Problem with Nvidia TNT2 M64 graphics card

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puppy_apprentice
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Joined: Tue 07 Feb 2012, 20:32

Problem with Nvidia TNT2 M64 graphics card

#1 Post by puppy_apprentice »

Recently i've played again with my old PC box from 2000 (Celeron 600MHz, 384MB RAM). I have two hard drives one is old Seagate 20GB with plenty of bad blocks (currently serves as swap for puppies and Windows 2000) and second is 32 GB SD card attached to SD2ATA adapter. Tested Puppies like Slacko 5.7, Slacko 6.3.2 and Xenial 5.7 and they works not like speed demons but with little patience they are usable.

But there is a one problem. There is something wrong with graphics card. When i look on the screen i see some smudges (screenshots made via phone) but on screenshots made in Windows 2000 (PrtScr key) and Puppies (tas) everything is ok.

So i have a question to hardware stagers:

is there something that i can do to repair this card eg. flashing bios or some soldering?
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bigpup
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#2 Post by bigpup »

Maybe the driver being used problem.

That old a card is probably not that well supported, if Nouveau driver is being used.

Run Xorgwizard and try to make sure it is using the vesa driver.
Set resolution to something you know works.

You could try using the Nvidia driver, but you will have to follow this procedure to do it.
Nvidia driver run package installing
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=110611

Nvidia says to use the Nvidia 71.86.15 driver.
That is a very old driver.

Try Doing it in Slacko 5.7.

Hopefully you will not have this problem compiling the driver.
In some Puppies and newer Puppies.
the needed support software is actually just too new and the driver compiling process can not use it to compile.
The Nvidia driver run package, for the very old driver, is wanting to use software to do the compile, that is not there or now works differently.
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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puppy_apprentice
Posts: 299
Joined: Tue 07 Feb 2012, 20:32

#3 Post by puppy_apprentice »

Have tried compiling but without success - too new kernel.

This card was working good 10 years ago with Nvidia drivers on Windows 2000. Now shows smudges on Windows and Puppy. Have tested 2 monitors and have the same artifacts. I think that is hardware problem. Maybe graphic card VGA out is broken or weak voltage (but capacitors looks good) or maybe AGP slot on mainboard is broken. Wish to have another card to check. Maybe find one on some junkyard or second hand.

Have tried to find similar problem on google but seems that i'm the one that have such problem.

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Flash
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Location: Arizona USA

#4 Post by Flash »

I think your display is failing. A failing display wouldn't show in a screenshot. A screenshot is a snapshot of the bits that the computer is sending to the display. Do you have another display you can temporarily substitute for the one you're using?

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puppy_apprentice
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Joined: Tue 07 Feb 2012, 20:32

#5 Post by puppy_apprentice »

Checked two monitors one CRT (the same old like my box with Celeron 600) and another LCD. Other computers display picture without problems.

I think that there is problem with RGB/VGA out on the card or some chip that sends picture to monitor is broken.

I don't see (or my old eyes fools me) those artifacts in old 3D games (DX3D or OpenGL). Only on 2D picture is problem.

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Flash
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Joined: Wed 04 May 2005, 16:04
Location: Arizona USA

#6 Post by Flash »

I forgot that there would be a video driver card between the computer and the display. :oops: Obviously the problem could be caused by that card failing. I doubt that the card can be repaired, but you could try replacing any electrolytic capacitors on the card. Those are famous for drying out and going bad. How are your soldering skills and equipment? The video card is probably a multilayer PC board, meaning it will be difficult to remove components without damaging the board.

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puppy_apprentice
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Joined: Tue 07 Feb 2012, 20:32

#7 Post by puppy_apprentice »

Currently no. I will check in computer shops near me. I think that i could buy an old card (even better for AGPx4) via ebay or similar portal. But i don't know that if want to invest money into this old machine. It's only duty to is to print from time to time some documents.

Does anybody know if those smudges could burnout pixels in LCD monitor?

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