APD GFX Card doesn't work. Driver needed?

[jedcooper]

Can't get this GFX card to run on both 650 and 700. So I think I'd need drivers. Would VGA Adapters work with them? Maybe I have to setup the VGA Adapter only?

BTW in Monitor settings a second monitor is shown, but can't get a signal out of it.

 

[Macdrone]

I have a bunch of nubus video cards and they just work but all had driver disks I am sure. What OS are you running? I know I had to recap my Apple branded cards for them to work, but I don't see any caps on your board that would be suspect. Both the the 650 and 700 should show the card as the second monitor since they have on board video. Does the VGA adapter would on the onboard video with your machines? If it does its settings should plug right into that card and work. Like most video cards it should work with basic video even without a driver. There is always an exception to that but generally speaking they do I have found. At 12 years or more old it is possible the card may have died. Good Luck.

 

[jedcooper]

Hi Macdrone!

The card (if installed) "shows" up as second monitor. With a resolution of 1024x768. My VGA Adapter (hooked to internal onboard video) is set to multiple scan 14", i.e. 640x480 and 832x624. Both variants (VGA Adapter on Video Card at boot time and hotplugged after booting) don't give me a signal. I know the VGA Adapter got dip switches letting the Mac know, what video mode to set at boottime.

So the card might work.

I'm running MacOS 7.5.3.

What exception could there be?

Regards

 

[Macdrone]

With the adapter set to the highest resolution to the monitor the exception could be the card has a minimum setting the adapter or monitor can not accept.

 

[jedcooper]

Well in other cases my monitor shows "wrong / out of sync" but there's NO signal at all. tested it with another VGA adapter attached to the GFX Card now.

Just to be sure (maybe another exception?): Do BOTH outputs have to be connected? i.e. internal video and external (GFX board) video?

 

[Macdrone]

No but it may let you to set resolution on the second monitor to match your adapter or monitor. Best bet would be to hook up a CRT monitor of any kind as they can usually handle all the weird frequencies these older cards pump out. Apple monitor with db15 preferred for testing of course.

 

[Charlieman]

The date on that card is 1990. It may not work in anything later than a Mac II (or IIx, IIcx etc) or with later Color QuickDraw implementations.

I have a similar card (model UC504122) which failed to work for me in a IIci. I put it on one side because I have a choice of alternatives. My card has more VRAM (I think the card in the photo is 8 bit) and has a Bt chip in the large unused space. I do not have the manual for the card unfortunately, but I can provide a copy of the driver disk.

My card was sold for use with high end CRTs -- the packing note has a check box for a 4 BMC video cable -- so I presume it runs at weird frequencies. There may be a key combination that forces the card to scan frequencies on startup.

 

[NJRoadfan]

NuBus video cards generally have a "driver" in ROM to allow you to see video on bootup. The extensions provided enable additional features like output mode switching and acceleration. As others have said, the ROM driver likely has compatibility problems with later versions of QuickDraw found in new Macs. Many vendors offered upgraded ROMs to fix the problem.