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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Hardware Issues and discussion => Topic started by: wurzel on August 12, 2007, 10:27:44 PM
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Hi all,
I recently got a Voodoo 4500 from Ebay, and changed it over from my Voodoo 3000. At first, when I changed it, I tested it before putting my miggy back to gether and it worked. Then, I put the miggy back together and back in it's place under the desk, then it didn't work.
So, I took it all apart again and tested it, and it worked. I put it back together again and it didn't work.
For the 3rd time, I took it apart but this time, it just wouldn't work More than 2 hours later, I gave up & put the old Voodoo 3000 back in and it works fine. By works, I mean that Picasso96 can't find the board so the miggy resorts to PAL mode.
My question is, is the Voodoo 4500 broken? Why would it break after working fine (albeit it for 5 minutes)? What would break?
Befor eit broke, Mediator PCIinfo stated it was a Voodoo 5, but it definitely is a Voodoo 4.
Thanks.
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Check the PCI vendor and product ID strings on the output generated by the PCIinfo tool.
In my experience quite a few things can cause these strings to be misread - a ground cable not connecting properly (pushed out of the molex connector when attaching the power cable to a hard drive), low psu voltages, even a mis-shapen tower case, resulting in the mainboard being bowed. Seems unlikey given that the Voodoo3000 works though.
When dismantling, make sure the goldfingers of the pci card are still well embedded in the pci slot - when reassembling the case it is possible that these are being pulled out at the case flexes slightly. The i/o shield of the Voodoo 4500 may just be a different tolerance that the Voodoo 3000, causing it to sit further out of the PCI slot.
IIRC the Voodoo4 series draws a lot more power than the Voodoo3, perhaps your psu just cannot handle the extra power drain? You could try a different psu, or just try the Voodoo4 without the other PCI cards in place.
If all else fails, try the Voodoo 4 in a PC - see if it is working OK there.
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I'm sure there are people that are gunna disagree with this one, so only do it if you feel confident and know roughly what yer doing.
If it's possible, try and put the miggy back together while it's still on. That way you will be able to physically see when it goes wrong, then you'll know at what point the problem lies.
Then you take it out again, get it up and running again and start putting it back in. If the problem occurs at the same time then the problem is whatever is happening at that stage.
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I had Voodoo 4500 working on my Prometheus equipped A4000 tower. And changed Voodoo 3000 back as 4500 was slower on 2D because of missing hw acceleration features. Perhaps the Mediator drivers are better? In every case the Warp3D gfx address was different - had to change it.