Where do I look to get all the colors back

looking at this BBS right now looks like half the colors missing. The highest lever I can get now is 16 colors whereas I used to have 16 million colors. A nudge in the right direction would sure be appreciated but not mandatory.
Now to see if I'm learning anything or retaining anything (CRS at my age) I would think it has something to do with the drivers. yes/no
There are a few more bugs I'm trying to work out but hopefully without bugging everyone here.
old subguy

 

Hi again

BBS sure looks awful in dithered 16 colour mode

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yes, probably a driver thing - but first off: if Windows is running in Safe Mode, you won't get more than 16 colours whatever you do

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your first port of call is probably Device Manager (right-click the "My Computer" icon on your desktop, choose "Properties ", go to the Device Manager tab and view "by Type" is the easiest

look for yellow exclamation marks or red crosses on the entries for Display Adapters [example]

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pls post back if you see any such - and it would also be helpful if you could let us know what display adapter you are using - thanks

best wishes, HJ

 

no yellow explanation marks or red X's. I've got ENVISION-EN-710
standard PCI graphics adaptor [VGA]
I did notice a box that said to upgrade driver but was leary of clicking it.
Can't open PSP either because you have to have at least 256 colors.
old subguy

 

Yes, it is a driver thing. Right now, your system is running a default driver [Standard VGA Driver] so you can see what you are doing.
There are three different ways to identify the video card.
1. Download Everest Home Edition, this program will identify your hardware.

2.However, if all it shows for it is the VGA driver, there is this method.
Open a command prompt window, and do this command.
debug
The prompt will change to a - at this point, then enter this in, those are zero's.
d c000:0040
You will now see a bunch of pairs of letters and numbers. To the far right will be a column with text, your video card is spelled out for you in a confusing sort of way.
Enter in Q to exit.

3. Take apart computer, and look at the video card for a name on or near the main processor. There may be a label, or a FCC ID printed on the card.

Edit: The ENVISION-EN-710 you have posted is your monitor. The standard PCI adaptor you have posted is your video card, without the correct drivers.

 

well I found what i think you want to know.

AGP - ATI 3D Rage II 8MB ser# 53956 C-Gate 10/4/00

 

good work on identifying the card

one more "safety check" perhaps - using device manager as before, pls could you see if you can find any "unidentified devices" listed (probably just at the bottom of the list - but you can expand with the little + boxes)

...at the same time keeping a lookout for any other problem yellow or red marks - if you see any, post back the details...

(sorry should have put that earlier!)

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if Broom Hilda's been kind to you she will have left the drivers you need somewhere on the machine - or perhaps on a CD? - otherwise it will mean downloading them

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I must away for a while - Good Luck! and best wishes, HJ

 

I think the one you need is probably W82420EN.EXE so it might be worth using file finder to search your hard drive(s) for this filename

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I hope this link is correct! (somebody pls. jump on me (gently!) if not)

ATI RAGE / RAGEII driver page - scroll down to find Windows9x...

(if it's that one it's only ~2.5 MB so no big deal to download)

(some video drivers are huge...)

==

best wishes, HJ

 

The driver page looks good to me. The link below is the download page for what you need.
http://mirror.ati.com/support/drivers/win98/win984102420.html
BTW, you may see the note about 'Certain fonts may appear blocky or corrupt after installing this driver on some systems', I think it is unlikely it will affect you. It seems to bother Win95 with Plus! installed.

 

Well I couldn't find anything resembling what you listed so I went to the support page and this is what greeted me! Neat! Now what? I could barely read it because of the characters were so broken up.




OpenGL support is NOT available for RAGE II/II+ products in Windows 98 or Windows 95.

At present, ATI has no plans to make an OpenGL driver for Windows 98 or Windows 95 that is compatible with the RAGE II/II+.

RAGE II/II+ owners in North America who require OpenGL support for Windows 98 or Windows 95 may wish to consider upgrading to a current ATI product through the ATI Trade Up Program.

If you require any additional information regarding Windows 98/95 OpenGL support for RAGE II/II+ products, please contact our Sales Support Staff.

 

The driver page looks good to me. The link below is the download page for what you need.
http://mirror.ati.com/support/drive...n984102420.html
BTW, you may see the note about 'Certain fonts may appear blocky or corrupt after installing this driver on some systems', I think it is unlikely it will affect you. It seems to bother Win95 with Plus! installed.


I downloadedthe file to winzip folder. Now when I open it where do I put it?

 

part 1:
(unpacks the file you downloaded)

- reboot computer (just get Windows running, don't start up any programs);
(if any programs have started up automatically, close them)
- Start > Run;
- using the "Browse" button, navigate yourself to the directory where w82420en.exe was saved;
- Select w82420en.exe and click OK to run it;
- follow the on-screen instructions...

this will unpack files from w82420en.exe into a folder which you can choose, the default directory is C:\ati\support\w82420en


part 2:
(having unpacked the package, now you install the driver)

- again, ensure no other programs are running;
- Start > Run;
- using the "Browse" button, navigate yourself to the directory where the files unpacked to;
- Select setup.exe and click OK to run it;
- follow the instructions displayed in the help.

(it may take a minute before things start to happen, the setup scans your machine quite a bit first to determine your settings before the installation begins "for real ")

when it's all over, reboot and see how many colours you can find

Good Luck and best wishes, HJ.

 

part 2:
(having unpacked the package, now you install the driver)

- again, ensure no other programs are running;
- Start > Run;
- using the "Browse" button, navigate yourself to the directory where the files unpacked to;
- Select setup.exe and click OK to run it;
- follow the instructions displayed in the help.


sorry for the delay but I had to spend some time horizontal for a couple days. **** reaction to new meds B U T back to business at hand here. . .
I did the setup.exe and a window came up saying a newer version was detected did I want to continue and of course I said no so I went looking and damned if I can find anything except may an ATI (**** I can't find where I wrote it down now) so confusion set in and i had to stop again. what would a newer version look like?
old subguy

 

Hi again

no worries about the delay - you are more important than the computer, no matter how many colours it's got...

hmmm, a newer version of the driver? already on the system... I think you did right to say "no "...

...it's no big surprise that there's a driver already there. What is a bit perturbing is that it's newer than the one you obtained from the "horse's mouth ".

==

Could you pls. try: using Windows Explorer, navigate to the folder C:\WINDOWS\INF\OTHER

This folder is where Windows keeps the setup info files for your plugin cards - modem, graphics card, sound card, that sort of thing... printers too, it's the "bolt-on" bits for your system

You will probably be able to tell which is which from the filenames - at least I hope so!

(setup info files are *.INF so with luck you will find RAGE.INF or ATI.INF, something along those lines...)

If you can see a file which looks like it's the right one for the graphics card, post back with the date and time showing for that file...

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now, I'd like you to navigate to the folder which the files unpacked to in step1, the folder the setup.exe file ended up in (C:\ati\support\w82420en perhaps)

have a look in this folder for an INF file with the same name as above, if you can find it we need to know the date and time again...

==

there's a couple of ways we could use these details, depending upon what you find...

good luck and best wishes, HJ.

 

in case anyone's getting confused (I did!)

ATI seem to have reorganised their site a bit since the links were posted earlier this thread...

...you can still get to the download, it's just a bit more round-the-houses



HJ.

 

Hi again

if you can't find ATI.INF, or RAGE.INF or anything nice and easy like that, try looking for:

MACXW4.INF

failing that, try

ATITUNEP.INF
ATITVSND.INF
ATIXBAR.INF
BT829.INF

serves me right for thinking they might have made it easy...

best wishes, HJ.