Hello everyone,

I'm at a second attempt to make an old rig work.
What I have:
An Intel 810 chipset motherboard (only PCI slots).
Pentium 3 500MHZ Sk 370.
5 Voodoo 2 12MB cards (for trying different SLi variations).
A S3 Virge DX/GX 375/385 video card for 2D (4MB).
A SB Live!.
Common peripheral/IDE devices.

I've installed the thoroughly tested Windows 98 SE RC6 with Service Pack 2 (which includes USB Mass Storage drivers, modified logo screens and so on) which runs great on all my other old rigs.

What problems am I experiencing:

After a fresh Windows installation I've used two of the most compatible video cards (in my opinion).
Two Creative V2-s. The only visual difference (besides colour) was the memory on the board, one using EliteMT and the other some other chips.
Had to trimm a little the IRQ settings in BIOS, seemed like the soudcard didn't install correctly until I changed manually the IRQs.
With all these the computer ran fine after I changed to the latest V2 drivers (the originals Creative provided were very buggy), so all the games ran on the 30202 version (after the year 2000).
Tested: Need For Speed Hot Pursuit (3), worked well until it cracked, but I found out the game has issues.
Didn't have time to search for the Voodoo 2 fix, anyways, the game ran in 1024x768 glide resolution until it crashed, so the SLi really worked.
Also in the Display Properties, at the Advanced tab in the Voodoo section appears "SLI: Detected!". (I'm using a tested ribbon cable for the interlink).

The game I really wanted to play is Clive Barker's Undying (2001).
It ran fine the first time, it really pumped up some serious graphics in 1024x768 but I had to trimm a little the quality settings, it made a couple of framedrops.
I played well for about an hour. Exited the game.
My worst mistake!

After then the game couldn't be ran unless I've disabled SLi. With SLi on, artifacts allover.

Changed the second Voodoo, inserted a CMC Orbit 3D with EliteMT memory chips, to match the Creative. The PCB layout is absolutely identical.

Now I can't even enter the Voodoo2-1000 section in the Display Properties. The window crashes. The sistem doesn't halt, but I have to End Task the window.
The cards look ok in Device Manager, I even uninstalled everything Voodoo related, installed fresh after cleaning the registry the original drivers, updated again to 30202 and installed Voodoo 2 Tweaker.

Still, the 3dfx section of my Display Properties doesn't work. The window freezes after the screen goes blank for about 2 seconds.

Undying doesn't run at all in 3dfx mode.

What else I've done:
- disabled all unnecessary IRQ consumables in BIOS (printer ports, onboard video, LAN, etc).
- installed a Voodoo fix for upgrading the compatibility with S3 video cards. The program says "No Conflicts detected".
- ran DxDiag multiple times. All video tests are successfull.

What I haven't done:
- didn't change the 2D card.
- didn't try another Voodoo 2 (I used a total combination of 3).

What am I missing?
What am I doing wrong?
Is it possible that I'm dealing with a damaged Voodoo card?

Thanks for your time.






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as far as the drivers go...I never had a problem running 2 different brand cards with the standard 3DFX drivers....maybe some brands can be mixed out of the box, or maybe 1 was a reseller of the other......

I have a P3 1.26Ghz system here and a lot of different voodoo2 cards I can try it on if ya want me to test something?!

It could be the SLI cable itself.  You never know...  Recently I got some Voodoo cards that haven't been used in a very long time and a lot of them gave me problems until I sprayed the boards with electrical contact cleaner and then cleaned the boards off with an old toothbrush.

Make sure the contents evaporate if you're willing to try it.

Two Voodoo Rush cards gave me lots of problems (artifacting, crashing, etc.) until I did this.  Sometimes they were very picky about having pressure pushing the card UP to allow it to work while on.  Might just be some corrosion on the edge connector and that should take care of it.

Since the Voodoo 2 cards have no real indication if they're detecting problem or showing visual corruption as soon as the PC turns on it can make it trickier to see if a card is specifically not working because of some slight corrosion issue on the contacts.

Up to you if you're willing to try that, but it's worked well for me in the past.  Especially on questionable cards that would be in the trash can otherwise.