Orchid Technology Kelvin Video64 FAQ


Q1. Will my Kelvin Video64 card work with Windows 95? Do I need an updated driver? Should I use the Kelvin Video64 Windows 3.1x driver for Windows 95?

Q2. How can I get the latest BIOS for my Kelvin Video64 board?

Q3. How can I get the latest driver disk for my Kelvin Video64?

Q4. How can I get the latest Xing update for my Kelvin Video64?

Q5. After installing the Kelvin Video64 Windows 3.1 drivers, I can't get the driver Kelvin Video64 installation icon to come up. What's wrong?

Q6. Does the Kelvin Video64 support the VESA Super VGA (SVGA) BIOS extension (VBE)?

Q7. Are there OS/2 drivers for Kelvin Video64 boards?

Q8. Are there Windows NT drivers for Kelvin Video64 boards?

Q9. My display doesn't look right in Windows. What could be the problem?

Q10. When I run graphics programs my display rolls, turns into unreadable "static", or shows multiple screen images.

Q11. When I set my Kelvin Video64 driver to use 65K or 16Million colors, I get the message, "Extremely Low on Memory There is not enough memory to convert all the program icons. The icons which are not converted will appear black. You can fix this by choosing FILE.PROPERTIES from the program manager.", but I know I have enough memory. What's wrong? How do I fix it?

Q12. I use Norton Desktop for Windows, and when I change the resolution or color depth of the Kelvin Video64 drivers, the icons on my Windows screen become unreadable. What's wrong?




Q1. Will my Kelvin Video64 card work with Windows 95? Do I need an updated driver? Should I use the Kelvin Video64 Windows 3.1x driver for Windows 95?

A. The Kelvin Video64 cards work under Windows 95. The driver disks shipped with the board have drivers for both Windows 3.1 and Windows 95. Follow the instructions in your Kelvin manual for installing the drivers. There has been one updated driver release for Windows 95. Download the file KVFIXW95.EXE.


Q2. How can I get the latest BIOS for my Kelvin Video64 board?

A. There are currently no BIOS updates necessary for the Kelvin Video64.


Q3. How can I get the latest driver disk for my Kelvin Video64?

A. The current driver disk release for the Kelvin Video64 is v1.0. Download the files !KVID1.EXE and ! !KVID2.EXE (it's a 2 disk set).


Q4. How can I get the latest Xing update for my Kelvin Video64?

A. Download the file XMP13P.EXE. Once you unpack this compressed file you'll find a README file with installation instructions.


Q5. After installing the Kelvin Video64 Windows 3.1 drivers, I can't get the driver Kelvin Video64 installation icon to come up. What's wrong?

A. The most common cause for the icon not showing up is memory manager problems. If you're using a memory manager like EMM386 or QEMM you'll need to put in an exclusion for the Kelvin Video64's RAM and ROM range on the memory manager setup line in your CONFIG.SYS. For QEMM and EMM386 the syntax is X=A000- C7FF Also if you're using QEMM's Stealth feature (ST:M or ST:F), you'll need to add XST=C000 to the setup line. Also, if you're using DOS 6.x and have the HIGHSCAN option turned on for EMM386, we recommend you remove it. We've seen it cause problems.


Q6. Does the Kelvin Video64 support the VESA Super VGA (SVGA) BIOS extension (VBE)?

A. The Kelvin Video64 supports the VESA SVGA BIOS extension v1.2 on it's BIOS chip. You don't need a VESA driver or TSR in order for the card to use VESA.


Q7. Are there OS/2 drivers for Kelvin Video64 boards?

A. Yes. Download the file KVID-OS2.EXE.


Q8. Are there Windows NT drivers for Kelvin Video64 boards?

A. Yes. Download the file KVID-NT.EXE.


Q9. My display doesn't look right in Windows. What could be the problem?

A. There are several things to check if you experience problems in Windows. Here is a list of things to try. These suggestions cure approximately 90% of all problems reported to Orchid Technical Support.

  1. Adding an exclusion to the memory manager line in your CONFIG.SYS file can alleviate many types of problems including but not limited to, bad colors, corrupt graphics and/or text, error messages, and lockups. If you are using a memory manager other than the two listed below, check the manual for the proper way to implement the exclusion. The address range to exclude is A000-C7FF.

    If you're using a memory manager like EMM386 or QEMM you'll need to put in an exclusion for the Kelvin Video64 card's RAM and ROM range on the memory manager setup line in your CONFIG.SYS file. For QEMM or EMM386 the syntax is X=A000-C7FF Also if you're using QEMM's Stealth feature (ST:M or ST:F), you'll need to add the option XST=C000 to the setup line.

  2. If you were using a different graphics card prior to installing your Kelvin Video64 board, you should make sure you're not still using the Windows driver for that card. Check this from DOS by going to your WINDOWS directory, and running the Windows Setup program. If the "Display" choice shows something other than VGA, SVGA 800x600 16 colors, or a Kelvin Video64 or Cirrus Logic driver, change it to VGA. Then you should be able to run Windows and install the Kelvin Video64 driver.


Q10. When I run graphics programs my display rolls, turns into unreadable "static", or shows multiple screen images.

A. The refresh rate is set incorrectly for your monitor. If you're unsure what refresh rates your monitor supports check your monitor documentation.


Q11. When I set my Kelvin Video64 driver to use 65K or 16 million colors, I get the message, "Extremely Low on Memory There is not enough memory to convert all the program icons. The icons which are not converted will appear black. You can fix this by choosing FILE.PROPERTIES from the program manager.", but I know I have enough memory. What's wrong? How do I fix it?

A. Program Manager reserves only 64KB of memory for each icon group in Windows. When you use a true color driver each icon requires four times more memory than an icon in 256 color mode. If Program Manager runs out of memory, it paints some icons black and displays an error message. Unfortunately, choosing 'file properties', as the message instructs you to, does not solve the problem. Until Program Manager is modified by Microsoft to eliminate this limitation, use the following table as a guideline for your icon groups.

Color Mode Max Icons per group
16.8Mil 16
65K 32
256 64

Q12. I use Norton Desktop for Windows, and when I change the resolution or color depth of the Kelvin Video64 drivers, the icons on my Windows screen become unreadable. What's wrong?

A. This only occurs with Norton Desktop, in all of the versions as far as we know, 1.x, 2.x and new 3.x. The way the problem shows, is when you change resolution and/or colors, then restart Windows for the changes to take affect, the icons come up looking like a gray, black and white scrambled mess. The way it was explained to me is that in order to save time when restarting Windows, Norton "stores" the icon "information" in a (temporary) file. When you come up in a new resolution or number of colors, that stored icon information is no longer valid (no good!) and the icons are a mess. There have traditionally been 2 different workarounds:

  1. Exit Windows completely, erase the file ICOCACHE.DAT, then start Windows again.
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