3dfx Archive - Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?

Granpa

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Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
27.07.13 at 19:46:17

After a long search for V2 SLI I finally got one! And you can imagine my disappointment to find out one card is dead. So the cards in question are STB (1998) REV. A Voodoo2s with 12 MB double sided.
One card works, the other doesn't get detected by Windows in any of my 2 PCs.
However it does show picture from AGP card through the pass-through cable, which is weird...
I can't see anything damaged or wrong on the card... It even looks better than the other, working card

I also tried baking it for 7 or so minutes on 200 celsius, but still nothing.
I also tried cleaning the PCI connector and all that but... nothing.

If anyone saw this problem before and can share some tips I'd love to hear them cause I'm getting desperate...

Thanks all! Awesome forum!

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Thandor

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #1 - 28.07.13 at 00:00:39

1. The image will be passed through regardless if the card is working or not.
2. Try diagnostics (download) in order to see if the card is being detected.

The diagnostics are DOS-based but I assume that's not an issue. See the readme.txt inside the .ZIP-file for information about the diagnostics. If the card is not detected it's going to be a tough job to fix it.

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goriath

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #2 - 28.07.13 at 02:20:42

Granpa wrote on 27.07.13 at 19:46:17:

I can't see anything damaged or wrong on the card... It even looks better than the other, working card

I also tried baking it for 7 or so minutes on 200 celsius, but still nothing.

If you haven't done yet, check for any pins shorted especially around the FBI. These get shorted very easily on SST/SST2 based cards.

And please, don't put hardware in the owen, this is a very stupid thing.

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Granpa

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #3 - 28.07.13 at 12:45:01

Alright so the 3dfxdiag utility doesn't detect it at all.
I wouldn't agree that image is passed anyway - it must be that something on the card ain't dead since that part is fine.

I checked the card thoroughly and all the pins are in their place.
And as for baking well... I didn't have anything to lose since the card's dead. You must understand my frustration since I've been looking for SLI for many many months now... Cry

So I should trash it, right? Nothing can be done?

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ultima God Member Offline Always searching Posts: 876 The Netherlands Gender:	Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived? Reply #4 - 28.07.13 at 13:06:13 Do you have a picture of the cards?? Maybe I have the same card and functional as well.
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gdonovan

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #5 - 28.07.13 at 13:09:18

goriath wrote on 28.07.13 at 02:20:42:

And please, don't put hardware in the owen, this is a very stupid thing.

I have done it myself with great success.

There is a free 37" HDTV hanging in my garage that I baked the main tuner board and it functioned again.

The soldier that is used now has very low levels of lead and is prone to fracturing, by baking the item you are just reflowing the solider and restoring the connection.

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« Last Edit: 28.07.13 at 13:25:00 by gdonovan »

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Granpa

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #6 - 28.07.13 at 13:21:42

ultima wrote on 28.07.13 at 13:06:13:

Do you have a picture of the cards?? Maybe I have the same card and functional as well.

Here is the dead card - the working card is the same except that it's happily busy in my PC

So here are 2 pics:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sdrnnzehxa818sk/IMG_20130728_141414.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/gn458ukm06sfmm5/IMG_20130728_141401.jpg

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gdonovan YaBB Administrator Offline Infernal Collector Posts: 2361	Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived? Reply #7 - 28.07.13 at 13:23:18 Some reading here about baking hardware if you want to check it out- http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1421792 I was skeptic too but if the hardware is dead you have nothing to lose trying.
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goriath

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #8 - 28.07.13 at 13:33:43

gdonovan wrote on 28.07.13 at 13:09:18:

The soldier that is used now has very low levels of lead and is prone to fracturing, by baking the item you are just reflowing the solider and restoring the connection.

The fact it may have helped you doesn't mean it is a good idea.

Bad lead-free soldier is prone to fracturing again and again. What you get by baking electronics is only postponing the problem, while stressing uselessly the other components. Of course I wish live long to that HDTV.

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gdonovan

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #9 - 28.07.13 at 13:51:15

goriath wrote on 28.07.13 at 13:33:43:

The fact it may have helped you doesn't mean it is a good idea.

You have yet to explain why- If the item is DEAD then it will just wind up in a landfill or in my case the towns recycle center.

So if the item is already dead there is nothing to lose.

The TV has been running just fine since I did the repair in 2009.

Did you even view the link I posted? I was skeptic too but hundreds of people have done the same with excellent results. Lots of information, photos and tips.

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« Last Edit: 28.07.13 at 14:43:11 by gdonovan »

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Tim

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #10 - 28.07.13 at 17:44:45

goriath wrote on 28.07.13 at 13:33:43:

gdonovan wrote on 28.07.13 at 13:09:18:

The soldier that is used now has very low levels of lead and is prone to fracturing, by baking the item you are just reflowing the solider and restoring the connection.

The fact it may have helped you doesn't mean it is a good idea.

Bad lead-free soldier is prone to fracturing again and again. What you get by baking electronics is only postponing the problem, while stressing uselessly the other components. Of course I wish live long to that HDTV.

Baked a 8800GTX and it worked fine for quite some time. Landfill is the other option.

Best to get something cheap in the back garden though, not your wife's Bosch oven.

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Granpa YaBB Newbies Offline recent 3dfx enthusiast Posts: 5	Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived? Reply #11 - 28.07.13 at 19:09:58 Ah well... Thanks to all the cooks that participated! I guess there is nothing else that can be done... just hoped someone could breathe some life into it, but I guess I have to face it that my search for functional SLI continues Cheers
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m14radu God Member Offline Take your chance ! Posts: 555 Timisoara, Romania Gender:	Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived? Reply #12 - 28.07.13 at 21:40:05 I backed some 8800gtx and they worked fine for a while.... it's not always a reliable solution, sometimes luck is needed
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EMPEROR Junior Member Offline 3dfx enthusiast Posts: 67 Germany Gender:	Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived? Reply #13 - 28.07.13 at 22:32:25 gdonovan wrote on 28.07.13 at 13:09:18: Totally offtopic... but ALIENS is my most fav movie! Thumbs up!
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RaverX

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Re: Help! Can a dead STB V2 be revived?
Reply #14 - 28.07.13 at 23:49:22

Let me tell you some things that I know:

1. owen/reflow works only for cards that have graphic chip and/or memory soldered with "little balls" (BGA)
2. even when 1 (the above) is true owen/reflow will probably (99%) not help older cards (older than 2005-2006, then the ROHS was introduced for computers and lead free solder was used)
3. owen/reflow (especially owen) will do a lot of damage on the card, all that heat is very bad for PCB, resistors, capacitors, chips, etc

So it id pointless to try to "bake" a Voodoo2 because:
1. it uses pins for graphic chips/memory
2. it's an old card
3. you will probably damage a lot of things on it, including the PCB

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« Last Edit: 28.07.13 at 23:50:37 by RaverX »

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