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Getting a IBM 5170 to display in EGA graphics mode

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PlayRPGs

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Hello,

I was wondering if someone can help me with an EGA graphics display matter. I have a fully functional IBM 5170, with a Quadram QuadEGA video card in the machine. I have the dip switches on the video card set to EGA 640X350 mode (0 1 1 0 / off on on off). I also have a Samsung 9 pin EGA monitor, and an IBM 5153 CGA monitor. My problem is this, after getting the EGA monitor, and haveing the QuadEGA card set to the EGA setting, I get a distorted multi column display result on the EGA monitor when playing a graphics application, like a game. For instance, if the game was showing a person on the screen, I would actually observe at least 4 or 5 of those persons, like the display was broken up into many vertical columns showing the same thing over and over.

I do not understand all the technical details of making switches in graphics mode in this vintage system, but my thought was that maybe in the 5170's bios, the machine was set on a CGA graphics mode, and that is why I got the distortion with the EGA monitor. Thus, when I changed the settings on the QUADEGA card to 0 0 0 1 (CGA 80x25), and I plugged in the IBM 5153 monitor, the display was perfect, with no distortions. I also was able to get my hands on an IBM 5170 Diagnostic disk, and went into settings, and sure enough, the settings for the video card showed the 5170 was set at color display (80 columns) for the primary display, thus I think confirming my belief that the computer's bios/settings was set to a CGA mode. The computer told me, in the settings part of diagnostics, that it was set at the color display (80 column), even when I had the EGA monitor attached, and the video card set at 0 1 1 0 (640X350).

When the diagnostic disk asked me if all the settings were correct, I said no, hoping that the settings part of the diagnostic disk would allow me to change the color diplay setting to 640 by 350. Unfortunately, it did not let me make any change. The settings program just told me to refer to the video display adapter intallation instructions for setting the primary display. As I am not the original owner of this system, I do not have those instructions.

Thus, if someone can help me figure this out, I would really appreciate it. Somehow, I believe I must get into the 5170's bios/settings for the video card/adapter, to tell the computer to displau in EGA mode (640X350), not CGA mode, as it is currently set to. I just do not know how to do that. I would really like to be able to use the EGA monitor.

Thanks for any help.
 
I think a better course would be to approach the issue game by game and see if others have had any luck getting them to work with the QuadEGA (or any EGA) board. This is particularly true when working with early PC games that were created long before the EGA came out--and especially true for "boot up" games not using DOS. A lot of early games like to fiddle the CGA registers directly and some EGA cards are better than others at accommodating this.
 
PlayRPGs said:
I also was able to get my hands on an IBM 5170 Diagnostic disk, and went into settings, and sure enough, the settings for the video card showed the 5170 was set at color display (80 columns) for the primary display, thus I think confirming my belief that the computer's bios/settings was set to a CGA mode.
Click to expand...
Maybe not. I have an IBM 5170 with IBM 5154 (EGA monitor) and IBM EGA card (switched to EGA). When I run the IBM AT Diagnostics, the primary display is shown as "Color Display (80 columns)".

PlayRPGs said:
I have the dip switches on the video card set to EGA 640X350 mode (0 1 1 0 / off on on off).
Click to expand...
A possible cause of your problem: You may be inadvertently setting the switches to on/off/off/on instead of off/on/on/off. On an IBM EGA card, that switches it into a CGA mode.

PlayRPGs said:
Somehow, I believe I must get into the 5170's bios/settings for the video card/adapter, to tell the computer to displau in EGA mode (640X350), not CGA mode
Click to expand...
If you want to confirm (and/or change) the video setting, try the GSETUP program, an alternaive to the setup functionality on the diagnostics floppy. It's available at http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/software/GSETUP.ZIP
 
Hello Modem7,
Thanks for the ideas. I am going to try to reverse the dip switches on the card, and hopefully that will work.

Hello again,

I appreciate your time, and was wondering if you can provide me with some more guidance. I tried reversing the dip switches on the QuadEGA card, and that did not work; it was totally distorted when I did that, not even showing any text when the computer forst booted-up. I then used the QuadEGA setting for 640X200, and that was also distorted. I then went back to the off on on off setting that I found on the internet for the QuadEGA in 640X350, and I got a clear non-distorted picture during text mode. Again, whe I try to run any software (game) in EGA mode, like Ultima VI in EGA mode, I get the distorted picture as soon as the program starts (as soon as the computer leaves the DOS text mode and the game's graphics start). So, there are two general things I am wondering about, in my effort to try to get EGA graphics output:

1. Other then telling the 5170 what type of video output it is operating in through the dip switches on the EGA card itself (like the off/on/on/off), is there any menu or setting change selection in the 5170's BIOS (independant of the video card switches) that deals with the specifics of what particular video adapter card is plugged into the computer, or what it should be out-putting in? I have not found any reference to such a selection menu in the BIOS that would deal with the video adapter, other than the diagnostic disk's brief portion on the primary video adapter that told me that the computer was set to "Color Display (80 columns)".

If there is such a video card specific portion in the BIOS, where I could tell the computer it had an EGA card in it, then would the IBM Advaned Diagnostic disk allow access to that menu, and allow one to make the required change? As for the GSETUP program, is that an easy to use menu driven BIOS program? Would running that program clear-out all the current BIOS setting, or let me view the current settings and only make changes to the settings I wanted to change?

2. The System-Board Display Switch - When having the 5170 running with the EGA card in EGA mode, should the display switch still be set to the front of the system? Or should it be set to the rear of the system? Could you please tell me what position your 5170's switch is at when in EGA mode?

I am hoping that the fix to the problem I am facing will be as simple as a switch position, or a quick setting change. I am pretty certain that the EGA monitor and the QuadEGA video cards I have are all working properly, and that it is just some setting change that is evading me. I can see through the distortion may colors, much more that I believe would appear with CGA mode. Just a lot of distortion, like from conflicting settings. I am stumped.

I appreciate any help from anyone I can get to figure this out. thanks.
 
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