Monster 3D and Starmax 3000 problem

[Stonefree]

I have a Starmax 300 clone with a 240 603e processor and 64 megs of RAM. I
recently tried to install the PC version of the Monster 3d Video Card. I
tried using the Techworks drivers, and then the drivers that came with
Quake, but could not get the card to work. Supposedly, it will work with
Macs using the Techworks drivers. I also removed all other unnecessary
drivers, including those from ATI. I also set the monitor to the required
resolution of 640 x 480 at 60hz. I keep getting a black screen whenever I
try to run games in their 3dfx mode. The games play fine in software
rendering mode and everything else comes through the monitor.

I have read that 3dfx cards may not work on Mac clones that have more than
3PCI slots on a riser card. The Starmax has five slots on a riser card, as
opposed to wired on the motherboard. Nonethless, I am using the slot
closest to the onboard video output, and supposedly, this should work. if
anyone has any ideas on how to resolve this problem, please reply by
e-mail.

Thanks,

Michael

[Nick Reeve]

I've had no problems at all, I have a 220Mz 3000 with a monster3d. I have
the desktop case and use the slot furthest from the motherboard.

Nick

----------
In article <stonefreee-ya024080...@news.mindspring.com>,

[hei...@ecs.umass.edu]

In Article <stonefreee-ya024080...@news.mindspring.com>

stone...@mindspring.com (Stonefree) writes:
>I have a Starmax 300 clone with a 240 603e processor and 64 megs of RAM. I
>recently tried to install the PC version of the Monster 3d Video Card. I
>tried using the Techworks drivers, and then the drivers that came with
>Quake, but could not get the card to work. Supposedly, it will work with
>Macs using the Techworks drivers. I also removed all other unnecessary
>drivers, including those from ATI. I also set the monitor to the required
>resolution of 640 x 480 at 60hz. I keep getting a black screen whenever I
>try to run games in their 3dfx mode. The games play fine in software
>rendering mode and everything else comes through the monitor.
>
>I have read that 3dfx cards may not work on Mac clones that have more than
>3PCI slots on a riser card. The Starmax has five slots on a riser card, as
>opposed to wired on the motherboard. Nonethless, I am using the slot
>closest to the onboard video output, and supposedly, this should work. if
>anyone has any ideas on how to resolve this problem, please reply by
>e-mail.

The issue is with the bridge chip to the PCI riser card. By default it
is not set by the Mac OS to handle high speed transfers on all slots.
Harry Eaton wrote a small program, "Coherency" that will set the bridge
chip up. You can find information about it and download it from the
"Unofficial StarMax Information Site" at www.starmax.net. It has helped
a number of people to get more speed across their PCI bus and get some
cards to work that would not before running Coherency.

Joe Heimann

hei...@ecs.umass.edu College of Engineering
Engineering Computer Services University of Massachusetts /Amherst