S3 Trio64V2/DX: Washed out blacks \ VOGONS

S3 Trio64V2/DX: Washed out blacks

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First post, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-11-17, 08:04

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I installed an S3 Trio64V2/DX (Model No SST-2065/75, no information on brand on the PCB) in my P133 PC for DOS compatibility but my god does it have holy pants Batman gray blacks..

I know this is a documented issue, but I can't seem to figure out the best way to fix this. Is there a BIOS out there that I can safely flash onto the card to fix it? Can the flash be done via DOS and not a BIOS flasher device? For reference, the card I have is below:

I also happen to have this regular S3 Trio64 by Surf media, but I refrained from using it because it's an older model and 1MB only. Maybe I should just use this? I can just pull the extra RAM from one card and move it to the other, now that I have the tools for that.

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Reply 1 of 10, by keropi

Posted on 2017-11-17, 08:41

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look here: Re: S3 AGP Cards (and possibly others) Too Bright

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Reply 2 of 10, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-11-17, 08:58

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keropi wrote:
look here: Re: S3 AGP Cards (and possibly others) Too Bright

Thanks! That haleps with obtaining BIOS images I hope will be helpful, but how to flash them onto the card without an external device?

Failing this, I guess I can just use the S3BRIGHT.ZIP posted in the thread and run it in autoexec.bat?

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 3 of 10, by keropi

Posted on 2017-11-17, 09:34

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you will need a programmer to flash the images - but s3bright in autoexec.bat will work just as good for DOS

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Reply 4 of 10, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-11-17, 10:56

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keropi wrote:
you will need a programmer to flash the images - but s3bright in autoexec.bat will work just as good for DOS

Oh.. No programmer, so I'll have to make do with the S3BRIGHT.

It's a non-issue in Windows 95 onwards I suppose, with color profiles and whatnot?

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 5 of 10, by gdjacobs

Posted on 2017-11-18, 02:10

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If the ROM falls within the addressing limits of the hardware, you can use Realtek or 3com PCI ethernet cards to flash with.

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Reply 6 of 10, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-11-18, 07:40

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gdjacobs wrote:
If the ROM falls within the addressing limits of the hardware, you can use Realtek or 3com PCI ethernet cards to flash with.

Can you kindly explain the process?

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 7 of 10, by gdjacobs

Posted on 2017-11-18, 19:27

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These appear to be standard 28 pin option ROMs (not 32 pin like your BIOS), so they're pin compatible with most network card EEPROM sockets. The usual big caveats are an address space limitation, usually of 64kb, and limitation of programming voltage to 5V, so you have to check to make sure the flash chip is compatible.

Beyond that, just use a tool like UNIFLASH or FLASHROM to load the chip.

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Reply 8 of 10, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-11-19, 04:39

appiah4 Offline

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Oh I see. The 3Com adapter I have is not socketed though.

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 9 of 10, by appiah4

Posted on 2017-12-29, 08:15

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Sorry for the thread necromancy but when I run S3BRIGHT in real DOS I get an incorrect MS-DOS version error?

Retronautics: A digital gallery of my retro computers, hardware and projects.

Reply 10 of 10, by villeneuve

Posted on 2021-05-19, 13:42

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An old question, but I thought it would still be useful for others visiting this thread to link the answer here:
The solution should be this: Re: S3 AGP Cards (and possibly others) Too Bright

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