Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

[stewart710]

I have 3 Nvidia Geforce2mx AGP video cards pulled from PowerMac G4s. All 3 display the same symptoms. They have gray lines going across the screen horizontally wherever there are lines of text. The monitors work fine, it is definately the cards. There are 2 SMT capacitors on the cards that I plan on replacing just to see if it helps. I just don't know what the specs are.

1.

13
470
6A


2.

11
10
25A

Can anyone help me figure out which low-esr caps to buy? I'll probably order form Digi-key or Mouser.

Thanks in advance.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

Without having a pic this is a complete guess.
470uF 6v [or 6.3v]
10uF 25v

So far as how low of ESR or how much Ripple we can't tell you without ID'ing the make and series of the old caps.
You also didn't mention diameter.........

.

[stewart710]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

Sorry about that. Thanks for helping. The little one is about 5/32" and the larger one is about 5/16". The small one has no vent and the larger one has a k-vent.

[Toasty]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

A quick Google shows this to be a relatively common failure. No solution other than replacement of the card was discovered.

It also looks like there is a square black "flat pack" capacitor next to the larger of the 2 aluminum can caps. You may want to replace that while you're at it.

Does the problem occur right away or does it appear after a bit? Try using a fan to move some air over that chip and see if the problem goes away.

Check the back of the card for discoloration of the board under the video chip. My guess is that the heat sink adhesive deteriorated and allowed the chip to overheat. If that's the case, it's history.

Toast

PS: Pics of the card front and back could help us help you.

[stewart710]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

Here are a few more pics. The funny thing is it is the same problem on 3 identical cards. None of them show any obvious discoloration or failed components. They are always like this, I don't think cool air is going to change anything. It starts on a cold boot with the Apple logo, before the OS loads.

The flat pack is labeled:
S4
OC

has symbol of 'G' superimposed on a sideways 'S'

This is a capacitor?

[stewart710]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

I have a fan pointed at it and it doesn't change anything.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

They are Suncon CE-AX Series
The 470uF 6.3v - ESR 0.170, Ripple 450
The 10uF 25v - ESR 1.800, Ripple 80

Page 33 and 34.

[It's almost a 17 Mb PDF file.]
.

[Toasty]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

>>This is a capacitor?<<
No, now it doesn't appear to be one but perhaps a diode.

However the other one, below and to the right, does look like a cap. If you could take a clear picture (like your first one) of the other flat pack just below the 5 legged device marked Alpha and also the board markings and its markings, that would help.

>>funny thing is it is the same problem on 3 identical cards<<

As I said, a search showed MANY of these failures (from 3-5 years ago).

Could you also post the nVidia part number 900-????? and/or the Apple number 630-?????

Toast

[stewart710]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

900-04023-4313-60a and 630-3680 or 600-9144

[Toasty]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

Appears to be a 470uF cap, but could also be a 47uF. The markings vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. I don't know the voltage by the markings, but you can measure across the pads to its left as they are connected in parallel with it. Choose the next voltage up. i.e. - reads 12v choose 16v, reads 16v choose 25v

Toast

[kikkoman]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

have you checked if the problem occurs on both ports, VGA and DVI?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

Appears to be a 470uF cap, but could also be a 47uF. The markings vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. I don't know the voltage by the markings, but you can measure across the pads to its left as they are connected in parallel with it. Choose the next voltage up. i.e. - reads 12v choose 16v, reads 16v choose 25v
Toast

I already told you what they are.
Go to pages 33 and 34 [like I said] and blow-up the series images and look.

[Toasty]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

>>I already told you what they are.<<

Nope, wrong cap. Flat pack.

Toast

[stewart710]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

have you checked if the problem occurs on both ports, VGA and DVI?

The other ports are not DVI, they are Apple's proprietary ADC connector. I don't have access to one of those monitors, unfortunately. I will check the voltage across the pads with a meter and post back, thanks guys.

[Scenic]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

what kind of Macs do they come out from?
Had one of those too. replacing the caps did ..well nothing at all..
if you don't need the propritary ADC crap, there are 2 possibilities:

- get a mac-compatible GF2MX (there are some PC cards that work in Macs without flashing the BIOS)
- get a cheapo FX5200, Flash a Mac BIOS, modify the AGP connector and viola.. you've upgraded your mac lol

PC Cards compatible without reflashing:
ASUS V7100 (GF2 MX400)
ProLink Pixelview GF2MX400 (MVGA-NVG11AM)

(i'm using the latter in my G4 450)


there's also a version with TV-Out


2 sites related to Mac graphics cards (flashing them, compatibility etc)
http://themacelite.wikidot.com
http://xenomorph.net/?page_id=575

Mac graphics card BIOSes
http://themacelite.wikidot.com/wikidownloads2

oh and let's hope your mac doesn't have the infamous AcBel PSU (if it's a PowerMac G4 "Gigabit Ethernet")

[stewart710]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

So you had the gray lines and replaced the two caps plus the flat pack cap? I figured it was worth a shot, because there were 3 cards. I've got a bunch of rebuilt Frankenstein G4 PowerMacs dual 450 through 733mhz speeds that I salvaged for my wife's Middle School. I've already replaced the cards with flashed gforce2mx, 5200 and radeon 9000 pro's (that was a tough flash, had to move a few resistors around). I have these cards left and was hoping I could fix them, then use them. This card seems to be the minimum for running Leopard on Powermacs, they like Quartz Extreme capable cards. I hadn't stumbled across the Xenomorph site, thanks. Oh yeah, all those Macs are running off regular 235w and above PC ATX power supplies with some simple rewiring.

[Scenic]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

i replaced both SMD electrolytic caps (those in post #3)

changed.. well.. nothing at all. still gray lines

got 2 Powermac G4's.
one Sawtooth G4 400 and a Gigabit Ethernet G4 450

rewired an ATX PSU for the Gigabit Mac because the AcBel died shortly after i got it.
instead of the simple 2 Diode method, i decided to add a 19V 3,33A Laptop power brick inside the powermac (placed it above the optical drives on the left side (when looking from the front)).

so instead of 5Vstandby and 12V when powered on, it gets 19V 3,33A from the laptop power brick all the time as a "replacement voltage" for the 28V from the AcBel PSU.
no freezing when using standby mode and no firewire flakyness anymore

only drawback is that you still couldn't use an ADC Monitor, because that laptop PSU is too weak for that.. but i'm ok with that as i'm not using those anyways

[stewart710]

Re: Three Geforce2 MX Mac Edition with gray horizontal lines

I didn't even bother with the diodes. I don't have any firewire stuff that runs off the 12v from the port. I have a hard drive with it's own power so it's no big deal. I just wired the 5vsb straight into the 28v Trickle port. Everything has been stable as ever. They sleep perfectly. I've had one going like that for 3 years straight. If there's a diode, then there is a voltage drop on the 12v supply to the Firewire devices anyway, so that might result in flaky firewire devices that are expecting 12v. I have firewire pci cards I could add if I really needed 12v bus powered devices.