Display problems in DOS

[A M Moore]

Hi all,

Basically, purchased a 16Mb PCI Maxi Gamer Phoenix graphics card circa
12-18months ago. Chip on card is a Voodoo Banshee. I run the card under:-

Windows 98 SE, 64MB Ram, AMD K6-2 366, 6.4gb HDD etc.etc

Absolutely LOVE the card & it works fine at all times EXCEPT when in a DOS
environment. Basically, all screens are a plain but dull black & white &
VERY hard to read. When I load programs like Norton`s Ghost & Drive Image
(which are both disk copying utilities that run from DOS) they are
IMPOSSIBLE to run as you cannot read the screen (although the programs both
appear to be working , it`s just that I can`t read the screens).

Any ideas ?? Loaded the latest manufacturer`s driver but no difference.

I also notice that when my computer is booting, before it gets to Windows,
the large Windows 98 logo is difficult to see - could this have something to
do with it ?

PS. Any idea how I check what version of Direct X I am running ? Does this
have anything to do with it as latest driver says I should be running Direct
X 7 but I`m not too sure if I am.

Any help appreciated

--
Andy Moore - an...@poultonband.org.uk
BBb Tuba player in Poulton-le-Fylde Brass Band

ICQ - 69210936
http://www.poultonband.org.uk

[Franc Zabkar]

On Sun, 20 Aug 2000 22:14:11 +0100, "A M Moore" <an...@ascot.u-net.com>
put finger to keyboard and composed:

>Basically, purchased a 16Mb PCI Maxi Gamer Phoenix graphics card circa
>12-18months ago. Chip on card is a Voodoo Banshee. I run the card under:-
>
>Windows 98 SE, 64MB Ram, AMD K6-2 366, 6.4gb HDD etc.etc
>
>Absolutely LOVE the card & it works fine at all times EXCEPT when in a DOS
>environment. Basically, all screens are a plain but dull black & white &
>VERY hard to read. When I load programs like Norton`s Ghost & Drive Image
>(which are both disk copying utilities that run from DOS) they are

>IMPOSSIBLE to run as you cannot read the screen ...

I recently had a compatibility problem between an older AOC VGA
monitor and a newer S3 PCI graphics card. This monitor worked quite
happily with a Trident 8900 card in 640x480x256 mode. However, when
connected to the S3 card it would show a black screen. The problem was
that the monitor used pin #5 in the DB15 connector for video
intensity/biasing (?) purposes. The solution was to remove and isolate
pin 5 from the connector inside the monitor.

A second problem was that the monitor would lose horizontal sync soon
after POSTing, right after the first VGA mode change. The solution was
to replace a resistor in the sync autopolarity correction circuit.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'e' from my address when replying by email.