tiny scratches on the back. Nothing too serious looking until I found one broken trace.

Now to figure out the best approach to repairing it...

edited:

Turns out it's actually a Voodoo3 3000! I thought it was only a 2000, but the BIOS suggests otherwise.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-08, 22:59:

Voodoo3 2000 PCI broken trace.jpg

Doesn't look too difficult, boring would be more appropriate.
Scratch a bit more, flux, tinning, copper wire, solder mask. Done. 30 to 45 mins IMO.
Unless you do 1 trace, that'll be 10 minutes max.

Nexxen wrote on 2024-02-08, 23:51:

Doesn't look too difficult, boring would be more appropriate.
Scratch a bit more, flux, tinning, copper wire, solder mask. Done. 30 to 45 mins IMO.
Unless you do 1 trace, that'll be 10 minutes max.

The difficulty is trying to make the repair as invisible as possible.

Running a wire isn't super difficult, but it's more noticeable. I want to attempt running a replacement trace and then masking it so it's as unobtrusive as possible.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-09, 00:08:

Nexxen wrote on 2024-02-08, 23:51:

Doesn't look too difficult, boring would be more appropriate.
Scratch a bit more, flux, tinning, copper wire, solder mask. Done. 30 to 45 mins IMO.
Unless you do 1 trace, that'll be 10 minutes max.

The difficulty is trying to make the repair as invisible as possible.

Running a wire isn't super difficult, but it's more noticeable. I want to attempt running a replacement trace and then masking it so it's as unobtrusive as possible.

That is quite a trick you are trying to pull. In my experience the issue is to position exactly another flat trace on top of it.
This requires a donor trace, and the tiny thing ain't come off easily and neat. I only succeeded with big ones.
Or you could use a copper wire flattened and cut to required width. Visual impact would be minimal.

Please, post a pic when done. This is interesting for future repairs.

Good luck!!

Nexxen wrote on 2024-02-09, 00:59:

That is quite a trick you are trying to pull. In my experience the issue is to position exactly another flat trace on top of it.
This requires a donor trace, and the tiny thing ain't come off easily and neat. I only succeeded with big ones.
Or you could use a copper wire flattened and cut to required width. Visual impact would be minimal.

I thought about trying to use a donor trace, but like you say, it's hard to cut them out and have them remain straight and intact. These particular traces are only 0.13mm wide.

I have some circuit trace in spools, but the narrowest I have is about 0.25mm.

What I'm thinking of doing is first covering the exposed traces with solder mask, then exposing some copper on either side of the broken trace and running the replacement trace over top. It's going to be thicker than the original trace, but I'm hoping won't cause any issues. The biggest concern I have is inadvertently bridging a couple traces together.

Please, post a pic when done. This is interesting for future repairs.

Good luck!!

Thank you! I'll make sure to post a pic of how it goes.

Voodoo3 repair successful!

I started by laying down solder mask to cover the existing exposed traces. Then I scratched out either side of the broken trace, tinned the exposed copper, then soldered a piece of 0.25mm trace overtop.

This was a PITA to try to solder. The tiny piece of copper trace I was using kept floating around in the flux. But eventually got it aligned and tacked down.

Tested with my multimeter and seemed like it had successfully bridged the broken trace.

Booting up, it turns out this card is actually a Voodoo3 3000 according to the BIOS startup screen. I had thought it was a 2000 originally, so that was a pleasant surprise. 😁

I haven't put any solder mask on the final repair, as I'm going to test out the card some more first. It might not be completely invisible, but I don't think it looks too bad, even without the solder mask.

Good work !

Horun wrote on 2024-02-09, 03:02:

Good work !

Thank you! 😁

I "tooted" from my 5x86 today, and followed with some selfie pics, thanks to DOS Mastodon client (that runs on a Javascript implementation for DOS (!!!!!)), DOStodon.

https://oldbytes.space/@blakespot/111898550167322715

bp

I was tinkering around with Visual Basic 4 (on my Pentium II 450MHz machine with Windows XP) attempting to make smooth movement code. It didn't work 🤣

THEBaratusII wrote on 2024-02-09, 07:34:

I was tinkering around with Visual Basic 4 (on my Pentium II 450MHz machine with Windows XP) attempting to make smooth movement […]
Show full quote

I was tinkering around with Visual Basic 4 (on my Pentium II 450MHz machine with Windows XP) attempting to make smooth movement code. It didn't work 🤣

Looks interesting. Haven't touched VB for a good 20+ years now so I have no tips or pointers for you other than to point you into the direction of archive.org. But with a bit of googling (or maybe even ChatGPT) you might be able to come up with some good solutions.

https://archive.org/search?query=visual+basic+graphics

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-09, 03:10:

Horun wrote on 2024-02-09, 03:02:

Good work !

Thank you! 😁

Well, nicely done!

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-09, 02:36:

Voodoo3 repair successful! […]
Show full quote

Voodoo3 repair successful!

Voodoo3 3000 PCI fixed (no solder mask).jpg

Voodoo3 3000 PCI fixed (no solder mask) closeup.jpg

I started by laying down solder mask to cover the existing exposed traces. Then I scratched out either side of the broken trace, tinned the exposed copper, then soldered a piece of 0.25mm trace overtop.

This was a PITA to try to solder. The tiny piece of copper trace I was using kept floating around in the flux. But eventually got it aligned and tacked down.

Tested with my multimeter and seemed like it had successfully bridged the broken trace.

Voodoo3 3000 PCI BIOS startup.jpg

Booting up, it turns out this card is actually a Voodoo3 3000 according to the BIOS startup screen. I had thought it was a 2000 originally, so that was a pleasant surprise. 😁

I haven't put any solder mask on the final repair, as I'm going to test out the card some more first. It might not be completely invisible, but I don't think it looks too bad, even without the solder mask.

Nice! i had to do a similar mod for my sega saturn model 2 to make it work at 60hz, i usually use a slightly thicker copper wire by cutting some old braided copper cable and getting a single strand out.
Also to make it so that the wire doesn't float you could tape both ends of the wire down and put it in place before soldering.

THEBaratusII wrote on 2024-02-09, 07:34:

I was tinkering around with Visual Basic 4 (on my Pentium II 450MHz machine with Windows XP) attempting to make smooth movement […]
Show full quote

I was tinkering around with Visual Basic 4 (on my Pentium II 450MHz machine with Windows XP) attempting to make smooth movement code. It didn't work 🤣

I think that code will only work based on the auto repeat of the keyboard when holding down a key, which will have a delay. You need to test for keydown, interpolate based on a timer, and then stop once the key is released.

Wololo!

Continuing to 'legitimise' some gaps in my retro games collection. Lovely boxed copy of original AoE with all the manuals and paperwork inside 😀

Shadzilla wrote on 2024-02-09, 13:38:

Wololo!

Continuing to 'legitimise' some gaps in my retro games collection. Lovely boxed copy of original AoE with all the manuals and paperwork inside 😀

That's a great find. I still have the box complete with booked and manuals for AOE2. Sadly my box for AOE and rise of Rome got ruined when my in-laws basement flooded

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-09, 02:36:

Voodoo3 repair successful! […]
Show full quote

Voodoo3 repair successful!

Voodoo3 3000 PCI fixed (no solder mask).jpg

Voodoo3 3000 PCI fixed (no solder mask) closeup.jpg

I started by laying down solder mask to cover the existing exposed traces. Then I scratched out either side of the broken trace, tinned the exposed copper, then soldered a piece of 0.25mm trace overtop.

This was a PITA to try to solder. The tiny piece of copper trace I was using kept floating around in the flux. But eventually got it aligned and tacked down.

Tested with my multimeter and seemed like it had successfully bridged the broken trace.

Voodoo3 3000 PCI BIOS startup.jpg

Booting up, it turns out this card is actually a Voodoo3 3000 according to the BIOS startup screen. I had thought it was a 2000 originally, so that was a pleasant surprise. 😁

I haven't put any solder mask on the final repair, as I'm going to test out the card some more first. It might not be completely invisible, but I don't think it looks too bad, even without the solder mask.

Good work! However; such a short break, I would've probably just flux'ed and drawn solder across it ...

H3nrik V! wrote on 2024-02-09, 15:26:

Good work! However; such a short break, I would've probably just flux'ed and drawn solder across it ...

I'd considered that but my concern was the close proximity of the other exposed traces. From the top exposed trace to the bottom exposed traces was only 1 mm. Even applying solder mask and then re-exposing and trying to bridge the broken bit seemed a bit risky to me.

I didn't want to risk the possibility of creating a bridge given that would be more difficult to clean up and then potentially cause more damage in the process.

Today I used about the quarter of a Deoxit can, just to clean the CPU slot of an Asus K7M. Then I bent a few pins IN the slot back to normal position. And now it POSTs!

Raspberry Pi 3B+ > RetroPie > SNES > Castlevania Dracula X. 😀

When I get bored, I fire up RetroPie and kill a few hours reliving the glory days. The Castlevania series is a personal favorite and I often re-play them.

I even made my RetroPie builds look the part...I have 4. Why? I have no good excuse other than I love the RetroFlag cases and I enjoy using the Raspberry Pi units.

Yes, I have a problem. 😜