Garbled DOS boot screen with P650 AGP

Hi,

I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read the screen
in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up, but i am unable to read
the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this error is about? I use newest BIOS for
the Matrox card.

Regards Thomas

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:45:39 +0200, "Thomas Antonsen"
wrote:

I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read the screen
in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up, but i am unable to read
the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this error is about? I use newest BIOS for
the Matrox card.

Known problem. I have the same with my P750. I have to use
another graphic card when I have to go into BIOS.

"Ken" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:45:39 +0200, "Thomas Antonsen"
wrote:

I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read the
screen
in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up, but i am unable to
read
the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this error is about? I use newest BIOS
for
the Matrox card.

Known problem. I have the same with my P750. I have to use
another graphic card when I have to go into BIOS.


Does this happen with the Parhelia as well? Is this case for all P650 and
P750 owners? Is it just one type of BIOS this happens with?

Cheers

ss.

On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:45:39 +0200, "Thomas Antonsen"
wrote:

| Hi,
|
| I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read the screen
| in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up, but i am unable to read
| the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this error is about? I use newest BIOS for
| the Matrox card.

Can you try the card in another system to see if the same thing
happens? A post to the Matrox Technical Support Forum on May 16 about
a similar problem got a suggestion from a Matrox Tech that the card be
returned to the seller for replacement if it's not more than 30 days
old. Anything older could be RMAed to Matrox.

In my experience, Matrox is very good at getting problems such as this
one solved — or at least identified if it's not a Matrox problem.

Suggest you try the Matrox Technical Support Forum for more answers.

http://forum.matrox.com/mga/index.php

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 02:38:29 +0000 (UTC), "Synapse Syndrome"
wrote:

|
| "Ken" wrote in message
| ...
| On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:45:39 +0200, "Thomas Antonsen"
| wrote:
|
| I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read the
| screen
| in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up, but i am unable to
| read
| the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this error is about? I use newest BIOS
| for
| the Matrox card.
|
| Known problem. I have the same with my P750. I have to use
| another graphic card when I have to go into BIOS.
|
|
| Does this happen with the Parhelia as well? Is this case for all P650 and
| P750 owners? Is it just one type of BIOS this happens with?

Never had a problem with my P650. :-)

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 02:38:29 +0000 (UTC), "Synapse Syndrome"
wrote:

I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read
the screen in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up,
but i am unable to read the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this
error is about? I use newest BIOS for the Matrox card.

Known problem. I have the same with my P750. I have to use
another graphic card when I have to go into BIOS.

Does this happen with the Parhelia as well? Is this case for all P650
and P750 owners? Is it just one type of BIOS this happens with?

The problem is that the graphic processor don't support
low color resolution.
This files can sometime fix some of the problems.
"SystemLogoFix.exe"
"SystemLogoColorFix.exe"
I use this motherboard: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe

Hi Larc,

Thanks for your reply, I have registered at the Matrox forum, and posted my
question there as well. I could put the P650 card into another PC, but it
would mean, I would have to take this one apart, so I wait for the reply at
the forum first :-)

I bought my card secondhand, so i guess returning it to Matrox is not an
option...?

Regards Thomas




"Larc" skrev i en meddelelse
...
On Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:45:39 +0200, "Thomas Antonsen"
wrote:

| Hi,
|
| I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read the
screen
| in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up, but i am unable to
read
| the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this error is about? I use newest BIOS
for
| the Matrox card.

Can you try the card in another system to see if the same thing
happens? A post to the Matrox Technical Support Forum on May 16 about
a similar problem got a suggestion from a Matrox Tech that the card be
returned to the seller for replacement if it's not more than 30 days
old. Anything older could be RMAed to Matrox.

In my experience, Matrox is very good at getting problems such as this
one solved - or at least identified if it's not a Matrox problem.

Suggest you try the Matrox Technical Support Forum for more answers.

http://forum.matrox.com/mga/index.php

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

Ken,

Where do you get these files, you mention?

Regards Thomas

"Ken" skrev i en meddelelse
...
On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 02:38:29 +0000 (UTC), "Synapse Syndrome"
wrote:

I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read
the screen in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up,
but i am unable to read the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this
error is about? I use newest BIOS for the Matrox card.

Known problem. I have the same with my P750. I have to use
another graphic card when I have to go into BIOS.

Does this happen with the Parhelia as well? Is this case for all P650
and P750 owners? Is it just one type of BIOS this happens with?

The problem is that the graphic processor don't support
low color resolution.
This files can sometime fix some of the problems.
"SystemLogoFix.exe"
"SystemLogoColorFix.exe"
I use this motherboard: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe

Sorry, i found them in the BIOS upgrade file.... :-)

/thomas


"Ken" skrev i en meddelelse
...
On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 02:38:29 +0000 (UTC), "Synapse Syndrome"
wrote:

I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read
the screen in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up,
but i am unable to read the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this
error is about? I use newest BIOS for the Matrox card.

Known problem. I have the same with my P750. I have to use
another graphic card when I have to go into BIOS.

Does this happen with the Parhelia as well? Is this case for all P650
and P750 owners? Is it just one type of BIOS this happens with?

The problem is that the graphic processor don't support
low color resolution.
This files can sometime fix some of the problems.
"SystemLogoFix.exe"
"SystemLogoColorFix.exe"
I use this motherboard: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe

Ken wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 02:38:29 +0000 (UTC), "Synapse Syndrome"
wrote:

I just upgraded my G550 to a P650 card. Now I am unable to read
the screen in DOS mode, all is OK as soon as WinXP starts up,
but i am unable to read the BIOS screens. Any ideas what this
error is about? I use newest BIOS for the Matrox card.

Known problem. I have the same with my P750. I have to use
another graphic card when I have to go into BIOS.

Does this happen with the Parhelia as well? Is this case for all
P650 and P750 owners? Is it just one type of BIOS this happens with?

The problem is that the graphic processor don't support
low color resolution.

The problem is AFAIK *NOT* that the graphics processor don't support low
color resolution -- it does. The problem seems to be that Asus (in
their implementation of a system that lets the user change the boot
picture) erroneously assume that all gpus use contiguous memory that
wraps over from one line to the next. However, a 480 pixel wide screen
with 16 colours requires 120 bytes, which is an 8-byte boundary. The
Parhelia/P750 requires a 16-byte boundary, meaning that pixel 481 on a
line isn't the same as pixel 1 on the next line -- there's 8 bytes of
padding between each line. The P cards announce this in the BIOS
capabilities call for the resolution, but Asus seems to ignore this.
It's not a problem with most other cards because they have a narrower
memory window and alignment requirements, and not a problem with other
BIOSes, who don't make that assumption.

Matrox has provided two workaround fixes for this problem -- one which
disables the 480xNNNx16 mode forcing the BIOS to choose a different one,
and one that emulates a narrower memory window at the expense of speed.
Asus has done nothing, and tells their customers to contact Matrox,
despite all evidence appearing to point towards Asus being the culprit,
not handling padded lines for 480xNNNx16 resolutions.

Regards,
--
*Art