Radeon 9800XL repair advice needed \ VOGONS

Radeon 9800XL repair advice needed

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First post, by ChrisK

Posted on 2025-11-24, 09:53

ChrisK Offline

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Joined: 2020-10-08, 07:31
Location: Germany

So I have a Radeon 9800XL showing a picture like that:

The attachment R9800XL.jpg is no longer available

R3MEMID results in this:

1Failing bits in test [7] Byte swap macro+micro8x2 read  
2  errcount: 8388608
3  MDC0: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
4TEST RESULT SUMMARY:
5====================
6R350 (0x4e48) detected.
7128M video memory.
8Test suite ran 1 of 1 times.
9Checking test status array ...
10[1  ] Fill                                                : FAIL
11    Error ID 0VB001
12  1024 x  768 - 32 bpp ( 60 Hz): TEST FAILURE
13    failing bit : MDC0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 
14
15[2  ] Data line toggle (GUI)                              : FAIL
16    Error ID 0VB023
17  1024 x  768 - 32 bpp ( 60 Hz): TEST FAILURE
18    failing bit : MDC0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 
19
20[3  ] RW page (GUI)                                       : FAIL
21    Error ID 0VB025
22  1024 x  768 - 32 bpp ( 60 Hz): TEST FAILURE
23    failing bit : MDC0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 
24
25[4  ] RW channel (GUI)                                    : FAIL
26    Error ID 0VB028
27  1024 x  768 - 32 bpp ( 60 Hz): TEST FAILURE
28    failing bit : MDC0 0 1 2 4 5 6 7 8 ... 
29
30[5  ] Data mask                                           : FAIL
31    Error ID 0VB006
32  1024 x  768 - 32 bpp ( 60 Hz): TEST FAILURE
33    failing bit : MDC0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 
34
35[6  ] Macro + Micro8x2 tiling read                        : FAIL
36    Error ID 0VC006
37  1024 x  768 - 32 bpp ( 60 Hz): TEST FAILURE
38    failing bit : MDC0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 
39
40[7  ] Byte swap macro+micro8x2 read                       : FAIL
41    Error ID 0VC018
42  1024 x  768 - 32 bpp ( 60 Hz): TEST FAILURE
43    failing bit : MDC0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 
44
45[8  ] HOST_DATA/<f,b>/M2L                                 : FAIL
46    Error ID 0TR014
47   640 x  480 -  8 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
48     error : R051A.8 not found
49   640 x  480 - 15 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
50     error : R052A.8 not found
51   640 x  480 - 16 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
52     error : R053A.8 not found
53   640 x  480 - 32 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
54     error : R055A.8 not found
55   800 x  600 -  8 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
56     error : R061A.8 not found
57   800 x  600 - 15 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
58     error : R062A.8 not found
59   800 x  600 - 16 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
60     error : R063A.8 not found

…Show last 11 lines

61   800 x  600 - 32 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
62     error : R065A.8 not found
63  1024 x  768 -  8 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
64     error : R071A.8 not found
65  1024 x  768 - 15 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
66     error : R072A.8 not found
67  1024 x  768 - 16 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
68     error : R073A.8 not found
69  1024 x  768 - 32 bpp ( 75 Hz): TEST FAILURE
70     error : R075A.8 not found
71Failure detected.

MDC0 does lead to memory IC U56 if I understand it right and bits 0 to 31 means that the complete chip is faulty, not only some single traces/resistors.
Pressure onto this memory chip does change the failure pattern up to almost readable text output but it never goes completely away.
R3MEMID test pictures and DOS text basically look like the diagnosis pictures in the first post here: VGA Repair report collection
(All voltages on this card look fine, btw. The card boots into Windows without problems.)

Questions to the experts here:
Is this likely to be just a bad soldering issue, i. e. a reball of the memory IC will fix this or does the memory IC have to be replaced?
Is it known if there can be more errors in other memory ICs R3MEMID won't show until MDC0 is fixed? Or does R3MEMID show "the whole picture" from the beginning?
(The background for this question is about how many replacement ICs will be needed to source.)

RetroPC: K6-III+/400ATZ @6x83@1.7V / CT-5SIM / 2x 64M SDR / 40G HDD / RIVA TNT / V2 SLI / CT4520
ModernPC: Phenom II 910e @ 3GHz / ALiveDual-eSATA2 / 4x 2GB DDR-II / 512G SSD / 750G HDD / RX470

Reply 1 of 3, by dm-

Posted on 2025-11-24, 10:26

dm- Offline

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Joined: 2023-05-29, 04:34

1.memory ic reball/reflow, but i see all lines dead to MDC0-31 - chip on the card front side, may be a dead.
2. check termination resistors around the IC

last option is to lift the core and check for ripped pads

Reply 2 of 3, by tehsiggi

Posted on 2025-11-24, 17:35

tehsiggi Offline

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Posts: 373
Joined: 2025-04-14, 13:37
Location: Germany

If applying pressure helps, a reflow (or even reball if necessary) of that chip might solve your issue. If it doesn't get clock correctly, the bits will all appear as failure.

AGP Card Real Power Consumption
AGP Power monitor - diagnostic hardware tool
Graphics card repair collection

Reply 3 of 3, by ChrisK

Posted on 2025-11-25, 13:55

ChrisK Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 430
Joined: 2020-10-08, 07:31
Location: Germany

Thanks guys for suggestions!
I will check the clock signal first and if it's ok, as far as it can be measured down to the memory chip, try a little "heat treatment".
If that doesn't help I'll order some replacement parts.

RetroPC: K6-III+/400ATZ @6x83@1.7V / CT-5SIM / 2x 64M SDR / 40G HDD / RIVA TNT / V2 SLI / CT4520
ModernPC: Phenom II 910e @ 3GHz / ALiveDual-eSATA2 / 4x 2GB DDR-II / 512G SSD / 750G HDD / RX470

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