• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

video cards not working with OS/2 warp on PB computer

oblivion

oblivion

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2010
Messages
1,003
Location
Apache Junction, AZ
I'm having a few minor issues with a socket 5 packard bell (i know i cant keep away from these things) http://j12345.users1.50megs.com/menu/pb600/PB600LAY.ASP.htm . I currently have OS/2 warp installed and when using the on board video it loads and displays fine but when I add any video card it hangs on loading OS/2. I'm pretty sure its an OS/2 issue since the computer will display the post and the inital OS/2 warp splash screen then it just hangs right at the point it should go to the desktop. I've tried an s3 Virge card and an ati mach64 and had the same issue. there's no way to disable the on board video on this machine and according to the page I linked the on board auto disables when a secondary card is added.

another weird issue i'm having is the CPU. its a Pentium 120mhz and according to the site the board does support it but at post its detected as a P100. I checked the jumpers several times and they are set correctly for a p120...actually as an experiment i tried playing with the jumpers and no matter what its detected as a p100. prior to this I have a p75 installed and it detected fine as a p75.

booting via a floppy to dos the ATI or Virge work fine. running speedsys the CPU is detected as running 100mhz so its not just the BIOS string. also whats wierd is BOTH the on board cirrus logic and the ATI are being reported for the video card under speedsys.
 
Last edited:
Try pressing ALT+F2 when the OS/2 boot blob is displayed on the top left hand corner of the screen. It should show you the drivers loading and might display some useful info.

ALT+F1 gives the option to load standard vga mode similar to Windows 9x safe mode.
 
Caluser2000 said:
Try pressing ALT+F2 when the OS/2 boot blob is displayed on the top left hand corner of the screen. It should show you the drivers loading and might display some useful info.

ALT+F1 gives the option to load standard vga mode similar to Windows 9x safe mode.
Click to expand...

thanks! loading the standard VGA drivers did the trick. i'm new to os/2, figured I would try it out. guess I just need to find os/2 video drivers for my card now.
 
Good stuff. You might find something suitable- http://www.s3graphics.com/en/drivers/legacy_software_archive.aspx

What variant of Warp are you trying out? I'm certainly no expert myself but have v3 on a 486 system and was running v4 FP14 for a bit on a Celeron 350 system at one point. There's more experienced old OS/2 users on VCF. It's interesting OS/2 still lives on in the form of eComstation.

Don't forget a picture or two to show your progress.
 
Last edited:
Will do. I think its warp ver. 3. For some reason my virge isn't displaying but I think its the card sine no post or anything. Wierd thing is the monitor comes on like its getting a good signal. Its ok though cause I already have 3 virge/trio based vintage setups so maybe I'll keep an eye out for something diffrent.
 
On my v4 setup I used the Scitech display driver. Details about in http://www.os2.org.nz/topics/scitechdisplaydriver.htm and it's downloadle from Hobbes.

If v3 is updated to Fix Pack 35 it's possible to use it as well by the looks. A number of video chip sets and saves having to hunt around for separate video drivers and an also make moving the hdd from one system to another more bearable.
 
ok well, this whole project is turning into a headache. that's what I hate about computers, you look at them sideways sometimes and they just start acting weird or not work at all.

anyways on this one it has a AT PSU and the power switch was kind of sticking and want connected securely. so I unplug it take it apart and fasten it all securely, put it back together and...now it won't post.

it powers up and the cpu and case fan start but I get nothing. the power LED and HDD light come on as solid so i know its not just the video. no beep codes either. I didn't do anything except secure the power switch better. anyways i tried different video cards, tried reseating the RAM, connected up a completely different PSU thinking maybe something on the switch was knocked out of place or something but same effect. any ideas? everything seems secure as it was before

*NVM, figured it out. the case was pressing down continuously on the reset button.
 
Last edited:
oblivion said:
*NVM, figured it out. the case was pressing down continuously on the reset button.
Click to expand...
Thanks for mentioning that. It triggered something in the back of my mind about the Turbo XT I've got which had a similar issue. I disconnected the reset connector on the mobo a now it boots on all it's 8-bit glory.
 
Caluser2000 said:
Thanks for mentioning that. It triggered something in the back of my mind about the Turbo XT I've got which had a similar issue. I disconnected the reset connector on the mobo a now it boots on all it's 8-bit glory.
Click to expand...

well, glad you got that issue fixed. I never really suspected that was the issue. had the front panel off and just happened to power it up to test and it worked and thats when I figured out it as pressing on the reset.

anyways, I dunno, despite your generous sharing of links I cant seem to figure this OS out. I'm basically dead in the water till I figure out how to unzip files since what I need is to big to fit on a floppy but I cant get anything to work in OS/2. I just expected a self installing exe like in windows for unzip but the install process for it seems a bit more complicated for os/2 and I just cant get the program to work. maybe later i'll grab a cd-r and just burn all the files I need like the fixpak to CD.

thanks for all your help though. for the images here's a review I did on this PC earlier http://ancientelectronics.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/packard-bell-legend-2440/

its pretty much the same except that I've figured out the video issues, upgraded the CPU from a 75mhz to a 120mhz (though BIOS only detects it as a 100mhz) and stuck a fan on the CPU heatsink for good measure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top