ArcadeVGA and Dell Question

[moloch]

I can get the card installed on my dell and working for about 5 minutes then it starts to get a little weird. I see boxes around things and colors get pretty odd. I also get some weird lines. I am using the AGP ArcadeVGA card on a 2.8GHz Pentium 4. I am using a standard monitor with a DVI to VGA adapter. I know that Dell's are generally not supported for this and have some known issues. I just happen to have a couple of Dell's on hand that are perfect for this project.

When it restarts the screen has a lot of odd coloring and then the desktop comes up perfect for about 5 seconds and goes crazy color again. Although you can see everything and play games they just have crazy lines around them.

Almost everything I have read about this problem is people not getting past the login or bios screen. I fell like this could work.

Has anyone made it this far before?
I am guessing that some people have gotten it to work, has anyone seen any of these color issues?

I have contacted Andy at Ultimarc about this as well, but just in case I thought I would throw it out there.

[ahofle]

Can you possibly take a picture of the screen so we know what the crazy lines look like?

[moloch]

Yea I will do that tonight and post it.

[borals]

Going on what you are saying, it could be that your ArcadeVGA card could be damaged.

Do you have another display you can try?

[moloch]

I am going to try the card in another machine that is not a dell and I want to try a different screen as well.

Right now I am a little limited to the amount of machines and screens that I have though.

DSC_8820.jpg - Show the screen after boot. It looks ok. It actually has a small amount of lines in it but they are not that bad.

DSC_8822.jpg - I opened up the start menu and closed it. You can see the lines have ghosted the image.

DSC_8824.jpg - The Screen Saver is on and that should be all black, but you see the blue lines and the box of the logo that moves around.

[moloch]

Small update:

• Tried using a standard LCD with DVI and had the same problem
• Tried on an arcade machine that has a JPAC and I am getting the same issue.

The last test is going to be seeing if I can put it in a different machine, right now I do not have anything set up ready to go that is not a Dell. I have some machines in parts and none with windows on them so this will take a little time.

[Ummon]

I'd try it on those other dells you got just to see.

[moloch]

I have put the card in another PC. It did not have a hard-drive so I put one in and it started up good, but once the windows install screen started it had the same problem.

So during the bios screen and the dos screen it looked good. I will note that on the Dell it did not look so good on the Bios screen after a few minutes. I got some jumbled text characters and some discoloration.

The colors during the install are more red then blue but it looks almost exactly the same on this PC as it did on the Dell. I will go ahead and let Windows 98 install and see if that will make any difference.

I will also keep this machine setup for a while because I will be able to test on a non-Dell.

[ahofle]

Has Andy responded?  Sounds like you need a new card.

[moloch]

I have been in touch with Andy and he has been very responsive.

I have purchased a fair amount from Ultimarc and this in no way has soured me toward him. I think at this point that this is just a bad card that slipped through the cracks.

[moloch]

Just a final update on this issue.

Andy sent me a new card. I have installed it on a non-dell at first and then on a dell and it is working great. I am super happy. It looks great and is just so easy to get working. If it wasn't for ultimarc I would be up till midnight working on these things rather then staying up past midnight playing these things.

Thanks as always for all the help everyone. You make this past-time so much more enjoyable.