Resuscitating NuBus and PDS video cards for WGS 8150/80

[carguyty]

Has anybody got any experience breathing life into aging video cards? I've got this WGS with a pair of older cards. The PDS model gives me NO sign of life, but the NuBus card pumps out 640x480 through a DB-15 at 8-bit color. The system profiler in System 7.6.1 seems to not care at all about the cards, so getting data out of them is pretty difficult. 

Anyway, the real concern is that the NuBus card draws vertical lines on the screen in various colors. it doesn't seem random, but they do change depending on the background. Is this a possible bad-cap situation or more likely a VRAM failure. The PDS card simply doesn't register and when plugged in by itself, results in a LOUD car screeching and crash during boot. I'll assume that's the system bomb. No telling what the error is.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

AFAIK the WGS card only works under A/UX. Use TechTool for DeclROM readout to see if it's detected under Mac OS at all. Curious about that one. Profiler is out of its depth for stuff like this.

 

[Bolle]

I think he is talking about PPC Nubus WGS with PDS video cards.

The Q950 WGS card does show up as RAM cache and SCSI controller in Tattle Tech in both Mac OS and A/UX if I remember right.

Anything newer than 7.1 refuses to boot with the WGS card in place anyways. I am running a dual boot setup on my WGS95 with A/UX 3.1.1 and System 7.1 both booting off the 10MB/s bus on the WGS card.

 

[Unknown_K]

The 8150 is just a server version of the 8100 I think. You have built in video with that funky Apple connector you can get an adapter for. There are a few PDS video cards for that machine.

•Video: ◦internal supports thousands of colors at 640 x 480 and 256 colors at 832 x 642

◦2 MB PDS card and AV card support millions of colors at 640 x 480 and 832 x 624, thousands of colors at 1024 x 768 and 1152 x 870

◦4 MB PDS card supports millions of colors at 640 x 480, 832 x 624, 1024 x 768, and 1152 x 870

You need to be using the correct video adapter if you are using a normal VGA monitor.

 

[carguyty]

Wow! All that's really informative. I don't have that chunky adapter for using the onboard video, but I believe I can find one somewhere nearby.

At any rate, my original question wasn't about identifying the cards in the system, but it was about fixing the cards. Do these sort of things respond well to cleaning with solvents (or a dishwasher) and replacing the caps. I rescued an SE/30 like that and took care of the screen lines no problem. Is it as advantageous to treat the video cards to the same routine?

 

[Unknown_K]

I have yet to recap a vintage video card, and I have 100's.

Bad VRAM will show junk on the screen in specific areas and resolutions. Check the Nubus card for bent pins on the connector, clean the edge connector on the PDS card with a soft pencil eraser.

 

[MJ313]

Does the card have electrolytic caps on it? I actually did have to recap a Mac II High Resolution video card that came in a IIcx. Thread is on here somewhere. It worked find after recapping.

 

[carguyty]

It certainly does. About a dozen. I pushed around some alcohol and cotton to try to get some of the more boogery joints cleaned up, but I'm sure that's just evidence they need complete replacing. This poor thing may need to back burner for a while.

Then again, the on-board video should be fine via adapter. This old girl is destined to be a file and net-boot server to assist in the restoration of other beige era machines.