Problem Replacing Onboard Graphics

[ad_rach]

I have found an old pci Voodoo 2 12mb and i figure it will be better than the onboard 8mb shared Trident Blade on my parents MSI 6378(am I right to think this?).The problem is, i can't work out how to get the card to work.I am almost 100% sure that the card itself does work .The system is running windows xp pro and I have found drivers.However, when I install the drivers, the Voodoo2 does not list as a display adapter but goes under 'sound,video and game controllers'.I don't know if that is odd but the fact is, when i plug the monitor into the card i get no display.I haven't disabled the onboard graphics because i am afraid to in case i have no display to fall back on.In the bios it is set to pci for the primary display.
What can i do to get the card working?
i may have missed details so please ask anything if i have.

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[cleeve]

You can easily disable onboard graphics.

If it doesn't work, just re-enable them.

------------------
Radeon 9500 w/256 bit memory bus @ 367/310
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3439

 

[ad_rach]

But i don't get any display when i plug into the voodoo2 card even outside windows, so surely it won't make a difference?If i disable the onboard graphics, can i still use them whilst they are disabled?I don't want to be unable to see anything while i try to re-enable them you see.

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[Willamette_sucks]

No, surely it WILL make a difference.
With your monitor plugged into the onboard graphics port, go into your BIOS and turn OFF the onboard graphics, and if possible set the default VGA adapter (whatever that settings called) to PCI.

It should work.

"Every Day is the Right Day." -Pink Floyd

 

[ad_rach]

The primary display is set to pci in the bios already and i can't see an obvious setting to disable the onboard graphics.I have put the shared graphics memory down from 8mb to N/A but it hasn't stopped the memory from being shared or anything.What can i do?

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[ad_rach]

I have just found in the sparse FAQ on the msi website that you cannot fully disable the onboard video on the ms-6378, does that mean that i definitely can't use a pci graphics card?could it not just override the onboard graphics?

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[Loqutis]

Voodoo is a pretty old card dude,We used to sell Voodoo 3's and got out of them coz there wernt any satisfactory drivers for them for XP, so I would be pretty sure the ones you have for the V2 probably dont work very well, If however they do, then there may be jumpers on your mobo that disable the onboard Trident, if the board is a few years old you may find that is the case

Any day above ground is a good day

 

[Crashman]

no, YOU suck, Voodoo 2 is an Accelerator card, it adds 3D graphics in overlay mode and has no 2D mode! He has to use both onboard and Voodoo 2 to make it work! Doh!


<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Don't disable onboard graphics! The VooDoo 2 is a 3D Accelerator card. It uses Video Overlay to overlay a SEPARTE image for games. This is similar to how DVD players overlay an image...

Your card should have included a funny looking cable to connect it to your onboard graphics. You need to loop the image from the onboard graphics through the VooDoo2 to the monitor.

It's normal for this to show up on Windows as a Game device, because it's not a primary video card. It simply adds the game image over the image from your monitor. The only way you can run such a device without a loopback cable is to...start the game from the desktop, then after the game goes into 3d mode, switch the cable to the VooDoo!

VooDoo2 uses Glide, instead of Direct 3D, so it's not supported by Direct X games. A lot of games work in either Direct X or Glide, but I don't know about any RECENT game supporting Glide. Basically Glide is dead, so unless you like old games, you have a museum piece.

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Willamette_sucks]

I didn't say that anybody or anything sucked... but ok.

"Every Day is the Right Day." -Pink Floyd

 

[sirak]

I used to own a Voodoo2 and while it works best with Glide, I believe it supported Direct3D as well.

 

[Crashman]

Ah, that first comment was just a play on your_nick, didn't really mean to hurt your feelings :frown:

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Crashman]

Now I'm not good with ancient software, but I believe it was DX5 emulation that gave VooDoo 2 it's Direct 3d "compatability".

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[Willamette_sucks]

I think I'll report you to Fredi at once for your intolerable behavior!

"Every Day is the Right Day." -Pink Floyd

 

[Crashman]

:frown:

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

 

[ad_rach]

Thanks all.
I remember that funny cable thing now, though i can't find it.I didn't know that the voodoo2 didn't do 2d, which is a shame because i am only trying to increase 2d performance as my parents don't play 3d games.I do recall that the card used to play half life fine on a p2-400 system though, so it isn't so bad.I didn't think it was worth buying a pci graphics card because they are not cheap for what you get, so the voodoo2 would have been useful if it did 2d.oh well!

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]

 

[shadus]

Today 2d performance is almost ignored completely unless youare in the graphical editing segment of the market, you aren't going to get much more performance by using a seperate card, the biggest thing with 2d graphics is the closest you can get to a pristine pic (null). Matrox always did an exceptional job at that (Matrox Mil2). You won't see much of a difference between the onboard, agp, or pci 2d video *UNLESS* the onboard is using system ram, in which case you will see a moderate speed improvment just because you are freeing up more ram.

Shadus

 

[ad_rach]

I was mainly trying to use a card because there have been problems on the system with the onboard video and sound seemingly slowing each other down.I have started a thread on the motherboards forum about that, if you have any ideas.

no matter how hard you try, you can't polish a turd. :]<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ad_rach on 06/27/03 11:10 AM.</EM></FONT></P>