3dfx voodoo3 help

[altrker]

hey guys,
i recently got a 3dfx voodoo3 video card (yeah, i know it's pretty old, but it does the job). and now whenever i boot my computer up, or just actually most of the time... there are red vertical lines all the way across my screen. Sometimes if i shut my comp off for a while, it goes away for an hour or so.... a friend of mine said that it could be over heating, and i could fix it by buying a small fan and just directing it to my box, or getting an actual PC fan for the card/box itself. I was wondering what all of you think... because it's getting really annoying having these lines here when trying to watch DVD's/VCD's and playing games (in and out of) full screen mode. thanks in advance.

[bbb]

Where did you get your Voodoo 3? Ebay?

It sounds like you have a broken/dying card if it has red vertical lines at boot up or soon after. I own 3 Voodoo 3 cards for three of my desktops (for 2 years now) and they work perfectly without a fan. They should have heatssinks on the card which should be sufficient unless you are overclocking your video card.

A long time ago, I used to own a Voodoo 1 card and after 1 1/2 years of use, it started showing wierd white sharding-kinda like violent vertical white lines. When I took out the card to re-seat it in the PCI slot, a capacitor fell out. I guess the heat caused it to lossen from the solder on the card. I had to discard the card. The Voodoo 1 did not have a heatsink.

You should download the latest drivers at www.3dfx.com. It could be a drivers problem. You can also do a format and fresh Windows installation and then install the latest 3dfx drivers. If the red lines show up again, I would try to get a refund from the person sold you the card.