Would disabling ADC power from the PSU let 8x cards work?

Question

Would disabling the ADC power from the power supply (that enters the logic board via pin 14, I believe) let 8x cards work without taping any pins? Would it be safe to try it, or could it possibly damage the PSU or anything else? I would do it by cutting the wire leading to pin 14 in a way that would allow it to be reconnected.

Answer 1

Hi-
2) I'm not sure how well I can handle the taping, especially the cutting part, with my aging eyesight and lack of patience.
I can relate to this. Small things just don't seem to focus anymore, near OR far.......
Also, the thought of cutting directly on the card has never appealed to me.
When I do the job, I first cut strips of Scotch tape roughly the width of a contact (ever so slightly wider, or narrower also works).
Then, I apply the tape to the contact by tweezer pressing the tape into place with my finger.
Before I fold the tape over, I cut most of the excess tape off, leaving just enough to fold the tape over the bottom edge of the card.
Doing it this way alleviates any need to cut tape ON the board, and has always been successful.
BTW, a magnifying glass or magnifying spectacles helps immensely!
I'm pretty sure, from what I've read elsewhere, that they can drive the MDD's without providing power on pin 14. But will 8x cards then work in such MDD's (i.e., without ADC power) without taping?
This is a bit of a question, as the whole problem arises from Apples proprietary use of standard AGP slots.
With the advent of the 8x AGP standard, use of previously unused pins in the 4x standard came about.
Unfortunately for us, these pins, as well as the special connector, were in use for Apple ADC cards.
In the AGP slot, pin #3 is a +5V connection, and pin #11 is ST2 (a standby/signal connection, I believe).
Because of this, disabling the PSU #14 pin will only cut power to the ADC tab, and not to the AGP pins that are in question.
Of course, the rest of the machine needs +5V, so you can't disable the PSU to do that.
As I mentioned earlier/elsewhere, the desoldering needed to facilitate this modification is beyond the scope of meer mortals.
And, as far as I can tell, desoldering is the only way to disable the slot pins, unless one cuts some +REAL SMALL+ traces on the logic board......