VIA P4M890 Unichrome

Problems and successes with specific brands/models of computer video hardware
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Darius
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 02 Apr 2008, 20:18

VIA P4M890 Unichrome

#1 Post by Darius »

Live cd boots, but no display, but a blank, black screen.

Could using something similar to Ubuntus Openchrome work?
or maybe a rewritten version for Puppy?

I've seen quite a few people with Unichrome problems, but no solutions
(at least that I understand).

Will anyone be solving this problem soon?

I am quite fond of my little Puppy Smile
but she's gonna be put down soon if I don't find something meaningful
in the next couple days... my neck and eyes are aching from looking on the internet for fixes/drivers/patches/different versions/"etc". lol

There was a guy who got his to work in Xvesa with bad graphics.
Even if I can have that I'll be very happy.

P.S. I know little, please speak slowly...

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Béèm
Posts: 11763
Joined: Wed 22 Nov 2006, 00:47
Location: Brussels IBM Thinkpad R40, 256MB, 20GB, WiFi ipw2100. Frugal Lin'N'Win

#2 Post by Béèm »

I will say little.
Please some more detail about your hw (video adapter/display)
Time savers:
Find packages in a snap and install using Puppy Package Manager (Menu).
[url=http://puppylinux.org/wikka/HomePage]Consult Wikka[/url]
Use peppyy's [url=http://wellminded.com/puppy/pupsearch.html]puppysearch[/url]

Darius
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 02 Apr 2008, 20:18

My Specs

#3 Post by Darius »

OS: Windows XP Home 2002 with Service Pack 2

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3GHz, 256Mb DDR2.

BIOS: Award

Motherboard: Jetway

Model Name: P4M9MP
FSB 1066Mhz LGA 775 Core 2 Duo CPU
2 DDRII 533
VIA P4M890 + VT 8237R Plus Chipset (problem ???)
Onboard VGA / AC'97 6-Ch Audio
1 PCI-Ex16 / 1 PCI-Ex1 / 8 USB2.0
2 32-bit PCI / LAN / SATA RAID / Micro ATX

Monitor: 17" LG 710S on VIA/S3G Unichrome PRO IGP (problem ???)

Display Properties: 1024x768, DPI 96, refresh 75Hz, Hardware acceleration=none.

Adapter: Chip=VIA/S3G Unichrome Pro IGP, DAC=Internal, Memory=64MB, Bios Info=98.A0.00.02, Driver Version=6.14.10.283

HDD: 80Gb SATA ST380211AS Seagate

DVD-RW: BenQ Light Scribe

THANK YOU FOR RESPONDING SO QUICKLY!!! :D

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rerwin
Posts: 2017
Joined: Wed 24 Aug 2005, 22:50
Location: Maine, USA

Instructions for UniChrome Pro video

#4 Post by rerwin »

Darius,
I found information on the VIA website about their powerful driver and the vesa driver built-in to linux. Since I can't copy out of a pdf file, here is the link to the download page, for an 8-page PDF.
http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx?Pa ... bCatID=169

Section 3 on page 1 has a table of parameters to use for various resolutions and color depths. When you boot from your CD and prompted, enter "puppy vga=791" for 1024x768x16.

The instructions refer to vesa 2.0; I can only assume that is what Puppy has -- to be sure, try puppy 4 (a7 or imminent beta).

I hope it is as easy as that.
Richard

jonyo

#5 Post by jonyo »

Fwiw, I ran pup (pretty sure with 2.15CE & maybe also 2.13 - 4) with VIA/S3G UniChrome Pro IGP on a ASRock P4M800 board, but it was awhile ago & don't remember details (..think I used xvesa). At some point, I put in a cheap agp card to get google earth to work. MD5 checkout?
Last edited by jonyo on Thu 03 Apr 2008, 17:50, edited 2 times in total.

Darius
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 02 Apr 2008, 20:18

#6 Post by Darius »

Just typed a nice long letter for ya'll :lol: , but this forum keeps kicking me off and telling me to login, over and over. :cry:

Sorry but all my replies are gonna be shorter, just in case I can't post and lose them.

Def was considering getting a cheap card, will that bypass or run through the chipset?

Rerwin: Think I have that document, will have another look.

Thanks! :)

Be back asap :arrow:

jonyo

#7 Post by jonyo »

Darius wrote: Def was considering getting a cheap card, will that bypass or run through the chipset?
Might want to hold off on the card ..pretty sure I was running ok with the unichrome (& xvesa) - could be something else is amiss (MD5? bad burn..etc) & you'll sort it out.

Not sure how pup deals with the card when it is installed, but do know that it works without xtra steps required on my setup. [mx440 8X(41B)(DDR128M)TV] Think there's a pup driver that can be added for enhanced graphics.

Darius
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 02 Apr 2008, 20:18

#8 Post by Darius »

md5sum=okay
burn verified by burning software.
vga=791=black screen, no boot sequence (terminology?)
tried vga=771 before, nothing.

Should I try different Puppy?

I have 3.01 Seamonkey...


Regards

Mr. D

Darius
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 02 Apr 2008, 20:18

#9 Post by Darius »

there usually is boot, it's just the X that fails

jonyo

#10 Post by jonyo »

Darius wrote:Should I try different Puppy?


Suppose, though our boards have the same graphics chip, pup can work in one, yet not the other..

One of the first things I try when encountering a niggly prob, is try another pup.

Might try that disk on another 'pute & sometimes a slow burn speed on cd/r media..makes a diff, in particular scenarios.

If all else fails, might as well try the cheap card. I've had mostly success with pup sorting out graphics, but scenarios certainly come up.

One of our members particular pute (old HP I think) seems to like pup vers.2.12, but none after.

Have a look at a Lin'N'WinNewB setup also. It allows you to try (& run) multiple pups without having to burn CDs, or mess with win partitions.

Darius
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed 02 Apr 2008, 20:18

#11 Post by Darius »

def will do so and get back to you with my findings.
Thanks!!!

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Flash
Official Dog Handler
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#12 Post by Flash »

Darius wrote:Just typed a nice long letter for ya'll :lol: , but this forum keeps kicking me off and telling me to login, over and over. :cry:
I set the forum's automatic timeout to two hours a long time ago because people complained that the forum dropped them too soon. Since then there haven't been many complaints like yours. The timeout may have been inadvertently changed when John Murga updated the forum software a few weeks ago. It is also possible that your ISP or your router is the cause.

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