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3dfx Voodoo 5500 AGP and the missing colors...

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First post, by bestemor

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Sorry for the newb question, but... was just playing around with this Abit KT7A mobo I randomly acquired, which has a universal AGP slot (2x/4x, 3.3V/1.5V, according to the manual).

When testing my AGP Voodoo 5500 video card in pure DOS(6.2), it took some time, but I then suddenly noticed that there were only grayscales(!) showing when in BIOS, during POST, texteditor, and even in the SpeedSys programme.... !
NO other visible colors at all, just black&white and their variants.

BUT things like playing Civilization(I) and Doom2 has full color spectrum as usual...

- What gives, is the card broken ??? 😲
<color me confuzed>

My pci TNT2 card works just fine (normal coloring) with exact same setup...

Reply 1 of 6, by bestemor

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PS: have dug out a second v5500 card to test, bios v 1.18 vs the first card's v 1.06.

Now this second card works just fine, color wise... so I assume it is either something wrong with the first card (memory chips?), or the bios is too 'old' (remaining bugs?).

--

And while I was at it, I dusted off an old PCI version as well (v1.15) . Works fine, colors in all the right places.

And it also seems to not have that (very) minor (but visible) color edge 'shivering'(?) on the big DOOM letters in the main game menu these first 2 cards have.
- AGP/mainboard related, or just specific card/memory problems I wonder...

Reply 2 of 6, by meljor

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Updating the bios might fix it?
But i would first test it on an Intel based board and see if it works. It might be a little incompatibility between the Via chipset and the older 3dfx bios?

asus tx97-e, 233mmx, voodoo1, s3 virge ,sb16
asus p5a, k6-3+ @ 550mhz, voodoo2 12mb sli, gf2 gts, awe32
asus p3b-f, p3-700, voodoo3 3500TV agp, awe64
asus tusl2-c, p3-S 1,4ghz, voodoo5 5500, live!
asus a7n8x DL, barton cpu, 6800ultra, Voodoo3 pci, audigy1

Reply 3 of 6, by Butler2679

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meljor wrote:

Updating the bios might fix it?
But i would first test it on an Intel based board and see if it works. It might be a little incompatibility between the Via chipset and the older 3dfx bios?

I reckon you should either test it with a Pentium 3 or 4. And make sure the mobo's bios are up to date.

Reply 4 of 6, by KT7AGuy

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I've used V5 5500 AGP and PCI cards in all revisions of ABIT KT7A boards. All displayed color just fine. I'm pretty sure I updated the firmware in all of those cards.

Reply 5 of 6, by meljor

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Butler2679 wrote:
meljor wrote:

Updating the bios might fix it?
But i would first test it on an Intel based board and see if it works. It might be a little incompatibility between the Via chipset and the older 3dfx bios?

I reckon you should either test it with a Pentium 3 or 4. And make sure the mobo's bios are up to date.

Not many p4 boards that support 3,3v agp...

asus tx97-e, 233mmx, voodoo1, s3 virge ,sb16
asus p5a, k6-3+ @ 550mhz, voodoo2 12mb sli, gf2 gts, awe32
asus p3b-f, p3-700, voodoo3 3500TV agp, awe64
asus tusl2-c, p3-S 1,4ghz, voodoo5 5500, live!
asus a7n8x DL, barton cpu, 6800ultra, Voodoo3 pci, audigy1

Reply 6 of 6, by Butler2679

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meljor wrote:
Butler2679 wrote:
meljor wrote:

Updating the bios might fix it?
But i would first test it on an Intel based board and see if it works. It might be a little incompatibility between the Via chipset and the older 3dfx bios?

I reckon you should either test it with a Pentium 3 or 4. And make sure the mobo's bios are up to date.

Not many p4 boards that support 3,3v agp...

Maybe not a P4 then. But a P3 would be a good test.

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