Mystery chip on Trident PCI graphic card \ VOGONS

Mystery chip on Trident PCI graphic card

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First post, by majestyk

Posted on 2021-04-12, 15:41

majestyk Offline

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A Trident "TGUI9440-1" PCI adaptor has been bugging me for a while. One time it worked flawlessly, then it refused to output any picture.
Now it seems to have quit working completely.
I replaced the VGA-connector, resoldered all the Video-RAM chips, checked everything carefully under a mgnifying glass - to no avail.

Then I suspected the Video-BIOS to have an issue and thought about reflashing it. But I cannot find the slightest trace of this chip online. Its a "HM53592T".

Video cards are not my strong point at all so I´m stuck here.

The attachment trident_pci1.JPG is no longer available

Any hints / help would be welcome!

Reply 1 of 7, by Tiido

Posted on 2021-04-12, 15:50

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It is a Mask ROM, so you cannot update it or anything.

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Reply 2 of 7, by weedeewee

Posted on 2021-04-12, 16:25

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Though... you probably can replace it with a properly programmed eprom .?

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Reply 3 of 7, by majestyk

Posted on 2021-04-12, 18:05

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Good to know - thanks!
Then the numbers on the circuit are specifically made for the manufacturer, I suppose. When reading "HMxyz..." I thought of some Hitachi chip. But something would to be found on the net in this case.

The card has started working again out of the blue. I will use it as my test-card in the weeks to come and report when it´s failing again.

Reply 4 of 7, by kdr

Posted on 2021-04-12, 23:23

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Try dumping the video BIOS while the card is in the PC and see if the checksum is correct.

I'm sure you've already tried this, but quite often I can fix intermittent issues like this by thoroughly cleaning the gold fingers using isopropyl alcohol.

Reply 5 of 7, by Ozzuneoj

Posted on 2021-04-13, 07:08

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kdr wrote on 2021-04-12, 23:23:

Try dumping the video BIOS while the card is in the PC and see if the checksum is correct.

I'm sure you've already tried this, but quite often I can fix intermittent issues like this by thoroughly cleaning the gold fingers using isopropyl alcohol.

Or a pencil eraser. Fixed dozens of cards this way. 😀

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 6 of 7, by kdr

Posted on 2021-04-13, 23:46

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Ozzuneoj wrote on 2021-04-13, 07:08:

Or a pencil eraser. Fixed dozens of cards this way. 😀

Just don't erase the PCB traces or gold-plated contacts! 😀

I once made the mistake of trying to "fix" some corroded gold card edge contacts using sandpaper. Oops. It did a great job at removing the corrosion... along with all the gold underneath!

Reply 7 of 7, by Imperious

Posted on 2021-04-14, 12:49

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You can get the bios here ... http://www.vgamuseum.info/index.php/cards/ite … dent-tgui9440-1

Then you need an eprom programmer and a 27c256 chip or equivalent.

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