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5170 & ega

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lyonadmiral

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Jun 3, 2009
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I'm very excited not only did my 5154 show up today, but also my two IBM EGA cards. Interesting thing though, that while my cards did not have documentation, I found the dip switch settings for them to enable EGA (off-on-on-off) and it works. It didn't when I first hooked it up, and since it was sold as-is with no returns, I was sweating bullets for a few minutes. I have a few questions...

It only comes up in 40 column display mode. Now I could have sworn there was a way to tell the BIOS EGA 80 columns? I do have the AT Diagnostics Disk and it is the later version (I think). How do I tell the system 80 columns?

The 5154 is dim, not bright white like I remember other 5154's in the past. Is it the tube that is going on this thing or something else?

Thanks,
Dan
 
lyonadmiral said:
It only comes up in 40 column display mode. Now I could have sworn there was a way to tell the BIOS EGA 80 columns? I do have the AT Diagnostics Disk and it is the later version (I think). How do I tell the system 80 columns?
Click to expand...
Odd. Try GSETUP (at http://members.dodo.com.au/~slappanel555/software/GSETUP.ZIP).

lyonadmiral said:
The 5154 is dim, not bright white like I remember other 5154's in the past. Is it the tube that is going on this thing or something else?
Click to expand...
The default text colour is grey (a dull white), not bright white. Would that explain what you're seeing?
To see bright white, run a diagnostic program that tests the vide card (e.g. CheckIt).

As an aside, note that on the 5154, the contrast knob pulls out. In the pushed-in position, the contrast is fixed at a preset value. Pull out the knob to adjust contrast.
 
No luck...

No luck...

I have no way to get it onto the system right now, I had thought I had an old copy of an Epson Reference disk someplace, but I can't find that at the moment.

As for the contrast knob, I tried what you said, pulling it out, but it appears that the display is as bright as it gets.
 
lyonadmiral said:
I have no way to get it onto the system right now,
Click to expand...
The procedure for creating and using a GSETUP boot diskette (720K sized) on a 5170 (all models) is at http://members.dodo.com.au/~slappanel555/5170_gsetup.htm

lyonadmiral said:
I had thought I had an old copy of an Epson Reference disk someplace, but I can't find that at the moment.
Click to expand...
You said that you have the AT Diagnostics Disk. The version is not important - they all support EGA. Have you booted from that then run it's SETUP option? When you do so, the display should show as "Color Display (80 columns)".

lyonadmiral said:
As for the contrast knob, I tried what you said, pulling it out, but it appears that the display is as bright as it gets.
Click to expand...
That was an aside only. New 5154 owners sometimes report that the contrast knob doesn't work, and someone has to explain to them about the push/pull action of the knob.
 
When I run the AT Setup Disk and go through all of the options, the Primary Display shows up at Color Display (40 Columns). I will try to double check the jumper settings on the EGA card and I will even try another EGA card.
 
lyonadmiral said:
When I run the AT Setup Disk and go through all of the options, the Primary Display shows up at Color Display (40 Columns). I will try to double check the jumper settings on the EGA card and I will even try another EGA card.
Click to expand...
OFF-ON-ON-OFF is the correct setting.
Maybe you've got ON and OFF about face, i.e. you've set the board to ON-OFF-OFF-ON
 
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