Retronerd878 wrote on 2025-07-25, 18:57:

Is it possible to bake a voodoo 2 in the oven and hope it will reflow the existing solder of the pins and stick them in place?

Nooo don't!
If the pins are not soldered to the board pads anymore but are not broken/missing, it's a relatively easy fix. It does require soldering but, using the right technique, can be done without extreme skills. The idea is that you add flux to the legs, a small amount of solder to your iron and drag it along the legs. You can find many examples to see how it's done before you attempt it, like this one: https://youtu.be/VUx7jZWkYQc?si=3YncVdc5JfkalVUi&t=160

The baking idea only kinda worked with some BGA packaged chips. There are no BGA chips on a Voodoo 2.
Baking only risks damage without any chance of it actually helping.

If the pins are hanging in the air, they need to be pressed down gently with your soldering iron to solder back to the pads, though flux will help the solder bridge the gap.

Be careful about dragging your soldering iron tip over the loose pins because they will bend easily. It’s a gentle action, almost allowing the soldering tip to glide across the pins.

Alternatively, you can try gently press the tip of the iron to the bottom of the pins and drag outwards, away from the pins.

In either case, apply flux to the pins first as that helps the solder to flow and stick to the pads with less potential for bridges.

If you do get some bridges, don’t stress, you can use solder wick to remove them. (Again, carefully, so that you don’t bend the pins.)

What if i just apply flux and use hot air, just on the affected area, while applying pressure to the chip?

That probably won't help much. The pads likely need a tiny amount more solder to make a good joint.

Don't use hot air on a complex chip that needs to be reused. They have a working and storage temperature limit which is around 100-150C.

The quality of the flux is more important than soldering technique. WIth good flux you can just touch the tip of the iron to the bottom of the legs and it will do everything for you.

You may also be able to buy new Voodoo chips if you search the part number.

Can you recommend me some good flux? I probably have some crappy one.
Anyway I did my best and I think i did a good job. Some pins were bent weirdly and it has difficult to put in the original position. Therefore a larger quantity of solder was necessary to connect to the pad. Found it easier to solder each pin individually using a sharp tip and the microscope. Not the cleanest of jobs but after testing for shorts, there were none.
After popping it in the computer still no signal. Black screen. No error post beeps. No single post beep either, nothing.
The only thing i noticed is that the card emits a noticeable high pitch whine, similar to coil whine. I don't know if that is telling of something.

Retronerd878 wrote on 2025-07-26, 16:19:

After popping it in the computer still no signal. Black screen. No error post beeps. No single post beep either, nothing.

Sorry if I'm saying the obvious, but it's not clear from the wording: you are using a VGA card alongside the voodoo, right?
If so and the computer doesn't even turn on when the card is present I'd look for more physical damage and shorts.

Yes, I have a working computer and have other voodoo cards that work on this machine. So, this voodoo card is definitely the problem.
Since the card looked good to the naked eye, i tested it directly without close inspection. Could the shorted pins fry something on the card? I know I did this in the past and the card came alive after fixing the shorts, even though I live tested the card with the shorts in place. Maybe I was just lucky back then.

As I did a more closely inspection to the card I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary as the card looks pretty clean. Then I start nudging the pins one by one and wouldn't you know it? More pins are loose. After I was done with my mediocre solder job, the card actually works!! I actually repaired a voodoo card!

Usb microscope are cheap now, and very useful for this kind of job.