STB Powergraph C33 Card Only Displaying Black & White? \ VOGONS

STB Powergraph C33 Card Only Displaying Black & White?

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First post, by Tempest

Posted on 2024-11-04, 20:50

Tempest Offline

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I have a STB Powergraph C33 card that came with my Gateway 4DX2-66V. The problem is that it seems to be only displaying B&W. It's not that the colors aren't showing up, but the card itself seems to be reporting that it's a B&W only card (I had a game tell me that it couldn't run because it requires color). I'm assuming the problem is either the jumper settings or the VGA cable isn't detecting it correctly (I think there's a pin that does that). The card looks exactly like the one in this picture and the jumpers are in the same positions too so I'm assuming these are the defaults. I can't seem to find a list of what the jumpers do though. Any ideas?

EDIT: I found a page about the jumpers (http://www.uncreativelabs.de/th99/v/S-T/53207.htm) and mine seem to be set correctly.

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Reply 1 of 5, by Tempest

Posted on 2024-11-05, 15:06

Tempest Offline

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I had one other ISA VGA card floating around (a ZyMOS Poach 51) which worked and showed color (although I got a graphics card beep code error for some reason). So the problem doesn't appear to be with my BIOS or motherboard, but with the card itself.

I'm honestly not wedded to this card, it just happened to come with the system. If I can't figure out what's wrong with this one can someone recommend a decently priced VGA card substitute for a 486?

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Reply 2 of 5, by Tempest

Posted on 2024-11-05, 17:24

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The COLORON.COM file from this post fixed my issue. Can someone tell me exactly how it fixed my issue and if there are going to be any problems with games in the future?

Re: Investigating old ISA VGA cards

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Reply 3 of 5, by TheMobRules

Posted on 2024-11-06, 00:06

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I had the same problem with a Trident ISA card. The cause of the issue is as follows: originally, pin 12 on the VGA connector, also known as ID1, was originally used by the card to detect the type of monitor connected to it. Color monitors left this pin unconnected and the card would work in the default color mode, while monochrome monitors would ground the pin causing the card to switch to B/W mode.

However, on more modern (PnP) monitors and card this pin had a different purpose as the Serial Data Line for the DDC protocol which is used by the monitor to communicate the supported video modes and other parameters to the card. So, connecting an older VGA card to a newer monitor can result in the card activating the B/W mode. As you found out, you can switch back to color mode with the proper utility. Another option is to use a VGA adapter cable between the card and the monitor with the pin 12 removed (or just remove the pin from the monitor cable, although this is a bit too permanent and could affect PnP behavior if you also use the monitor with newer cards).

By the way, the WD chip on that card is one of the fastest and more compatible ones for DOS games, so I'd suggest to keep the card.

Reply 4 of 5, by Tempest

Posted on 2024-11-06, 14:05

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Is having to use this utility going to cause any problems with games? I could put a little adapter between the cable and the card and remove that pin if thats a better solution.

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Reply 5 of 5, by konc

Posted on 2024-11-06, 14:09

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Tempest wrote on 2024-11-06, 14:05:

Is having to use this utility going to cause any problems with games? I could put a little adapter between the cable and the card and remove that pin if thats a better solution.

No don't worry, you can put it in autoexec. It doesn't cause anything unwanted.

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