I'm having to go back to my old Voodoo3 3000 AGP card because I returned my newer Nvidia card after it went bad on me.

I've formatted my hard drive many times, and installed fresh Win2k, WinME, and Win98SE trying to get my Voodoo3 to work properly.  On both Win2k and WinME I can't even make it into the very first boot of windows after installation without errors.  

With WinME, just as it's about to load the desktop for the very first time, my monitor goes into power-save mode and computer appears to be locked up.

With Win2k, it appears to boot into Windows, but immediately there are hundreds of horizontal lines across the screen and there is obviously a prob.  Though if I then boot into safe mode, then "uninstall" the Voodoo3 card, I can then reboot into Win2k with a basic desktop.

I've tried the AmigaMerlin 3.0 drivers with Win2k, and I get a white-wash screen upon desktop load, so those are a bust.

Win98SE was the only one to boot safely to the desktop from a fresh install.  I tried the AmigaMerlin 2.9 drivers, and they installed ok, but I have mouse cursor corruption it appears.  The mouse cursor on the desktop turns into a fairly large fuzzy square, thought it's still operational as a pointer.

I just want to play Quake 2.

What drivers might anybody suggest for Win98SE, Voodoo3 3000AGP?  Also, I haven't updated DirectX, so which is optimal for Win98SE + Voodoo3?  I've read that 8.1 is good, and not to go with 9.0+.

Is there a chance a portion of my Video Card is bad? if that's possible?  Or I'm thinking it may be incompatible with my motherboard I'm currently using.  Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

Just to add.  I just installed Directx 7.0a, and the 1.07 drivers released by 3Dfx, the last release, besides beta.  I'm getting the messed up cursor with that.

So it's Win98SE, DirectX 7.0a, 3DFx 1.07 drivers.  I couldn't get Quake 2 to run either, screen goes all fuzzy.  Not sure if that's an in-game thing though, since I last ran it on my Nvidia card, so it's not setup to run on the 3Dfx hardware, the game that is.

I'm about at my wits ends, thinking either my Voodoo3 is bad, or it's somehow incompatible with my Motherboard, or it's chipset.  The Mobo has onboard AGP, but also an AGP slot, which the vid card is in.  It's like an SiS 730 Chipset, something like that.

Also, I recall flashing the bios on my Voodoo3 a while back.  Not sure if most of you guys did the same thing, and maybe that wasn't a good idea.  But it was "new" so I figured new = better so I flashed it.  Perhaps I could go back to the old Video card BIOS.  One thing I noticed it change, was that when I power on my computer, or reboot, it flashes a quick screen with the Voodoo3 BIOS initializing before the Motherboards BIOS screen appears.  I think this was introduced with my flashing of the Voodoo3's BIOS way back when.

Power-saving after the monitor starts: restart your Win98SE in Safe Mode(keep pressing shift until the Windows logo appears). Set the resolution to 640x480x16 and the refres rate (from advanced settings in desktop properties) to default.

Explanation: When the monitor is entering this state, it is likely that it is set to 100 Hz or more on 640 or 800 resolution, thus the monitor not beeing able to display at such high frequency, it gets into "safe" mode.

The 1.07 drivers, are not designed for DX7. You need at least Dx8.0 installed in order for the DX games to work properly.

The Voodoo3 bios can't be the cause, if the above sollutions work.

Still having problems.  Brand new install of Win98SE, Latest 1.07 drivers released by 3Dfx.  Voodoo3 3000 AGP.  DirectX 7.0a.  And I installed Quake 2 from scratch as well, but it won't play it.  Also installed the 3.01 WickedGL, not that I've gotten even into the Quake 2 game though, locks up soon as it starts to load.

I also cannot play any mpeg's or avi's it appears (yes porn =P).  Screen goes all haywire when I open up a file.  I can alt-enter to maximize the screen, and it does appear to make a screen change, but all I see is lines, so I have to reboot.

My motherboard is just a generic one I believe, borrowed it from a friend.  Has like 2 PCI slots, one AGP slot, onboard sound/video/LAN.  I "think" it's an SiS 730 chipset, with Award BIOS.  I don't know of the manufacturer of the motherboard itself though.

Do I have to install drivers for this motherboard to get it to work properly with other peripherals?  If anybody might know.

Not sure what else to add.  I'm beginning to think maybe my Card is bad, guess I'd have to try it out on another system (which I won't be able to do anytime soon) to be certain.  Thanks for any help.

It sounds like if your voodoo3 would be damaged :-/

The voodoo3`s doesn`t run on all motherboards.
They need much power,and some boards have a prob to feed the v3.

wrote on 19.01.04 at 17:22:00:

The voodoo3`s doesn`t run on all motherboards. They need much power,and some boards have a prob to feed the v3.

I've never seen a V3 to require a separate power cable?!

voodoo3 only requires about 10-20w...not much indeed.

Hmmm...

Only 4 Ideas come to my mind :

1)
Check Bios settings.
The Problems you described, are possible when some Video Related Options are set within the Bios. Disable Video Bios Shadow, Fast Writes, Video Bios/RAM Cacheable, Write Combining, Palette Snoop etc...

Basically check that all that could affect the Card is set to "safe" and conservative Values. Voodoo's have traditionally been quite tolerant to many Bios Settings, but it's worth a shot.

2)
Check the Integrity of the Card itself.
e.g. check for popped/malformed Capacitors, or disconnected/broken components.
Sometimes, those can actually break their Connection to the PCB, while being extremely hard to see or detect. Note that Capacitors should always stand upright from the PCB (often enough, one finds those slightly bend to one side)

3)
Check Video RAM.
I know the C'T Magazine released a Video RAM checker (basically a "Memtest86" for Video Memory, which actually runs from Video RAM as well, quite a unique Program).
I'll have to search for the Program, and will post a Link when I find it.
If the VRAM is broken, just about anything can happen.
Often, in low Resolution and Color Depths (when only a tiny part of the VRAM is actually used), the Card works fine, but as soon as higher Resolutions and Color Depth is selected, the Framebuffer encloses the defective RAM Area as well, usually crashing the System.

4)
Check the Card's Temperature.
I transitioned quite a number of Voodoo3's from one System to another, just to find out it was all of a sudden running lightning hot (!).
I actually had to remove my Voodoo3-3500 because of that; even big quality Fans I put onto it basically had their bearings "burned out" within a few weeks :P

A Voodoo3-3000 should he quite warm upto hot, but never too hot to touch. Unfortunately, a Voodoo3 commonly even then runs (for a while) with no apparent Problems, until it suffers permanent damage.
(my V3-3500 made it over several months, before I noted it was burning hot. Unbelievable it still lived after this hell it was going through :o )
-----------
About Power consumption :
The only Motherboards/Chipset in know of, that had actual Trouble to feed a Voodoo3 (or TNT1) with stable Power, was the Socket7 Ali-V (Alladin) series. (several Tweaks/Patches exist for those combinations however)