Wrong display driver in Windows 3.1? Start setup and change the driver to something that says it uses color. If the options are not available, you might need to find the driver for your graphics card.

^Yes and Since it's the 386SX model, running Windows for Workgroups 3.11 may also be an option.
It has an additional 256c SVGA driver that works with most video cards of its time.
(There are also pactched versions for virtual hardware floating around the net.)

However, running plain 3.1 is also fine (though WfW 3.11 has some nice extras such as an HDD cache).
There was an patch/update released by microsoft, which contained the same SVGA driver (forgot KB number).

See
http://sierrahelp.com/Patches-Updates/Patches … SVGAUpdate.html
http://win31.de/edrivers.htm

http://www.conradshome.com/win31/
http://www.scampers.org/steve/vmware/

That being said. using the "native" graphics driver would be even better.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure what on-board VGA the PC has got (maybe using MSD reveals a hint).

There was a package called vgadoc4 that contained many docs about VGAs, but it also contained a program that could identify which VGA chipset use your computer.

Maybe you should try it and get a compatible driver for your VGA.

(OTOH, I had a Trident VGA that sometimes detected my monitor as monochrome and worked in b&w until next reboot... perhaps there is a program or item in a .ini fileto tell your card that it should work in color)

Good idea, yes. Another thing that comes to mind - is Windows 3.1 really black-white or grayscale ?
If it's grayscale, there's a chance the problem is related to the monitor or more precisely, the VGA port (Pin 12 aka ID1, monochrome monitor sense).
IBM PS/2 8503 Monochrome VGA Monitor Help - Pinout

Edit: The reason for different behaviour (colour/graysacle) could be because one piece of software uses VGA BIOS,
whereas the other one simply accesses the VGA core directly..

Isn't there some way to add a like to the autoexec.bat to turn the color back on?

TimWolf wrote:

Isn't there some way to add a like to the autoexec.bat to turn the color back on?

Why don't you just try a different VGA driver? It's really not difficult to change, and as long as you use the generic drivers not much can go wrong as long as you don't exceed your card's capabilities.

Short instructions from my WfW manual:
1) In Windows, choose System Setup icon.
2) Options menu, Change System settings.
3) Change the driver.

Also, before that, check whether by accident you're not using a monochrome color scheme for Windows.

Try a color monitor! 😎

I'll be taking it apart again shortly to take some pictures of the video chipset and ram. I tried the drivers and either got poor results (scrambled video) or greyscale.

Hi, may I ask what type of monitor you're using ? 😀

bah who needs color these days?

Jo22 wrote:

Hi, may I ask what type of monitor you're using ? 😀

For testing purposes and portability a Dell 4:3 LCD. I did have full color from the install that was still working on the PC when I got it. It was only after re-installing that I lost the color. I didn't consider backing up the MAGNAVOX folder (Doh!) before formatting and redoing a clean install. It had a businesses financial information, payroll etc, and I wanted to destroy the data.

TimWolf wrote:

For testing purposes and portability a Dell 4:3 LCD. I did have full color from the install that was still working on the PC whe […]
Show full quote

Jo22 wrote:

Hi, may I ask what type of monitor you're using ? 😀

For testing purposes and portability a Dell 4:3 LCD. I did have full color from the install that was still working on the PC when I got it.
It was only after re-installing that I lost the color. I didn't consider backing up the MAGNAVOX folder (Doh!) before formatting and redoing a clean install.
It had a businesses financial information, payroll etc, and I wanted to destroy the data.

Okay, I see. So the Windows standard VGA driver isn't working. Did you also try "VGA (Version 3)" already ?
If that doesn't work either, there's a driver package for this computer series at a page called vetursware, I believe..
Maybe it contains what you need (since I don't know what on-board VGA is installed, I can't give any better tips yet).

If that still doesn't work, you could also try to remove the pin on the VGA cable that goes to VGA pin 12.
But if the cable is "hardwired" to the monitor, please use an extension cable or make an 1:1 adapter (carrying R,G,B, GND, H, V).
Because on a Monochrome VGA monitor, that pin is connected to ground, which turns on grayscale mode (for programs using VGA BIOS to draw graphics).
On a modern LCD, this pin is repurposed for Serial Data (used by DDC), so the old VGA card could get confused by the state of this pin, tbus enabling grayscale mode by accident.

Edit: Minor edit (typo fixed).

I’ve used the EGA driver on Windows 3.1 ,
If you use that and still get grayscale it’s the monitor sense pin causing trouble

As I said, get vgadoc4b.zip and run whatvga.exe. Are you using the right drivers for that chipset?