Latest BIOS and Drivers

BIOS

1.xx - 1.14

2.xx - 2.04

3.xx - 3.13

Drivers

Viper VLB VPRMODE.EXE monitor setmode utility ver 2.04 & Beta ver 2.05

Windows 3.1 drivers - 2.00 or 2.04

OS/2 2.1x - 1.01

Microstation v 4.0 / 5.0 & Power Management

Windows 95 - On windows 95 CD ROM. Also available on WWW @

http://www.microsoft.com/kb/softlib/Windows/Windows95/q_vid95.htm ( for disk based ver of Windows 95 )

Windows 3.1

Problem: If you are having difficulties installing our drivers and get the following symptoms: A blank screen or get kicked back to DOS when starting Windows with our drivers loaded.

Answer: Perform the following:

• SET VIPERPATH=C:\VIPER Make sure that you run the VPRMODE to set up your monitor and this statement is in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.
• Check your motherboard for a Weitek Power 9000 jumper. Make sure the jumper is set to the correct position.
• Try all the Base Memory Addresses in VPRMODE.

Problem: If a General Protection Fault error occurs when starting Windows with the standard VGA Windows driver loaded.

Answer: Remove JP4 jumper on the Viper card.

Problem: Get an error message, "Not Enough Memory to Convert All Icons..." and some icons turn black when using a driver with greater than 256 colors.

Answer: This is a Microsoft Windows' limitation. It happens with any video card when using drivers with greater than 256 colors. To correct this problem, either lower the color depth or create new groups and move some icons to the new groups so that each group contains 10 icons or less.

CAD Applications

Problem: Using 3D Studio release 3.0.

Answer: Vibrant has drivers for 3D Studio release 3.0. If your Viper card is A4, A7, B1, B3, and D3 revision, you can use the Vibrant drivers that are included with 3D Studio. If your Viper card is an E's revision, contact Vibrant and request their updated drivers. Their BBS number is (512)918-3411 and the file to download is ID124103.ZIP.

* If you have any difficulties with the installation, contact Autodesk or consult your 3D Studio Installation Guide.

Problem: Get an error message, "1800: Unable to locate P9000RES.INI" with your CAD application and our Soft Engine drivers.

Answer: Add SET VIPERPATH=C:\VIPER to AUTOEXEC.BAT and run VPRMODE to setup your monitor.

Problem: Get an error message, "1807: Weitek 5186 not found!" when loading your CAD application with our Soft Engine drivers.

Answer: Obtain the latest Soft Engine driver's, 2.1.8.p14, that are included in our latest disk set.

Problem: Get an error message, "Hardware Initialization Failure: Please correct this inconsistency" when loading your CAD application with our Panacea drivers.

Answer: Edit the VIPER.INI file in your VIPER directory and change the bustype on line 35 from bustype=VLB to bustype=VESA LOCAL BUS.

Problem: Get an error message, "Fatal Error: Null Pointer In Reference" when loading your CAD application with our Panacea drivers.

Answer: There are two scenarios to this problem.

• If you are using QEMM memory manager, make sure to exclude X=A000-C7FF and XST=C000 if ST:M or ST:F is used.
• Your ACAD.CFG or the data files created by our drivers may contain an invalid statement. To resolve, delete the ACAD.CFG and all *.DAT files then run setup again. Our *.DAT files are located in the driver directory.

Windows NT

Problem: Get a blank screen when running a full screen DOS session or DOS applications.

Answer: This problem has been corrected with BIOS version 1.14 or 2.04. If your BIOS version starts with 1.xx, then get BIOS version 1.14. If your BIOS version starts with 2.xx, then get BIOS version 2.04. Do not interchange your BIOS.

Problem: What frequencies are available for which resolutions?

Answer:

Mode/Freq 55 60 70 72 74 75

640x480 X X

800x600 X X

1024x768 X X

1280x1024 X X X X

1600x1200 X

OS/2 2.1/2.11

Problem: When running a Windows applications in Workplace Shell (seamless), the screen goes blank.

Answer: Obtain our OS/2 drivers version 1.02 or later.

Problem: Mouse is locking up right after the Viper drivers have been loaded.

Answer: To resolve this problem, simply move the line:

DEVICE=\OS2\POWER_9K\P9000.SYS to the second line in CONFIG.SYS file.

Problem: When using OS/2 for Windows, the Win/OS2 full screen displays in standard VGA 640x480.

Answer: The Viper OS/2 drivers, were designed for OS/2 standard edition. To correctly install these drivers for the OS/2 for Windows, there are additional steps to follow. The instructions for installing the Viper OS/2 drivers into OS/2 for Windows are available on our BBS, AOL, FTP, and CompuServe.

Problem: The monitor does not synchronize or is off center, under OS/2.

Answer: There is currently no monitor centering utility that will effect the synchronization or screen center of the Viper board under OS/2. Try lowering the resolution and refresh rate.

Problem: The DOS prompt scrolls when opening a DOS session.

Answer: To resolve this problem, simply move the line:

DEVICE=\OS2\POWER_9K\P9000.SYS to the second line in CONFIG.SYS file.

Problem: Multimedia Builder/2 runs very slow.

Answer: This is a known issue. Currently there is no correction.

Problem: Multimedia Presentation Manager/2, does not work correctly in 65k or 16.7 million color modes.

Answer: Get the Multimedia Corrective Services disks from IBM to correct this problem in the 65K color mode. The Multimedia Presentation Manager/2 currently does not support *any* 32 bpp (bits per pixel) modes. The 16.7 million color driver for the Viper is a 32bpp driver; therefore, it will not work.

Problem: An error message, "386 Enhanced Mode is required When running Win/OS2" occurs when running WinOS/2.

Answer: The Viper OS/2 drivers are not compatible with Win/OS2 when running in Standard mode. You must configure your Win/OS2 to run in 386 Enhanced Mode.

DOS/VESA Applications

Problem: Difficulties setting Flight Simulator 5.0 to run in super VGA mode.

Answer: Obtain the latest VPRMODE version 2.04 from us. Due to a limitation, this will only work with a Viper 2Mb.

Problem: Difficulties starting up The Seven Guest game.

Answer: Contact Virgin and request T7GFIX.ZIP to update your game. Also, you must run VPRMODE VESA from the VIPER directory before loading the game.

WINDOWS 95

Problem: Animated icons not working in Windows 95.

Answer: Diamond is currently aware of this problem and should have drivers to help take care of this problem. Estimated time is sometime 4th Quarter 95.

Problem: I can't switch to anything above 640 x 480 in Windows 95.

Answer: Make sure you have the latest BIOS. In your autoexec.bat, make sure you are not loading VPRBIOS.EXE, also in your autoexec.bat make sure you are loading the statement SET VIPERPATH=C:\VIPER.

Problem: How do I install the drivers off the CD ROM ver. of windows 95?

Answer: Do the following:

• From the main desktop area click on the right mouse button.
• Go into PROPERTIES.
• Go into SETTINGS.
• Go into CHANGE DISPLAY TYPE.
• For the adapter, click on CHANGE.
• Click on HAVE DISK.
• Click on BROWSE.
• Go to your CD ROM drive letter.
• Go into \DRIVERS\DISPLAY\DIAMOND.
• Three .INF files should be listed, you do not need to select one just click on OK.
• Install drivers from --> drive letter:Drivers, Display, Diamond click OK
• Viper VLB should come up high lighted, Click OK
• If you get a message saying a file could not be found, change the path to drive letter:\Win95
• It should then finish the installation process and bring you back to the change display type menu.
• Click on CLOSE.
• Then click on APPLY.

Problem: I installed the Windows 3.1 drivers into Windows 95 how can I remove them?

Answer: Do the following:

Uninstalling the older drivers from the SYSTEM.INI.

• Set DISPLAY.DRV=PNPDRVR.DRV (Note: this is a BIG hint as to whether or not you installed the 3.1 drivers. If this is set to anything but this, it's not right).
• Change 386GRABBER=VGAFULL.3GR
• Remove the entire [viper.drv] section.
• Go into Windows 95 and remove all display adapters under the SYSTEM icon in the CONTROL PANEL.
• Restart system and make sure it comes up in VGA mode. (If it comes up with the ADD NEW HARDWARE WIZARD, you are in the right mode. If this doesn't happen, you missed something, or it probably won't work.)

Removing the Windows 3.11 Viper drivers from the hard drive

• Restart the system and press F8 at "Starting Windows 95" prompt.
• Choose the option "Command prompt only".
• Type "CD\WINDOWS\SYSTEM"
• Type "DEL VIPER*.*"
• Type "DEL *.FON"
• Type "DEL VGACOLOR.2GR"
• Type "CD\VIPER"
• Type "DELTREE WIN31"

Adding the Win95 Viper Drivers

• Start Windows by typing "WIN".
• Start ADD NEW HARDWARE WIZARD
• Choose NEXT
• Choose No to DETECT HARDWARE AUTOMATICALLY
• Double-click on DISPLAY ADAPTORS
• Choose HAVE DISK
• Enter the location of the files at X:\DRIVERS\DISPLAY\DIAMOND (where "X" is your CD-ROM letter)
• Choose OK
• Choose VIPER VLB
• Choose OK (AKA finish)
• Set resolution and color depth, and restart the machine.