As I should have done first thing, I looked more closely to see if any small components are missing and found a few.

C541
C543
C544
C545
C546
C555
R92

are all missing.

R528 was half knocked loose and wasn’t functioning.

I reattached R528 and have parts for the rest on the way. I also replaced every 10uf capacitor to the right of the second VSA chip. I’ll keep this thread updated in case that helps troubleshoot (though replacing missing components is the first thing that should be done, as that might be the whole issue).

Here's to hoping you found your solution!

I replaced all of the missing components and it’s still doing the exact same thing. Aside from just replacing more capacitors (that all seem to be fine), I’m at a loss for what it could be besides the chip itself.

If you’re sure you’ve replaced all the missing passives, check for damaged traces, especially around where the missing parts were.

It might also be worth checking that there are no loose legs on the VSA-100, it wouldn’t be the first 3Dfx product that has suffered that issue. Perhaps try some pressure on the chips whilst running a graphics test to see if the symptoms change.

Well, I turned on the computer this was in to enjoy some Voodoo5 gaming, and there was artifacting right away. The video BIOS screen is garbled, the PC BIOS POST screen has vertical lines, and then the next screen is garbled. It booted into Windows the first time (I turned the PC on and walked away for a minute), which didn’t detect it as a Voodoo5 anymore.

Pressing the card around the front memory chips would change the artifacting a bit, but then it stopped affecting it after a little while. I reflashed the BIOS and replaced all 4 primary memory chips (I’ve replaced all 8 at this point) and neither made any difference. So, I guess I’m looking for someone to repair the card, as I suspect something is wrong with the VSA-100 chips and/or the BGA solder balls.

Are you in US? I would message this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/@northwestrepair

His skills are amazing, he re-balls and re-flows an RTX 4090 like it's nothing, he has a few videos on retro video cards, like a 9700PRO, I would assume a Voodoo5 would be temping for him.

Pino wrote on 2024-05-10, 20:46:

Are you in US? I would message this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/@northwestrepair

His skills are amazing, he re-balls and re-flows an RTX 4090 like it's nothing, he has a few videos on retro video cards, like a 9700PRO, I would assume a Voodoo5 would be temping for him.

I've seen a few of his videos, including some 4090s and retro cards, and had considered contacting him. Thanks for the recommendation, though I no longer need it (update incoming).

UPDATE! I was all set to send the card off to Stephan (3dfx-alive), but he had a date range that he said the card needed to be delivered before or after (I'm assuming he was going out of town or something), which delayed when I'd ship it out. International shipping can be unpredictable.

So, I decided to give it another shot.

The vertical lines bothered me, as that is a classic sign of a memory issue. The area I would touch that would change the artifacting (and on the POST screen with vertical lines, it would ONLY change things within the artifacted lines) ended up being on the back side where there are capacitors and a resistor behind the primary VSA. When I touched the resistor (R528), things would change. I tested the resistor with a multimeter, and it showed an open circuit. I reflowed the solder, even though the solder looked good, and it still showed an open circuit unless I touched the leads to the resistor itself at the exact right spot. So, I replaced the resistor and tested the card.

The video BIOS screen was readable, the POST screen looked fine (not perfect though) and the next screen also looked fine. However the Windows98 screen had artifacting, the card would only do 640x480 with 16 colors, and the background was artifacted. Those symptoms were new, but I had also replaced all 4 primary VSA memory chips while the card wasn't working. I touched up the solder joints on all 8 chips and now the card works PERFECTLY.

Even the original horizontal line artifacting issue has been resolved and the card works flawlessly at stock clocks! I had also recapped the whole card (minus the 0603 tiny capacitors), which may have helped solve the issue. But whatever the problem was, I ended up fixing it along the way.

There were a few 0603 capacitors that were missing when I got the card. I had assumed they were all 100nf and soldered 100nf capacitors in those locations. Troubleshooting today, I took a couple of them off in case 100nf so far off from what should have been there that it was contributing to the issues. But, now that I have to reinstall a few, I want to see if I can get the correct values. I've seen the mostly complete components list on multiple sites (I saved it on my phone) and have seen values for some capacitors listed on random posts. But, no matter how many posts I saw with capacitor values, I couldn't find any of the ones I need. If anyone has the values for the following capacitors, I'd appreciate it if you can let me know what they are!
C541
C543
C544
C545
C546
C549
C555
C557

I did acquire an untouched original fully working Voodoo5 in the mean time when I thought this card was going to be sent out for repair (of course I discover the issues AFTER I buy the other card!), so I could take each of these off of the untouched card and measure them. But, I'd rather not mess with an untouched card quite yet (though I may recap it as a preventative measure).

Thanks everyone for the input, help, and support! Another Voodoo5 AGP lives!

Excellent news!! I love seeing old hardware fixed and able to be used again.