rec.autos.simulators

First my machine:  P-100 (Intel), 16mbRAM, 17" MAG Innovision.

I was running Diamond Stealth 64 w/2mb VRAM.  

Per the enclosed instructions, I powered down.  Removed old vid card.
Inserted new vid card.  Powered up.  Win95 recognized the PnP card as new
hardware and then began to install software.  Used disk w/drivers that
came with card.  Win95 copied the Verite files then as it started to start
up again the mouse locks up and a small vertical line 1/4 " clicks
(audibly) on the right hand portion of the windows wall paper.

Tech support said to 1) Disable VGA Buffering
                              2) Download the latest WIN95 drivers
                              3) Delete previous Vid drivers (S3)

I did all of these including re-installed WIN95.  Gets to the same point
and locks up, mouse disappears, and that vertical   |    line appears on
the screen.  

If anyone has any clue on what I may try as my next move - please post

14 days are ticking away and I'd like to keep it.  I intend to keep trying
tech support but that 7:00 am to 7:00 pm CST is kind of tough while
working.

Thanks for any help,

Andrew

I've suggested this before, but I have no idea if it will help in your
situation.  A lot of the problems associated with the Reactor (or any
of the Rendition cards for that matter) seem to be BIOS related.  Try
upgrading your motherboard BIOS with the latest revision.  Heck, even
if it doesn't help it's still something you should do anyway.

--

Emory University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Nascar Setups Page: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~ebusch/

I had a seriously hard time getting it to work as well.  What worked in the
end, was I removed every card except for the reactor, and started fresh.
It worked first time.  Then I just put the cards back in and all is well.  

What I found out later, is that the Rendition was causing a IRQ conflict
with something in my system.  Most probably was the soundcard.  Couldn't
tell which one because it would not boot that far until I removed all the
other cards.

Something to try, anyway.

Robert

Now, getting the Reactor to work in DOS mode is a different story.  I
still can't run indyfast.  indysafe works fine.  Wow! what a
difference.  You can see windows on buildings 10 miles away! Wow! I
digress....
dmadiag.exe says that my computer can't use dma video transfers, BUZZZ!
wrong answer, it should be able to.  VQUAKE won't use DMA either.  A
BIOS upgrade may fix my problem.

As for BIOS reprogramming.  CAUTION!!!  This is not for the computer
novice.  I've used, programmed, and configured PCs for over 10 years and
I am apprehensive about flash BIOS programming.  If your system goes
down in the middle of the BIOS upgrade, you can kiss that BIOS goodbye.
The only way to fix the problem is to buy a new BIOS chip.  They are
cheap, but it will take you several days to get one.

David Martin

 - Mike Boich
Rendition

Blah.

BTW, last week I mentioned that Sierra tech support told me that their
Rendition card could run indyfast just fine. I mentioned it to Intergraph
who told me they didn't believe it. I've been after Sierra since trying to
get some kind of confirmation, and I have yet to hear word one from them.
So I think my original info might have been incorrect. Anyone have more
info about this?

Intergraph's got three more days before the card goes back...

Jason

Following some great advice from this newsgroup I removed my sound card
(AWE) and used WIN95 to identify my new Reactor card.  No problem.  Then
re-installed the sound card.  No problem.  Great advice!!!!

Now, I may have some new info on the 2" band of graphic garbage while in
DOS mode in INDY2.  

I love computers :)

Andrew

Intergraph told me they were working on Cyrix problem and they would get
back to me.  The have not done so.  They also told me it was a Papyrus
problem.  It is not.  The best info I have come up with is that some
Cyrix systems will "emulate" DMA mode, but it will be SLOW compared to
Intel.  Some Cyrix systems will not allow DMA mode at all.  I recently
yanked my intergraph card (dispute over $200.00 price) and stuck it back
in its box, then ordered an ET-6000 which will give incredible speed
with my Cyrix system even if it isn't pretty.  When 166 meg pentiums get
down to 200 bucks, I'll drag out the Rendition card and give it a whirl,
but for now, I know of NO Cyrix system that will run DMA properly.

Roger Alexander

Thanks in advance.

Tony Joy

:>> Now, getting the Reactor to work in DOS mode is a different story.  I
:>> still can't run indyfast.  indysafe works fine.  Wow! what a
:>> difference.  You can see windows on buildings 10 miles away! Wow! I
:>> digress....
:>> dmadiag.exe says that my computer can't use dma video transfers, BUZZZ!
:>> wrong answer, it should be able to.  VQUAKE won't use DMA either.  A
:>> BIOS upgrade may fix my problem.
:>
:>I'm still having the same problems as well...I would have expected my
:>state-of-the-art 75MHz MB to be able handle DMA, but I guess not. I'm
:>still having a hard time understanding *where* the problem is: is it
:>the Rendition driver? the Reactor card? the motherboard? the cyrix?
:>If I get a VooDoo card instead, will I have the same problems? I have
:>even bigger problems with IndyCar: indyfast won't run, so I try to run
:>indysafe, which won't run because I have emm386 loaded for my soundcard
:>drivers. Which means no ICR2, no NASCAR2 for me unless they get this fixed.
:>

I made a boot disk with NO MEMORY MANAGER.  It simply loads all of the drivers
into low memory.  The drivers I load are the bare minimum to get sound, mouse,
and storage device access (I run a completely SCSI-based system).

Next, to get INDYFAST to run, I do a HARD RESET on the system and let my boot
disk startup the machine.  At this point, ICR2 runs just fine.  

Give this a try and see how it works out.

/===================================================\
| John Simmons (Redneck Techno-Biker)               |

| http://www2.connectnet.com/users/jms/index.html   |
\===================================================/