VOGONS


Reply 20 of 27, by keropi

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thanks for the dump AvalonH !!!
I've been searching for a BIOS image for quite some time now! Did you happen to still have the 1.07 BIOS files you downloaded?

Your BIOS chip is a UV EPROM one, it can be written again but needs erasing first.

edit:
now that I had a version number I was able to find the 1.07 rom updates 😊
I am attaching them here - not sure what's the difference between H and U versions though.

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 21 of 27, by AvalonH

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I contacted Diamond using their fax system in 1995 and they sent me both updated bios chips in the post (which I though was odd) with a note. I lost both the chips over the years but still have the note.

It says to replace the bios using the (h) version if your Vision964 chip was made in Korea or the (u) version if it was made in Taiwan. Sadly it didn't state what the new bios updates or fixes. Hopefully it added VBE2.0 support.
I might actually get around now to updating from bios 1.05h.

Reply 22 of 27, by keropi

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Wow I would have never guessed that , thanks for that extra info!
I ordered a 964 chip that is made in Korea so it's H for me - I would have used the U version tbh as I was thinking it had something to do with US charsets...
If you don't have the means to write a 1.07 bios pm me - I will send you one 😀

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 23 of 27, by keropi

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I thought this thread needed some closure - the new 964 chip arrived, I burned bios 1.07H and....

Mgt7gy5l.jpg

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works 😁
It was also the first time I soldered a pqfp 208 pin package and I am very pleased with the result - taking into account this was soldered by hand as I don't have a working hot-air station atm

78Noovjl.jpg

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thanks all for your help! 😊

one annoying thing: there is no blue Diamond info screen on boot - both 1.05 and 1.07 bios lack this... 😵

🎵 🎧 PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Action Rewind , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website

Reply 24 of 27, by Predator99

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Wow - excellent work!! What soldering iron did you use? Did you solder all pins at once or one after one?

Reply 26 of 27, by gdjacobs

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I really think those inexpensive clone T12/T15 irons are awesome!

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 27 of 27, by 8bitbubsy

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AvalonH wrote:

On Diamonds old website I downloaded a later 1.07H and 1.07U Bios for this card.

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but do you happen to have the URL for the page with Diamond VGA BIOS ROMs, so that I can use it with wayback machine? I'm looking for some BIOS ROMs for certain Stealth 64 Video VRAM PCI (aka. Stealth64 Video 3000) cards.

EDIT: I actually found the latest BIOS for both versions of my card here: http://edv-janssen.synology.me/diamond/driver … v3xx0/files.htm

386:
- CPU: 386DX-40 (128kB external L1 cache)
- RAM: 8MB (0 waitstates at 40MHz)
- VGA: Diamond SpeedSTAR VGA (ET4000AX 1MB ISA)
- Audio: SB Pro 2.0 + GUS 1MB
- ISA PS/2 mouse card + ISA USB card
- MS-DOS 6.22 + Win 3.1
- MR BIOS