Expert Play 3000 AGP card's compatible issue with motherboards.
The Expert Play 3000 AGP card powered by S3 Savage IX (298) graphics chip, S3 Savage IX chip does not support 1.5V signaling. At the time this product was designed (1998-99 timeframe)Therefore, this VGA card designs which used the SavageIX chip ONLY used 3.3V signal, which therefore limits the AGP transfer rate to AGP2X only. For example, we can see from the Intel chipset both the i845 and i850 ONLY support 1.5V signaling on the AGP interface. The input line buffers on the i845 and i850 chips are NOT 3.3V tolerant. The AGP connectors on these motherboards WILL ALWAYS BE 1.5V TYPE connectors, to prevent insertion of AGP 3.3V cards. So, we cannot insert this VGA card (which are 3.3V only cards) into the AGP connectors on 845 and 850 motherboards or another chipsets (third party providers, ex, SIS, VIA, ALI) that only support 1.5V signaling on the AGP interface.
The system doesn't boot when it's turned on, there is no display, and there is a double rapid PC beeps at start.
This probably means that your new display adapter isn't correctly seated in the PCI or AGP or PCI-e slot. Try the following:
1. Turn off your PC.
2. Remove your new Apollo display adapter from the PCI or AGP slot and reseat it. The card should fit into the bus slot perfectly, without extra “fingers” that do not match the slot
3. Re-attach the monitor cable to your Apollo card and turn on the PC's power. If the problem persists, repeat step 2
4. If you have another PC available, you may wish to try installing the display adapter in another PC before calling Apollo. This will help narrow down the cause of the problem.
The system appears to boot normally when it's turned on but there is no display on the monitor.
This probably means that your monitor isn't operating, or isn't connected to the display adapter correctly. Try the following:
1. While the PC is still on, make sure that the monitor is plugged into an electrical outlet and is turned on.
2. Turn off your PC. Reattach the monitor's video cable to your display adapter. This helps rule out the possibility of a loose connection between the display adapter and the monitor. Verify that the display adapter is still tightly seated in its bus slot.
3. Turn on power to your PC. If the problem still occurs, take another look at the monitor. Many monitors have an indicator or display that tells you whether or not the monitor is receiving a video signal from the display adapter. This information will help if you have to contact Apollo.
4. If possible, remove the Apollo card and reinstall your old display adapter to verify that the monitor works correctly with the old display adapter.
An application doesn't display correctly or behaves erratically after Apollo display drivers were installed.
This might indicate a problem with our display driver, or a hardware compatibility issue. To narrow down the cause of the problem, try the following:
1. Temporarily switch to the standard VGA driver. Your PC will operate in a low-resolution environment and you won't have accelerated display performance, but this is a good way to see if the problem is related to the display driver.
2. Check our web site to see if an updated display driver has been made available for your product.
3. Enter your motherboards CMOS setup, (Press [CTRL]-[Alt]-[Del] during Power-On-Self-Test) and load “Fail-safe settings” Consult the user manual of your motherboard to learn how to do this.
4. Most AGP based display adapters require their own hardware interrupt. On most motherboards however, this feature is not enabled by default. Consult the user manual of your motherboard to learn how to make these changes.
5. On most motherboards, the first PCI slot, the one to the left of the AGP slot, shares one hardware interrupt with the AGP slot. The hardware interrupt on this PCI slot is hard-wired and can't be changed. Make sure not to place any PCI card right beside the AGP slot.
6. If the problem still occurs, you may need to contact Apollo.
The Apollo display adapter does not run in AGP 4x mode, even though both display adapter and motherboard are AGP 4x enabled. It runs in AGP 2x mode instead.
This indicates that either the AGP driver (VGARDT.VXD) may need to be updated, or a setting in your motherboards CMOS setup needs to be changed.
1. Enter your motherboard's CMOS setup, (Press [CTRL]-[Alt]-[Del] during Power-On-Self-Test). Select “Advanced Chip Set Settings”. Locate the AGP section and select AGP 4x. Save your settings and reboot the system. Consult the user manual of your motherboard to learn how to do this.
2. Contact your motherboard manufacturer and inquire for an AGP driver for your particular motherboard. If you have an AGP 4x based motherboard with a VIA chip set for instance, you may need to re-install the 4-in-1 drivers that shipped with your motherboard to take full advantage of AGP 4x and the high performance of your Apollo display adapter.
3. Load Microsoft's web based update service to verify if there is perhaps an updated AGP driver for your motherboard.
The system appears to boot normally when it's turned on. The monitor comes on, shows the Power On Self Test. The moment Windows' desktop is starts, the monitor turns off or shows a message “Out of Range”.
This indicates that you (or Windows) chose a resolution and/or refresh rate, that the monitor is not capable of handling. This is known to happen on a few occasions where Windows 98, Windows 98SE or Windows ME installs a “Default Monitor” after installing display drivers
Turn off your computer and turn it back on again. Immediately press the [F5] key and keep it pressed until Windows has finished loading the desktop. Windows is now loaded in “Safe mode”. Right – click on Windows' desktop and open the “Display Properties” - “Settings” applet. Click on “Apply” and reboot Windows. Windows will now start normal, but with 16 colors. Again, open your “Display Properties” - “Settings” applet, change the color depth and the resolution. Click on “Apply” and Windows will restart for a second time. Now Windows will come up normally. You can now proceed to select the correct monitor type on the advanced “Display Properties” - “Monitor” applet.
Windows will not allow the display of its desktop on a television.
This usually indicates that Plug&Play was unable to detect an attached S-Video or composite video cable due to excessive cable length, a broken cable or a poor connection..
1. Try re-booting your computer with video cables attached to both television and display adapter.
2. Try changing to a shorter video cable. A video cable should not exceed 6ft (2m)
3. Try using “Professional”-grade video cables. They are more expensive, but well worth the effort.
4. If you need to use a longer cable, you must use a video amplifier or repeater-box to compensate for signal loss over distance.
Windows will allow displaying its desktop on a television, but in poor quality or only in black and white.
This indicates that either you are using the wrong cable for your television, or the wrong “Television Standard” has been selected for output to your television.
1. In Window's “Display Properties”, change to “Output Device” in the “Advanced Settings” Tabs. Click on the “Change Format” button to choose the TV Standard of your country. The default setting is “United States - NTSC “
2. In Window's “Display Properties”, change to “Output Device” in the “Advanced Settings” Tabs. Click on the “Format” button to choose the cable that connects your computer with your TV
3. If your picture comes in color, but is blurry, your video cable may be too long, or is of poor grade. Try using a shorter cable. For best possible quality, try using a high grade S-Video cable instead of a composite cable.
4. Perhaps you are using an S-Video cable connected to a SCART (EURO A/V) adapter on a television that does not support S-Video. Try using a Composite Video cable instead.
5. Perhaps you are using an S-Video cable connected to a SCART (EURO A/V) adapter on a professional –type television. Please consult the owner's manual of your television to set-up the television's SCART interface correctly.
Windows will allow displaying its desktop on a television, but not on a VGA monitor simultaneously. This is not an error: Only a very few display adapters, such as NVIDIA's GeForce2 MX based display adapters will support simultaneous display on both Television and a VGA Monitor.
If you have a GeForce2 MX based Apollo display adapter, open Window's “Display Properties” “Settings” – applet, choose a resolution of 800x600 or 640x480 and click on “Apply”. Then click on the “Advanced…” button and select the “TwinView” tab. Choose the “Clone Desktop” feature and click on “Apply”
Windows will allow displaying its desktop on a television, but DVD playback is not possible.
This is not an error: Today, most DVDs are “Macrovision” (MV7) protected. Any DVD software decoder will detect the MV7 protection key on your DVD, and it will then determine via Plug&Play, if a television set is connected to your display adapter. If both cases are true, the DVD decoder software must be stopped from operating. This is done to protect the film industry from piracy. Theoretically you could connect any VCR instead of your television to your display adapter – neither the DVD decoder, nor Plug&Play would know the difference!
If you insist to display your DVD on a commercial television set, you should buy a regular DVD player. You can also obtain a VGA scan converter to connect your VGA card to a television via S-Video. Please be advised that Apollo does not sell scan converters, nor does Apollo condone the illegal reproduction of copyrighted material, and therefore will disclaim any responsibilities and liabilities in the event of misuse.
Two monitors are connected to a Apollo TwinView display adapter, but it is impossible to get the second monitor working.
This behavior indicates, that either the primary monitor or the secondary monitor, or both monitors together, do not comply with the DDC2a or DDC2b standard. The DDC2a/b standard is a Plug&Play definition, which amongst others, clearly defines power saving properties. Windows based operating systems can only use one power management standard. To prevent serious damage to any non-DDC2 compliant monitor, the TwinView feature is disabled in the display driver. (The DDC2 issue is a mandatory requirement from Microsoft to pass the “Windows Hardware Quality Labs” (WHQL) certification.
1. If nothing helps, get a DDC2 compliant monitor.
2. Verify your user manuals of both monitors. Some newer monitors can be configured to become DDC2 compliant via the monitor's OSD – Setup (On Screen Display Setup). This software is built into some monitors.
3. Try switching the primary and secondary monitors to determine if this is a workable solution.
Two monitors and a television set are connected to a Apollo TwinView display adapter. It is impossible to enable the television while both monitors are active.
This behavior is correct. It is not possible to share the second VGA output with TV-Out.
Open “Display Properties” and change to the “Settings” tab. Right-click on Monitor 2 - icon and select “Disable” from the menu. Click on the “Apply” button to have the changes take effect. Now click on the “Advanced…” button, and then on the “Output Device” tab. Click on TV and then on the “Apply” button. Your TV will now display a picture.
Some more notes about using Televisions with VGA cards
Most Apollo display adapters ship with a TV-Out connector, or a VIVO (Video In / Video Out) connector. This feature is useful for business presentations, or, if you would like to integrate your computer as a part of your home entertainment system. Please keep in mind that your television is not at all designed to display a high-resolution image. Here are some facts about television technology that will help explain the situation:
A typical television broadcast resolution is 720 x 540 pixels for NTSC, and 720 x 576 pixels for PAL
Televisions display their picture at a low refresh rate: 30Hz for NTSC and 25Hz for PAL.
The method to display a broadcast picture on a television is by using “overscan”. This means that the actual size of the broadcast picture is larger than the size of the television tube. By doing so, television manufacturers and TV stations do not need to worry about precisely centering the picture they are transmitting / displaying.
A video signal has a line frequency of only 15.675 KHz. (A standard VGA signal has at least 31.5 KHz!)
Due to their low refresh rates, televisions are not designed for still pictures.
Taking all these facts into account, you may expect the video signal coming from your VGA card appear slightly out of center, leaving a border, flicker, and perhaps not be the sharpest, especially when you compare this directly with the image displayed on your VGA monitor. In other words, the picture will just be as good as the media it is being displayed on.
This is why it is not recommended to use a television to do word processing or other applications that may require high resolutions and a flicker-free picture.
Televisions are interesting when they are used for large screen gaming, or playing movies using a computer. Because TVs are designed to display moving pictures, the low refresh rate and the not-so-sharp picture become unnoticeable. |
