Thermalwrong wrote on 2024-12-27, 16:40:

byte_76 wrote on 2024-12-26, 06:21:

I don't have experience with Voodoo 2 cards and I don't understand how to use the variable mentioned above to disable one TMU. Where exactly do I add/modify the values?
Is there a guide on how to do this or are there tools available to disable components on a V2?

Are there any other test tools aside from mojo? (I've tried mojo and it seems to report the correct details for my card)

You could watch of this video, vswitchzero covers it pretty well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRFucW4uB5k&t=544s

Thank you, I will definitely have a look at that and give it a shot with my card.

I’ve tried setting the variable and then executing games but the symptoms remain unchanged.

Strangely, some games are fine. For example when I run Rollcage from start menu using glide option it launches and runs fine.
When I launch it from the CD, I get artifacts.

Other games have artifacts every time I launch them.

The 3Dfx splash screen always looks fine. No artifacts.

My second STB V2 which is identical except with 90MHz memory works perfectly in the same machine.

I’m using Fastvoodoo 4.6.

underclock it a bit. See if it changes.

I've managed to fix the issue.

After inspecting the card in detail, replacing the missing caps and measuring all the other components on the board and still not finding any issues, I assumed that the issue had to be related to the damaged via on the rear.
I followed the track from the damaged via to another via which connects to one of the pins of a ram chip on the rear. Testing continuity from that via to the broken via always gave me a connection but clearly the track still continues on the front and I needed to test further to be sure. (Maybe the slight pressure from the tip of my multimeter was enough to connect a break)
To continue tracing the connection on the front of the board, I put a small piece of wire through the via and traced it to a pin on the nearest TMU. Then I checked continuity all the way from the ram chip on the rear to the pin on the TMU in the front and sure enough, no connectivity.

I put the card under the microscope and scratched at the trace of the broken via on the rear and found that there was a tiny piece of trace that was lifted from the board. Scratching at it caused that piece to break off and leave a gap between the via and the trace that leads to the ram chip.

I put a fine piece of copper wire into the via and soldered it to the trace.

After that, I tested continuity from the ram chip to the TMU again and this time, there was connectivity.

Tested the card in my PC again and finally the texture errors were gone and everything worked as expected.

I don't have much experience with electronics repairs so this is all just a learning experience for me. Luckily it worked out this time.

byte_76 wrote on 2024-12-30, 15:53:

I've managed to fix the issue. […]
Show full quote

I've managed to fix the issue.

After inspecting the card in detail, replacing the missing caps and measuring all the other components on the board and still not finding any issues, I assumed that the issue had to be related to the damaged via on the rear.
I followed the track from the damaged via to another via which connects to one of the pins of a ram chip on the rear. Testing continuity from that via to the broken via always gave me a connection but clearly the track still continues on the front and I needed to test further to be sure. (Maybe the slight pressure from the tip of my multimeter was enough to connect a break)
To continue tracing the connection on the front of the board, I put a small piece of wire through the via and traced it to a pin on the nearest TMU. Then I checked continuity all the way from the ram chip on the rear to the pin on the TMU in the front and sure enough, no connectivity.

I put the card under the microscope and scratched at the trace of the broken via on the rear and found that there was a tiny piece of trace that was lifted from the board. Scratching at it caused that piece to break off and leave a gap between the via and the trace that leads to the ram chip.

I put a fine piece of copper wire into the via and soldered it to the trace.

After that, I tested continuity from the ram chip to the TMU again and this time, there was connectivity.

Tested the card in my PC again and finally the texture errors were gone and everything worked as expected.

I don't have much experience with electronics repairs so this is all just a learning experience for me. Luckily it worked out this time.

That's great 😀 Could you possibly post a picture of the damaged trace? That might be useful for others to reference in what to look for when repairing one of these cards.
Awesome that it's not a faulty RAM chip, bad resistor network or loose QFP legs.

I've covered the repaired area with solder mask so not much to see there but the damage is visible in the second image from the first post of this thread. It just looks like a gash in the pcb that is directly over a via.