Last updade: 1999-11-30
Installation
Hardware installation
Be very precise and careful while installing
your MGA board. While it is very hard to destroy the board, many people
are very surprised when they find out that incorrect installation was a
source of many problems they attributed to software. I service PCs since
1986, and often face this kind of problems.
-
Turn the computer off and remove the cover.
-
Locate the slot where you want to place the
card. In case of AGP cards, there is only one AGP slot on the motherboard.
If your card is PCI-based, you will usually have many choices. Remember
that on many boards with AGP slot, especially on those with more than 4
PCI slots, the PCI slot closest to AGP connector shares some resources
with AGP. You should leave this PCI slot free, otherwise you may encounter
some hardware conflicts. If you absolutely need to use this slot, don't
place any bus mastering device in it (like sound card). Use it for the
slowest and least important PCI device you have.
-
If the board (and hence the slot) are covered
with dust, use vacuum cleaner. Be very, very careful here, as you may destroy
your hardware. If you have an old vacuum-cleaner which can blow the air,
use it this way (but first move the computer outdoor :-)).
-
Insert the board evenly and straightly. Observe
its connector. Make sure that the board's edge is fully inserted into the
slot. If it isn't - do something about it. First, try to untighten the
screws on the board's bracket, and move the bracket slightly up. If this
doesn't help, you may need to disassemble your computer and to use some
hardware to make the motherboard sit higher in the case in order to let
the boards to insert fully into the slots.
-
Now, before tightening any screws, connect
the monitor and turn the computer on. Signon and POST screens should be
displayed on the monitor. Turn the computer off as soon as you see anything
on the monitor.
-
If the computer displayed something, tighten
the screw holding the card and repeat the test. if successful, close the
computer's case. Otherwise repeat the previous steps until you get the
card working. Don't tighten all the case screws yet, as you may encounter
hardware problems during software installation.
Motherboard's BIOS
Setup parameters
Before you start installing the driver, it
may be a good idea to review and correct some setting in your computer's
BIOS Setup. The following options may influence the operation of your graphics
controller.
-
Video BIOS shadow
-
This option is very cryptic in contemporary
BIOSes, since the video BIOS is (and must be) always shadowed, otherwise
the video card would be unable to initialize. I believe that this option
means something very different than it should mean. Keep it Enabled
-
Video BIOS cacheable
-
This influences the operation of DOS programs,
and is irrelevant for Windows applications. Keep it Enabled.
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Video RAM cacheable
-
Another cryptic option with false name. The
video RAM is never cached, so the string "Enabled" probably means that
Write Combining (not caching) is enabled for accesses to video RAM. Keep
it Enabled. If the system is not stable, try Disabling it to check if it
solves the problem. In some BIOSes the option has the proper values (saying
WC enabled/disabled). Set it to Disabled for safety, Enabled for normal
operation.
-
Read around write
-
This option, present in MVP3-based motherboards
may strongly influence the operation of graphics card. G200 with older
drivers required it to be Disabled, which is definitely the safe setting.
I have no problems running my G400 with Enabled setting.
-
Cache pipeline
-
Same remarks as above
-
Assign IRQ to VGA
-
Must be set to Enabled if you want to run
any 3D applications.
-
PCI IRQ activated by
-
Must be set to Level for correct operation.
Many cards will not work at all if set to Edge.
-
Init primary display
-
Totally irrelevant if you have only one graphics
controller. Any single controller (AGP or PCI) will work OK with any setting.
Set it if you have two graphics cards to select the "primary" one.
-
AGP aperture size
-
Another cryptic option. In theory, it should
be set to approx. half of system RAM size. Many experiences show that the
real size of AGP aperture in most systems is set half of the value set
in this option. Thus I recommend setting it to full system RAM size. Note
that some people report that on some motherboard it is necessary to set
it to 256 MBytes regardless of the amount of RAM installed.
If you have anything to add here, feel free
to contact me.
MGA BIOS Upgrade
- basic routine
New BIOS releases fix some incompatibilities
between motherboard and MGA card. It is a good idea to upgrade the BIOS,
especially if you encounter some instability. To upgrade the BIOS follow
the steps below:
-
Download the newest BIOS release from:
-
Matrox
- go to Drivers section, then to Unified BIOS, or
-
MURC - go
to Downloads, then to BIOS
-
Run the SETUPxxx.EXE file and note the folder
in which it installs (as new SETUPs may use new names). You will need to
use this folder in a moment.
-
Before you start upgrading your BIOS its may
be a good idea to read some info and warnings
on the process.
-
Prepare a blank diskette which will be used
as emergency disk.
-
There are two options for BIOS update - DOS-
and Windows-based software. Due to some problems with Windows-based version,
I strongly recommend using the DOS stuff. In order to do this, however,
you must boot plain DOS. Upgrading the BIOS using DOS-based PROGBIOS in
Windows will make the board inoperable. To get plain DOS working, do one
of the following:
-
Reboot Windows, and while it starts booting,
press Ctrl. When the Boot Menu appears, select "Safe mode command prompt
only".
-
In Windows select Start - Shutdown - Restart
in MSDOS mode.
-
Boot DOS 7.x (Win9x DOS) from boot diskette,
previously prepared under Windows using command "format /s a:".
-
When you get the DOS ready, "cd" to the folder
where BIOS package is installed. Run "progbios -d >mypins.txt" to save
the PINS. Then run "updbios.exe". UPDBIOS will create the emergency diskette
and program tha BIOS. The programming of G-series BIOS should take no more
than 20 seconds (usually it takes around 7..10 seconds).
-
Remove any diskettes from A: drive and reboot
by presssing hard reset or turning the system off and on. The system should
work now. If nothing appears on the screen, you are in trouble - go to
BIOS
recovery section.
Software installation
AGP VGA checklist
As AGP is a descendant of PCI, any AGP board
may be safely used as a fast PCI board in AGP slot. This means that even
old software (like old version of Windows95) will run on AGP board, but
it will not use the new AGP capabilities.
To get the most of AGP, one needs:
-
AGP-aware operating system - Win95 OSR2 or
Win98
-
Basic system support - built-in in Win98,
installed in Win95 OSR2 as "USB supplement" package from Win95 setup CD.
-
GART driver (specific to motherboard's chipset).
GART driver for Intel chipsets is included with Win98 and USB supplement
for Win95. For VIA- and ALi- based boards the latest version of GART driver
(also known as "AGP driver") should be downloaded from chipset manufacturer's
website.
-
The newest versions of both motherboard and
VGA card BIOSes may be needed for proper operation of AGP. It is highly
recommended to upgrade both BIOSes, especially for Super7 motherboards.
Running AGP VGA board on MVP3 motherboards
Things needed:
-
Matrox AGP board - any G200 or Productiva G100.
-
Via MVP3-based motherboard, like FIC VA503+, PA2013....
-
The
BIOS – latest version strongly recommended - some Super7 related problems
are still unsolved. The latest BIOS can be found at Matrox
or
MURC
-
The latest driver
-
G100: any version 4.1x or .ZIP (not .EXE - this works
only with G200) version of 4.21
-
G200: 4.26 or 4.51 for G200 as of January'99
-
Windows 98 or Windows 95 OSR 2.x build >= 1111 with
USB supplement installed.
-
VIA GART driver (viaagpxx.zip) - get the latest version
from VIA (New versions are packaged
as "four in one" utility.
-
VIA chipset recognition - viareg.zip - recommended for
Win95 (also in four-in-one)
-
IRQ multiplexor (miniport driver) - virqxx.zip - required
if you have >= 3 add-in cards in your PC, necessary for Win98 (again in
four-in-one).
The routine:
-
Set bus clock to 66MHz (increase to target frequency
after you verify that everything works at 66).
-
Go to BIOS Setup/ Chipset setup and disable Cache Pipeline
and Read Around Write options.
-
Get and unpack all the drivers. Install the MGA BIOS
utilities.
-
Boot do DOS and update BIOS (use updbios.bat from \MGA\SETUP).
Before doing this read the BIOS
programming page.
-
Boot Windows. If Windows can't install its own driver,
select Standard PCI VGA.
-
Win95 only: install USB supplement (comes on Windows
CD).
-
Install VIA registry tool (viareg.zip), VIA IRQ MPD
(virqxx.zip) and VIA GART (viaagpxx.zip).
-
Install Matrox driver by running its SETUP program.
If you get and install all of these, your Matrox card
is supposed to run. If everything works, Final
Reality should recognize AGP and run flawlessly. Note: "SHOULD" is
the keyword here...
Dual monitor support using
two VGA cards under Win98
In theory, any two PCI/AGP VGA cards should
work together under Win98. The real problem may occur with similar cards
running together.
It may be safely assumed that any Matrox
card will work together with any non-Matrox card.
It may also be asumed that any two Matrox
cards based on identical chips will work together with any contemporary
driver starting from v4.1x.
For Matrox fans it may be interesting
to run two different Matrox cards together. A typical case involves two
cards from different generations, like Millenium or Mystique with G200.
This is possible with the careful selection of drivers. It can be done
in two ways:
-
The same driver is used for both cards
-
This has a disadvantage of using an old driver
for a new card. The best choice here should be version 4.21 (.ZIP, not
.EXE version, cause the latter will not install on non-G200 board).
-
Two cards use different driver
-
This is the only way to exploit the G200 to
its limits. G200 runs under G200-specific driver, version 4.50 or above,
while the other cards works with driver version 4.21 or below. This is
possible due to the fact that new G200-specific drivers use file names
different than unified drivers. My setup worked with Mystique 170 under
4.21 (.ZIP version) and Millenium G200 under 4.51.
Personally I tried Matrox Mystique 170 with
nVidia Riva 128 and Mystique with Millenium G200. Both configurations worked
OK.