Voodoo3 3000 PCI card delayed problem

Rodney_Lott · October 31, 2000, 7:11pm

Hello.

I have a somewhat unusual problem with using the Voodoo3 3000 PCI video
card with my Dell system and QRTP with Photon. When I first installed
it, it detected and worked great for about a month or so. After this
time, I found that I started getting some lines that would follow the
cursor and then later, the driver would just not work (ie. it would lock
up the system if I went into Photon in normal mode - safe mode still
works ). The machine dual-boots with Win98 and when I go into there
now, the display shows white lines appearing in a semi-grid pattern,
which would mean to me that the card is probably fried.

This is the second identical card to have fried in this fashion, and so
I am wondering if anyone has had this experience with the Voodoo card.
Is it possible that the banshee driver is driving the card too hard or
is using an unadvisable refresh rate, such that after a certain period
of time it gives out?

Thanks in advance.

Rodney Lott

David_Donohoe1 · October 31, 2000, 7:29pm

Rodney Lott <rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> wrote:

Hello.

I have a somewhat unusual problem with using the Voodoo3 3000 PCI video
card with my Dell system and QRTP with Photon. When I first installed
it, it detected and worked great for about a month or so. After this
time, I found that I started getting some lines that would follow the
cursor and then later, the driver would just not work (ie. it would lock
up the system if I went into Photon in normal mode - safe mode still
works ). The machine dual-boots with Win98 and when I go into there
now, the display shows white lines appearing in a semi-grid pattern,
which would mean to me that the card is probably fried.

That is pretty unusual… a large number of people at QSSL have been
using VooDoo3 cards for months, and that’s the first time I’ve heard
of this problem. I know I leave my machine running for weeks on end,
with a VooDoo3 card…

This is the second identical card to have fried in this fashion, and so
I am wondering if anyone has had this experience with the Voodoo card.
Is it possible that the banshee driver is driving the card too hard or
is using an unadvisable refresh rate, such that after a certain period
of time it gives out?

What kind of card is it? What resolution and refresh rate do you run
at? Does the card have an on-chip fan…

Rodney_Lott · October 31, 2000, 8:45pm

David Donohoe wrote:

That is pretty unusual… a large number of people at QSSL have been
using VooDoo3 cards for months, and that’s the first time I’ve heard
of this problem. I know I leave my machine running for weeks on end,
with a VooDoo3 card…

What kind of card is it? What resolution and refresh rate do you run
at? Does the card have an on-chip fan…

Hello.

The card is a Voodoo3 3000 PCI card. We were operating it at 1280 X
1024 and I believe the
refresh rate was set to 75 Hz, but I can’t recall. The card has a very
large heat-sink, but no
fan.

Rodney Lott

Warren_Peece1 · October 31, 2000, 8:52pm

I’ve been running a VooDoo3 3000 AGP card at 1280x1024 and 100Hz for quite a
while now with no problems. We’ve got a bunch of these installed in other
machines as well at all sorts of resolutions with no difficulties other than
one DOA. Maybe you’re just lucky!

David_Donohoe1 · November 1, 2000, 4:22am

Rodney Lott <rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> wrote:

David Donohoe wrote:

That is pretty unusual… a large number of people at QSSL have been
using VooDoo3 cards for months, and that’s the first time I’ve heard
of this problem. I know I leave my machine running for weeks on end,
with a VooDoo3 card…

What kind of card is it? What resolution and refresh rate do you run
at? Does the card have an on-chip fan…

Hello.

The card is a Voodoo3 3000 PCI card. We were operating it at 1280 X
1024 and I believe the
refresh rate was set to 75 Hz, but I can’t recall. The card has a very
large heat-sink, but no
fan.

That sounds pretty reasonable. Had you been running the card under
windows for some time, before you installed RTP?

Rodney_Lott · November 1, 2000, 1:19pm

No, most of the time we have just been using it with the QRTP. I try to
stay out of Windows as much as possible!

Rodney Lott

David Donohoe wrote:

Rodney Lott <> rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> > wrote:

snip

That sounds pretty reasonable. Had you been running the card under
windows for some time, before you installed RTP?

Rodney_Lott · November 1, 2000, 1:23pm

Well, I’ve always considered myself “lucky”!
Maybe the AGP version would work better.

Rodney

Warren Peece wrote:

I’ve been running a VooDoo3 3000 AGP card at 1280x1024 and 100Hz for quite a
while now with no problems. We’ve got a bunch of these installed in other
machines as well at all sorts of resolutions with no difficulties other than
one DOA. Maybe you’re just lucky!

-Warren

system · November 1, 2000, 3:37pm

Rodney Lott <rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> wrote:

Well, I’ve always considered myself “lucky”! >
Maybe the AGP version would work better.

I don’t want to dismiss the possibility that there may be some setting
that’s affecting your cards, but I do want to mention the possibility that
all of the cards you buy may come from a specific batch, and there could be
a batch specific problem that you’re running into.

Could be the guy who put the heatsink compound on that day was a bit hung
over, and buttered all the heat sinks on the wrong side or something.

Rodney

Warren Peece wrote:

I’ve been running a VooDoo3 3000 AGP card at 1280x1024 and 100Hz for quite a
while now with no problems. We’ve got a bunch of these installed in other
machines as well at all sorts of resolutions with no difficulties other than
one DOA. Maybe you’re just lucky!

-Warren

David_Donohoe1 · November 1, 2000, 4:01pm

Rodney Lott <rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> wrote:

No, most of the time we have just been using it with the QRTP. I try to
stay out of Windows as much as possible! >

OK. I thought that if you ran it for ages under Windows, and everything
was fine until QNX came along, it might point the finger at something

So nothing’s conclusive and I’m running out suggestions…

Rodney Lott

David Donohoe wrote:

Rodney Lott <> rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> > wrote:

snip

That sounds pretty reasonable. Had you been running the card under
windows for some time, before you installed RTP?

Rodney_Lott · November 1, 2000, 6:51pm

Yes, I think that this might be a real possibility. I got them from
Future Shop (ick!)
so it is a distinct possibility that they may have been suffering a
common batch problem.

Thanks for the help. I think I will chaulk it up to bad fortune.

Rodney

pete@qnx.com wrote:

Rodney Lott <> rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> > wrote:
Well, I’ve always considered myself “lucky”! >
Maybe the AGP version would work better.

I don’t want to dismiss the possibility that there may be some setting
that’s affecting your cards, but I do want to mention the possibility that
all of the cards you buy may come from a specific batch, and there could be
a batch specific problem that you’re running into.

Could be the guy who put the heatsink compound on that day was a bit hung
over, and buttered all the heat sinks on the wrong side or something.

Rodney

Rodney_Lott · November 1, 2000, 6:52pm

Well, it kinda sounds more like a manufacturing problem, as others have
suggested,
so I will just probably close this thread off.

Thanks for the comments.

Rodney

David Donohoe wrote:

Rodney Lott <> rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> > wrote:
No, most of the time we have just been using it with the QRTP. I try to
stay out of Windows as much as possible! >

OK. I thought that if you ran it for ages under Windows, and everything
was fine until QNX came along, it might point the finger at something

So nothing’s conclusive and I’m running out suggestions…

Rodney Lott

David Donohoe wrote:

Rodney Lott <> rod@fuelcelltechnologies.ca> > wrote:

snip

That sounds pretty reasonable. Had you been running the card under
windows for some time, before you installed RTP?