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Diamond Viper PCI help

Capt. 2110

Experienced Member
Joined
May 23, 2015
Messages
362
Location
Texas
Not sure if this is the right area, but I'm putting it here anyway. :p

I have an original Viper PCI(The one with the Oak Technologies chip), and I decided to pop it in my Packard Bell Pentium 166 machine to give it some use. When I hit the power button, it gets to a screen that says "VIPER PCI Vers. 3.10 (c) Diamond Computer Systems, Inc.", and gets no further. The text also has a blue background around it, and is flickering to the right. Is the card's BIOS trashed, or is something else wrong? Thanks!
 
Try running a pencil eraser down both sides of the PCI card edge connector, wiping any residue off and re-insert the card into the machine.

If you want to avoid the micro scratching that an eraser does, you can use some of that green phosphor rust inhibitor instead. Putting a bit on a q-tip and running it down both sides of the card edge connector and then wiping it dry usually makes the card behave again.

I've noticed that as my AGP/PCI/ISA card collection gets older, more cards have problems with tarnished contact fingers that cause the card to not work properly. A corrupt BIOS or bad video memory is always a possibility, but I've only had that happen on my oldest video cards dating into the mid to late 80s.
 
WP_20160608_16_59_39_Pro.jpgWP_20160608_16_59_29_Pro.jpgWell, I tried this, running a q-tip down the pins, and reseating the BIOS, but nothing helped. It's still crashing. One thing I noticed is that it's starting before the Packard Bell BIOS. Maybe the built-in card is fighting with the Viper?
 
I completely missed the machine being a Packard Bell.

Try the Viper PCI in another machine because PB BIOSes are known to be terrible when it comes to resource allocation. I had a PB Platinum I awhile back and everything had resource conflicts because the BIOS couldn't configure the addressing properly. It took maddening amounts of changing cards to different slots, clearing the CMOS settings and even the amount of system memory could make the difference between a conflict or not.
 
Well, I asked my Dad about it, since he was the original owner of the card, and I found that, if his memory is correct, the card was put away because it didn't work right. I'll try it in another computer, but I have a limited number with PCI in them, and most are 64-bit. :(
 
A 32-bit PCI card is signal compatible with a 64-bit slot, just like an 8-bit ISA card works normally in a 16-bit ISA slot. Inferring about what kind of machines you have with 64-bit PCI slots, you may have software-related trouble.
 
I don't know if it's similar, but I've got the Viper Pro PCI--that's the one with the Weitek 9100 chip on it. I have documents and driver disks, but somehow, I don't think it's like your Viper PCI.

Ya gotta love Diamond's naming conventions.
 
I know, great naming. I think mine is just called Viper PCI. I think it's from about 1993. The reason I mentioned the 64-bit issue is because I had a known good SCSI card, and I put it in my custom pc, and it refused to boot.(it also beeped at me, there's no speaker on the card, and the PC speaker was disconnected o_O)
 
A 32-bit PCI card is signal compatible with a 64-bit slot

This isn't 100% true.

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A 5v PCI card will not work in a 3.3v PCI slot since the 3.3v slot reverses the key. Likewise it will also not work in a 3.3v 64 bit PCI slot because the key is backwards. The vast majority of systems with 64 bit PCI implement a 3.3v slot over the 5v 64 bit slot. The only odd ducks out that I've seen with 5v 64 bit PCI slots are Powermac G3, G4 and G5 systems before PCIe was adopted by Apple. Though you can't use PC video cards in those machines due to having an x86 BIOS.

The only exception to the key rule is if the card is universally keyed for both 3.3v and 5v operation. PCI cards that were universally keyed only started showing up in the late 90s and early 2000s, so I'm pretty sure the Viper PCI is a 5v only card.
 
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