SVGAHELP.TXT - last revised 09/02/93 You are most likely reading this file because your system did not respond to VESA Super VGA Video BIOS Extensions (VBE) requests made by the installation program. Don't panic! Problems such as yours are often easy to fix (e.g. you haven't loaded the VESA driver for your video card). This file contains information which can help you get up and running. This program requires a Super VGA (SVGA) card which complies with the VESA SVGA Video BIOS Extensions (VBE), version 1.2, and which is capable of displaying 640x480 pixels in 256 colors (VBE video mode 101 hex). This program has been tested on VESA VBE-compatible video cards, and is known to work correctly with a compliant system. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. What are the VESA Super VGA Video BIOS Extensions? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are a vast number of SVGA video boards on the market. Because there was no existing standard when the first SVGA boards became available, each manufacturer chose different ways of controlling the additional video modes that SVGA offers. This means that a program would need to determine which SVGA board was in use, and make the correct calls to the video hardware for that board. The VBE is a standard which allows software developers to support one method for controlling SVGA video modes that will run on a wide variety of cards. Many new SVGA cards support the VBE directly on-board. For older SVGA cards, manufacturers have developed Terminate-and-Stay-Resident (TSR) programs which map the standard VBE requests into the specific commands required for their particular SVGA chip set. NOTE: some manufacturers refer to this TSR program as a "VESA driver." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Where can I find a TSR for my video board? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first place to look for a TSR is on a utilities diskette in the box containing your SVGA card. It will most likely have a name like VESA.COM or VESA.EXE. Sometimes there will be some additional characters in the name. For example, the TSR for SVGA cards based on the Tseng Labs chip set is often called TLIVESA.COM. If you purchased a system that was pre-configured, chances are that the file is in a directory on your hard drive. Type the following command at the DOS prompt: DIR C:\ /S | FIND "VESA" to locate any files with "VESA" in their name. If you have the Norton Utilities, the File Find utility can be used for this same purpose. (NOTE: the /S parameter of the DIR command is only available under DOS 5.0 or higher [required for this product]). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. No luck. My dog ate the box and the diskette. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't give up. The first thing to do is call the dealer that sold you the card or system. They may be able to help you get a replacement disk. If you have a complete system, the dealer or system manufacturer can probably tell you if a VESA TSR was included with your system, and where to find it. At worst, the dealer/vendor should be able to tell you what kind of a card you have. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Still no luck. The dealer is out of business or can't help me. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Don't give up! If you have a manual for the card, it may have the information you need to determine which SVGA chip set your video card uses, information on setting up the card for VESA VBE-compatibility, or information on how to get technical support. The information you need may be in a section of the manual called "VESA compatibility" or "Device Drivers". Many video cards report the name of the manufacturer and other useful information when you do a hard reset of your system (i.e. turning it on or pressing the reset switch). Trying resetting your system and looking at the first few messages which appear on your screen. As a courtesy, we have included a program which will attempt to determine what kind of a video card is installed in your system. To run the program, make sure the CD-ROM is in the drive (label side up), and type X:\SVGATEST where 'X' is the letter of your CD-ROM drive. Don't forget to press the Enter key. Among other things, SVGATEST will report Super VGA chip type is ATI TECHNOLOGIES CHIPS & TECHNOLOGIES GENOA SYSTEMS PARADISE/WESTERN DIGITAL TSENG LABS VIDEO7/HEADLAND TECHNOLOGIES *** UNRECOGNIZED *** SVGATEST also prints out the first 256 bytes of memory at C000 and E000 (the most likely places for the video card's ROM-BIOS). You may see text here that will help you determine the manufacturer's name. Unfortunately, automatic detection of SVGA hardware is not 100%-reliable (another reason for the VESA standard!). SVGATEST may report that it does not recognize your card for several reasons: * QEMM "stealth mode" has relocated the video BIOS from its normal location at C000 in memory. Try running SVGATEST without QEMM active. * Your SVGA card uses a chip set which is not one of the above. The chip sets listed are the most common, but newer chip sets may not be recognized (although most newer cards support VBE directly). Contacting the manufacturer of your board or chip set is probably the only way you will be able to get the necessary support. * You have a standard VGA or other non-SVGA video adapter. In this case, you will be unable to run the program, as it requires an SVGA that is compatible with VBE 1.2. If you have experience opening up your computer, feel comfortable doing it, and know which of the adapter cards is your video card (Hint: it's the one that your monitor is plugged into), you can probably determine the chip set being used on your video card just by looking. For example, the top of the chip may say "Tseng Labs ET4000AX" or "WDC WD90C00" (a Western Digital chip). WARNING: TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER AND UNPLUG IT FROM THE WALL BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO OPEN IT UP. Don't forget someone who has a system or video card like yours. They may have already solved the problem for you! Or perhaps you have a computer- knowledgeable friend who might be willing to help you. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. OK. I've figured out who made my card. How do I get the TSR software? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you know the company that made your card (or the SVGA chip set that it uses), chances are that you can call their Customer Support number and get the help you need. They may be able to send you a diskette, direct you to their BBS, or some other source (such as Compuserve) for the TSR. Here are the Customer Support numbers for some of the most popular SVGA card manufacturers: ATI Technologies................(416) 756-0711 Chips & Technologies............(800) 323-4477 extension 4129 Genoa Systems...................(408) 432-8324 Paradise (Western Digital)......(800) 832-4778 Sigma...........................(800) 845-8086 STB.............................(214) 234-8750 Tecmar..........................(800) 344-4463 Tseng Labs......................(215) 968-0502 Video7/Headland Technologies....(800) 248-1850 Western Digital (Paradise)......(800) 832-4778 While we have made every attempt to ensure that these numbers are accurate, they are subject to change. You may have a more up-to-date number in the manual for your SVGA card. If you have a modem and subscribe to Compuserve, you may be able to download the most current TSR software from Compuserve. Type "GO VESA" at the prompt, which will take you to the IBM Programmers forum. You will need to select Library 12, which contains a variety of VESA-related materials. Using the BROWSE command will describe each of the available files in the library. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. I know what SVGA card I have, but (a) the vendor is unreachable, and/or (b) I don't subscribe to Compuserve. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a courtesy, we have included a number of TSRs from various video card manufacturers. These manufacturer-supplied TSRs are the most recent available from VESA, but newer (and possibly more compatible) TSRs are probably available directly from the video card manufacturer. We haven't tested all of these drivers, and since we didn't write them, we can't supply technical support for them. They may help you get up and running, but WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU CONTACT YOUR VIDEO BOARD MANUFACTURER FOR THE LATEST VERSION OF THEIR TSR. The TSRs are located in subdirectories in the \VESA directory of the CD-ROM. The subdirectory names match the names of various video card manufacturers. If you don't find the name of your manufacturer, try running SVGATEST. If you used SVGATEST to determine your card type, it only reports the SVGA chip type used by the manufacturer. Here's where to look, based on what SVGATEST reports: ATI Technologies \VESA\ATI Chips & Technologies \VESA\CHIPS Genoa Systems \VESA\GENOA Paradise/Western Digital \VESA\PARADISE Trident Microsystems \VESA\TRIDENT Tseng Labs \VESA\TSENG Video7/Headland Technologies \VESA\VIDEO7 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. OK, I've got the TSR for my video board. Now what? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now we're getting somewhere! First of all, if VESA.COM (or whatever it's named) is on a diskette, copy it to your hard drive. Load VESA.COM, and then re-run the installation program. For example, if you copied VESA.COM to C:\STUFF\VESA.COM on your hard drive, you should type C:\STUFF\VESA and press Enter. This will load the TSR into memory. Be sure to look at any messages the TSR displays on loading, and make sure it loaded successfully. Now run the INSTALL program from the CD-ROM drive as before. If you plan to use the program regularly (and we hope you do!), you should probably add the line C:\STUFF\VESA (or whatever is correct for your system) to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, so it will be loaded whenever you start your system. If you don't add this line to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you will need to type the command each time before running the program. The program will remind you if you forget to load the TSR, as it checks for the presence of a VBE-compatible system when it starts. NOTE TO ADVANCED USERS: you may want to load the TSR into high memory to maximize the memory available to DOS programs. Use the command that is appropriate for your memory manager (e.g. LOADHIGH for EMM386.EXE). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. I've loaded a TSR, but the installation program still doesn't detect a VESA VBE. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- You probably rebooted your system after loading the TSR. Remember, the TSR won't be there when you reboot your system, unless you've added the command to load the TSR to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. If INSTALL still reports that your system is not responding to VBE requests, make sure that you've loaded the TSR. First, try loading the TSR by typing the command at the keyboard. Make sure there are no error messages. If INSTALL still doesn't run, you may be using the wrong TSR. If you added the command to load the TSR to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, check to make sure that it was typed correctly, and that it executes correctly when you reboot your system (you may want to put a PAUSE command after the command which loads the TSR, so you can make sure). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. I've loaded the TSR, INSTALLed the program successfully, and yet the program reports when I run it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- You probably rebooted your system after INSTALLing the program. Remember, the TSR won't be there when you reboot your system, unless you've added the command to load the TSR to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. First, try loading the TSR by typing the command at the keyboard. Make sure there are no error messages. If the program still doesn't run, you may have loaded a TSR which doesn't check to see if the correct hardware is present (yes, there actually are TSRs which are that dumb!). If you added the command to load the TSR to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, check to make sure that it was typed correctly, and that it executes correctly when you reboot your system (you may want to put a PAUSE command after the command which loads the TSR, so you can make sure). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. I've loaded the TSR, INSTALLed the program successfully, the program runs, and yet the display doesn't look right when I run the program. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Again, make sure you are running the latest version of the TSR software (if any) for your video. Contact the video card manufacturer to see if your card is known to be incompatible with this program. If you've tried every other avenue, then call our Technical Support numbers: Voice: (415) 883-5157 FAX: (415) 883-0367 We want you to be satisfied with your Software Toolworks product. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. I've loaded the TSR, INSTALLed the program successfully, and the program looks and runs great! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's great! Don't forget to send in your registration card, and thanks for buying our product... Enjoy! VESA is a registered trademark of the Video Electronics Standards Association. -----------------------------END OF FILE-------------------------------------