Resolution/Refresh not switching? Ultimarc ArcadeVGA 3000, WG D9400, Win XP x64

[retrometro]

  See attached photo of the behavior at 320x240 in Windows. 

Summary:  Going from ATI X700 + Soft15khz to ArcadeVGA 3000 on a Wells Gardner D9400 connected via the VGA out of either cards.  X700+Soft15khz solution switches resolutions and refresh rates perfectly but the ArcadeVGA 3000 switches resolutions but not refresh resulting in the attached photo.  Attached photo is 320x240 at 31khz per the WG D9400's OSD.   

Here's what I spent hours on yesterday.  Hopefully I've captured it here.  Please ask or challenge any of it.  THANK YOU!

For reference, I’m using the XP x64 drivers from this thread and avga3000_xp64a1.zip since the drivers on the two CDs that came with the 3000 were 32bit only.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=136608.0
http://www.ultimarc.com/avga3000_xp64a1.zip


So my basic steps have been:

1) Start with uninstall previous drivers and rebooting after resetting to windows standard VGA drivers.  Upon boot Windows will be in 640x480 or 800x600 only.

2) Running the setup.exe from avga3000_xp64a1.zip.  Setup finishes without errors and asks for a reboot.  This is the part where sometimes I have to reinstall the drivers by going to Device Manager and updating the display drivers manually by pointing to the driver directory in the avga3000_xp64a1.zip archive.

3) Upon reboot the post install launches the quick resolution change tool and attempts to start TriSync.exe but errors that it’s missing a script.  Running the TriSync.exe again from c:\windows\system32 gives the same error.  However, if I run the TriSync.exe that’s in the avga3000_xp64a1.zip archive, the tool will launch.

4) If I choose “Standard”, then it’ll say it’s done very quickly.  If I choose the 15 to 31khz (I have a Wells Gardner D9400), it’ll have a progress bar with a percentage then it’ll ask me to reboot.  I’ve performed both a regular restart as well as a shutdown and power up.  Same progress bar if I choose the 15 to 38khz setting even though my monitor

5) If I reboot with either Standard or 15-31khz, the usual BIOS and boot up POST display has an interlaced look to it reminiscent of 90’s computers all the way to the Windows XP splash screen. Once Windows XP properly starts, it’ll have the proper resolution and refresh again.

6) If I reboot with the 15-38hz option, I don’t see BIOS and boot up POST at all until Windows properly starts.  So even though this isn’t the correct option, this shows that TriSync.exe is actually doing something to the card’s VGA output.

7) When I go to Quickres, I see the tons of model line or resolution options.  However, switching to any of them other than 640x480 or 800x600 will show the squeezed screen attached.  When I open the D9400 OSD, it’ll confirm that it’s in 31khz even for modes that should be 15khz.

When I launch MAME, I use the switches as recommended in the instructions to test games that have some of the standard 240p or similar resolutions.  To be simple, I’ve tested largely with horizontal 80’s games with like Ghost ’n Goblins, Gradius and Vs. Super Mario Bros.  To isolate settings, I’ve also tested fresh MAME standalone settings so that launch options and paired with clean or non-existent .INI files.  I’ve used MAME 0.161 and 0.204 since they have different option support.

9) To validate that my Wells Gardner D9400 monitor switches frequencies properly, I have an ATI X700 card and have paired it with a late 2008 build of Soft15khz and can confirm the monitor switches resolutions and refresh rates properly (via the D9400’s OSD) with the correct .INI and/or launch switches.  Also when Quickres is used in the regular desktop like 320x240, the resolution fills the screen.

Like many people I have one of the original / authentic (not the many Chinese knockoffs out there now) IPAC for my control panel and this is my 2nd ArcadeVGA from an older AGP version.   I would love to see this card work as it still supports current shader models for current MAME builds compared to my X700 which only supports up to shader model 2.

Thanks for reading all this and hopefully you’ll have a different set of drivers or procedure to try.

ArcadeControls, I've been here for ever a decade.  You're my last hope!   

[retrometro]

Ultimarc Andy has suggested that maybe TriSync.exe may be of interest.  He says it modifies Windows and not the card itself as I had originally thought.

He also shared this link for XP x64 drivers which is different than the one I originally used in the post above.

http://www.ultimarc2.com/avgadrivers.html

[retrometro]

Ultimarc Andy came through and the issue has been fixed and I can now run the latest MAME because the AVGA 3000 supports Shader Model 4.0 instead of the X700's 2.0.

Basically he suggested that I/we use http://www.ultimarc2.com/avga3000_xp64.zip from http://www.ultimarc2.com/avgadrivers.html instead of http://www.ultimarc.com/avga3000_xp64a1.zip that was posted at http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=136608.0

and now all the resolutions fill the screen with the appropriate refresh rate.

Now the OCD/neurotic "fun" for me is to reconfigure/tune each of my favorite MAME games to have the proper resolution since the model lines are slightly different between what's on the ArcadeVGA 3000's BIOS/driver than what SailorSat's Soft15khz installs.