f36608s@puukko.hut.fi (Erik Bunn) (11/14/90)
I'll sum up my experience with Trident super-VGA cards: When I bought my computer, I said that I want 640x480x256 capability. The shop provided me with a Trident-based board (don't know the name) with 512 kb of memory. It worked fine with all 16 color modes up to 1024x768. But in any 256 color mode, my multisync monitor would just sync out. Nothing on the display. (A NEC 3D showed rubbish.) I stayed quiet for a while, waiting for the promised new drivers to come out. Finally, a couple of days ago, I realized that NOTHING worked in 256 color modes, went to the store, and demanded another board. The tech guy took one look at the board and said that it doesn't have the right frequency clock. He went downstairs, took out a new board, put in 256 kb more mem, no hassle. At home I tested the card: first I had to change the jumper settings for 512 kb. Now all other modes worked fine except 1024x768x16 (noise on screen - out of frequency). The solution: set the jumper from the 40 MHz clock to the 48 MHz one. Now 1024x768 works fine, but 800x600x256 gives similar, but milder noise. Oh, the new board is based on the Trident 8900 chip. To check which board you have, take it out and take a close look: - does it have two clocks, 40 and 48 MHz, near the lower left edge? If it does, it is the later type. If not... - How many memory chip slots does it have? The older one required 8, the newer on uses 2 for 512 kb. So the older board will NOT work in 256 color modes, whatever you try. If you have a personal dealer, you might want to contact him and discuss a trade-in. Mine was free, since they didn't give me what they promised. Last: has anyone found a fix for the 800x600x256 mode? I've tested it only with cshow 8.2 something, using the T5 driver for Trident 8900. Erik Bunn I f36608s@puukko.hut.fi (Internet) I "You see, I missed her