DOA or lack of setup knowledge / Voodoo 4500

[Billvill]

A few months ago I received a Voodoo 4500 from an e bay seller after waiting almost 3 weeks for it ( that's another story in itself but I still like ebay for old trains ) Anyway I installed the card and got nothing. This was after it sat around my house for about a month while I was putting items together for a new system. I doubled checked all the obvious things and reinstalled the card and I still get nothing when I boot the system. The card has been sitting on my bench now for about a month and it aggravates me that it will not work . I see no signs of damage . It arrived in a nice static proof bag and all indication are that it was brand new never used in that it had no screw marks on the mounting bar. About a day or so ago I installed it again after I unplugged it's fan and now I got just the letters at the top of the screen when the system boots. Does anyone have any suggestions ? Maybe i am missing something ? Please don't say anything about returning it ! Trust me it is the last over ($50.00) dollar computer item I will ever buy from ebay.

 

[AKDUDE]

I may be missing something, but it endeed does look like its DOA.
I hear some people talk of setting video to AGP or PCI in BIOS, but Ive never actually seen the option.
However, you can't even get to BIOS.

I would think though that since the card is not even booting up, its dead.

If you need a new card, till you can get something better, ill ship you a PCI Rage Turbo for the cost of shipping to you. At least with it you could get the computer up and running.
AKDUDE

 

[Shadow ÒÓ]

If you can actually SEE the first screen describing your vid card, you may consider putting in another card just to get to the bios. You can usually find a setting that will ask you to use PCI or AGP video. If it's a PCI card, make sure the setting is that.

If that's not it, it sounds like it's not seating correctly. You should get NO video if it's bad.....especially in the bios......maybe check the PCI or AGP slot it's seating into and clear it of grime or whatever. Someone posted recently that the card pins were actually worn to the point where they would not make good contact to the slot. I know this is supposed to be new, but what if the slot itself has pins that aren't closing tight enough around the card?

Try booting while holding the card down securely in the slot.......maybe leave the mounting screw out and pressing the card UP slightly towards the psu or down and try again. Just really seems it's a mounting thing since you do see a screen on occasion.

Just food for thought.......hope it helps.

Oh and.......Welcome to the forums!

 

[el]

Yeah i have an iwill board and when I went from dual monitors to the voodoo5 agp I had to switch the setting in the bios! did you try it in anybody elses machine. I would take it to a friends house and try it out there too.

 

[Billvill]

I did try the board in another machine . That is when i actually saw the voodoo banner for just a few seconds.

I have been thru my Iwill bios a thousand times and dont see,any things that would affect the board. Just for fyi it is a pci card. I have switched to agp delay = 10 it seems there is an issue with some video card manufacturers pci cards and the Iwill board and they say to make that change in the bios . I have not had a chance to try it after that .

Thanks for the input / Billy