REACTOR - I need help!!!

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

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

> 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. This is exactly what I had to do as well. Your video card should get first crack at IRQ, DMA, memory range and I/O range. Once you get that to work, then insert the other cards one at a time. You may have to use the Conflict Troubleshooter, or manually configure the cards in the Device Manager, but you can do it. 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

>...> 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) Try going to: http://www.ingr.com/ics/reactor/support.htm and dowloading the file called VGAFIX.ZIP Do what the Readme file says. - Mike Boich Rendition

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> 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. 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

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> > 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. > 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

Jason, 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

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> 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

Did I miss something? :-) What is the new info on the garbage band? I have this problem and am desparetly seeking solution. 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 | \===================================================/