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OS/2 Shareware BBS: 36 Tips
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EGA.FAX
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1994-12-05
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EGA Video Adapters 10/06/92
OS/2 EGA SUPPORT CONSIDERATIONS
OS/2 supports pure EGA only (640x350x16 colors). Many OEM EGA adapters on
the market have a number of EGA enhanced modes (AT&T has a 640x400x16
colors, Paradise has an EGA 480 adapter). Our drivers do not support any
of the enhanced modes. Therefore, you should check the boards user manual
for the hardware/software setting of the adapters video mode. If you
manage to install OS/2 but get blank areas on the screen, a skewed screen
or color blotches, this almost certainly indicates that your adapter is no
t running as pure EGA. If you have made sure that the mode is EGA and the
problems persist, try disabling VIDEO_BIOS_SHADOW_ENABLE in your
motherboard BIOS setup. In case that you have trouble installing OS/2,
please verify that there is no contention for the memory address range
between the EGA controller and other adapters you may have. If you can't
detect any contention and the board is not an 8 bit board, try p utting it
in an 8 bit slot on the bus. When doing that, check the manual for a
dip-switch setting for 8 bit mode on the board as well. In most cases,
EGA adapters are 8 bit only. If you did have to install in 8 bit mode,
you should still be able to put the board back into 16 bit mode after the
OS/2 installation. Some boards have an auto-switching capability, enabled
by a hardware switch (or a jumper). This capability MUST be disabled when
installing and running OS/2. If you're installing on a laptop or a
notebook computer, please consider calling the technical support
representative of the laptop manufacturer as laptops are usually not
equipped nor configured in a standard way. A hardware technician should
be able to instruct you about the adapter and BIOS configurations and
different monitor setups. If your DOS application is attempting to set a
video mode in DOS full screen session and failing to do so, install all
video related drivers/utilities from your native DOS CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT. You may do that either in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT of
the OS/2v2, or by specifying the DEVICE statements in the DOS_DEVICE entry
box in the DOS SETTINGS for all of the DOS session icons you are currently
using. These settings can be invoked by clicking with the right mouse
button over the DOS session icon in question, stepping on the arrow next
to the OPEN in the pop-up menu and selecting the SESSION page in the
notebook. If you are experiencing video loss or crashes when attempting
to issue DOS MODE command or have problems using your DOS session, please
call the video board manufacturer and find out whether your video BIOS
needs an upgrade.
General considerations
If your desktop video is corrupted intermittently, run CHKDSK from an OS/2
command prompt to determine if any hard disk problems exist. If so, boot
OS/2 from the installation disk and press ESC when the first instruction
screen is displayed (you will see this screen shortly after disk 1 has
been inserted). This will return you to an OS/2 A: command prompt.
Insert disk 2 in A drive and run A:CHKDSK /F at the C: prompt to repair
any damages on your drive. Replace C: with your boot drive letter if you
rs is different.
You should also check your motherboard BIOS date/revision to determine if
you need an update. AMI BIOS should be dated no earlier than 4/9/90
although we recommend using AMI BIOS dated 5/9/91 or later. Phoenix BIOS
should be dated no earlier than 5 /11/92 (they recently corrected a bug
that was causing problems with OS/2).
Important numbers
AMI BIOS update: Washburn and Co. 1-800-836-8026
Phoenix BIOS update: 1-405-321-8333
12/31/99