A few years back, I picked up a lot of 10 graphics cards on eBay for around $100. Most of them turned out to be junk—though they might make for interesting test subjects someday. But one card immediately stood out: a silver heatsink with the unmistakable shape of a 3dfx Voodoo 3! Of course, the lot was sold as untested – which, in eBay terms, means NOT WORKING! I really should have seen that coming… But, not everything is lost! Sometimes, a VGA card can be easily revived by flashing the BIOS!
Unfortunately, it won’t be that easy with the card I got on eBay. Note to self: never buy untested hardware on eBay again.
After attempting to flash a regular Voodoo 3 3000 BIOS for my AGP card, the 3dfx flashing utility quit with the error message: “EEPROM could not be written. A valid image should still exist in the ROM.”
WHAT A LIE! The BIOS chip has been erased and all I can hear now are the dreaded beeps of “NO VGA CARD DETECTED” when rebooting the system.
I was well aware that the 3dfx flashing utility isn’t exactly great. It works fine in standard cases, but the moment something goes wrong, you’re on your own to figure it out.
I sourced my BIOS for the 3dfx card from here, only to realize that some versions are missing—specifically for OEM cards! That’s right—if you have an OEM Voodoo 3, like one from a Gateway system, flashing a non-OEM BIOS could brick your card. Thankfully, the folks over at Vogons have solutions for just about everything. You can find an OEM BIOS for the Voodoo 3 3000 AGP in this thread.
Or, if you just need the BIOS and flashing tool, you can download them here (yes, the flashing tool is included as well):
Armed with the OEM BIOS, my second attempt was a success!
Unfortunately, the card still isn’t fixed! It seems some solder balls have weakened, losing proper contact with the PCB. Looks like another BGA repair is on the horizon!
Applying pressure to the center of the heatsink, right above the 3dfx chip, slightly improves the picture, as shown below.
Pressing on both edges of the heatsink makes the card seem to work perfectly!
It seems like every part of the card is functioning—the only issue is likely some faulty solder connections between the 3dfx chip and the PCB. Something to tackle in the future!
Once again, here’s the OEM BIOS for your OEM Voodoo 3 3000 AGP:
