Futura SX in IIci - help me please

[bamdad]

Hello,

So as part of a project to upgrade my IIci, I picked up one of these cards from eBay. Until now I have been using a strange but useful cable that has a DB15 plug on one end and a standard VGA on the other. The built-in graphics worked just fine with my 19" Samsung flat screen monitor. For the record, the monitor works like a charm even with weirdo machines like my SGi Octane 2, it only needs a 13W3 adaptor.

Long story short, no matter how I set the rotary dial on the Futura card, the monitor only displayed a misaligned glowing black image. So I got myself one of those 10 DIP switch DB15>VGA adapters, thinking that it will help. But it doesn't. The funny thing is that if I check the info panel on the monitor, it confirms that the signal is the right resolution and refresh rate, but it is still only displaying a glowing black image. If i change the colour depth in the Monitors control panel to 24 bit (Millions), it becomes a trippy slightly striped beige-yellowish image.

What am I doing wrong? Is my card faulty? Anyone have any experience with this or willing to help debug it with me? Believe me I've been through a tonne of combinations with the rotary dial and the DIP switches.. : /

Thanks in advance,

bamdad

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Not familiar with that card other than seeing it in the listing and then looking up the LEM article: http://lowendmac.com/video/futurasx.html

E-Machines Futura cards have a rotary switch for setting the resolution. The following is a list of switch settings.

This setting is overridden when using a supported monitor with Apple's sense coding.

resolution refresh monitors

1 832 x 624 67 Hz T16

2 1024 x 808 71 Hz T19/TX

3 640 x 480 60 Hz any VGA

4 1024 x 768 60 Hz any XVGA

5 832 x 624 75 Hz T16a-E16

6 1024 x 768 75 Hz E16, SuperMac 19", others

7 640 x 480 67 Hz E16, others

8 1024 x 768 75 Hz RasterOps 19", others

C 13"/16" Dual Resolution E16

D 16"/19" Dual Resolution T16II/E16

E 19"/21" Dual Resolution T19II

F 16"/21" Dual Resolution T16II

If you're not getting video with the switch set to  3 or 4 with that "universal" adapter cable, I'd switch to a standard VGA cable to use with your DIP switch adapter set up for straight thru.

 

[bamdad]

I am using a standard VGA cable with the adapter, as my old cable wouldn't even fit (that already has DB15 on the one end). And yes, the first one I tried was 3 and 4, with all the variations of DIP switch settings. Still just a black screen. : (

 

[jupo]

I got lucky with my Futura card (never figured out which specific model, but it's one of the long cards) because it Just Works when I flip the dial to 3. If there's anything I can look at to compare, though, I'll pull it out.

 

[trag]

I'm not sure if this works with the cards that have a dial, but have you tried holding down the 'e' key at boot time?   I had a Futura SX with a dial back around '96.   I remember it had a dial that needed setting and not very much else.   I traded up to a Futura II SX fairly soon thereafter.

 

[slomacuser]

I think that the mac-vga cable is fixed to 832 x 624 resolution. Try that with dial 1 or 5

 

[bamdad]

I got lucky with my Futura card (never figured out which specific model, but it's one of the long cards) because it Just Works when I flip the dial to 3. If there's anything I can look at to compare, though, I'll pull it out.

well that's the first one i tried, seemed the most logical, 640x480 60hz is the most basic VGA resolution.. but no, black screen.

I'm not sure if this works with the cards that have a dial, but have you tried holding down the 'e' key at boot time?   I had a Futura SX with a dial back around '96.   I remember it had a dial that needed setting and not very much else.   I traded up to a Futura II SX fairly soon thereafter.

holding down 'e' seems to delay boot time before the 'happy mac' screen even further - it is already a bit long since i installed the card, i guess it's scanning for a supported monitor. but no, that didn't help. i was really happy when i got this card that it can do 1024x768x256 but something is probably wrong with it.

I think that the mac-vga cable is fixed to 832 x 624 resolution. Try that with dial 1 or 5

thanks, i did.. but to no avail. btw the original cable was happily doing 640x480 67hz from the builtin iici video for me, and it still does. in fact, if i set the adapter's DIP switches to '145' which corresponds to the internal video's resolution and refresh rate, it works flawlessly too.

i'm beginning to thing there is something wrong with my futura card. maybe it's a PAL/NTSC problem?