Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
README for Displays
April 1999
--------------------------------------------------
(c) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1999
This document provides complementary or late-breaking
information to supplement the Microsoft Windows 98
To view Display.txt on-screen in Notepad, maximize the
To print Display.txt, open it in Notepad or another word
processor, and then on the File menu, click Print.WINDOWS UPDATE AND WINDOWS DRIVER LIBRARY
IRQ CONFLICTS WITH PCI DISPLAY ADAPTERS
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WINDOWS UPDATE AND WINDOWS DRIVER LIBRARY
=========================================
Windows 98 Second Edition includes drivers for most
display adapters. Microsoft regularly makes additional
and updated drivers available on the Internet through
Windows Update.
Windows 98 Second Edition also includes
additional drivers in the Windows Driver Library on the
Windows 98 Second Edition CD. To obtain additional or
*** If you have an Internet connection:
1. Click Start, and then click Windows Update.2.
Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.*** If you do not have an Internet connection:
1. Click Start, and then click Help.2. In Windows Help, click the Index tab.3.
Type "Download Library", and then press Display.4. Follow the instructions that appear on your screen.Microsoft updates the Windows Driver Library on the
Internet regularly with the newest drivers from
third-party manufacturers.
These drivers are tested
for compatibility by Microsoft and then made
available for download. Windows Update makes these
drivers available automatically by detecting the
hardware on your system and offering you only
those drivers that are compatible with your system.Windows 98 Second Edition upgrades all Microsoft-
provided drivers from Windows 95 and DirectX releases.
Windows 98 Second Edition also upgrades certain
third-party Windows 95 drivers that might experience
problems running in Windows 98 Second Edition.
If your display card or system included display-specific
utilities (for example, extra display control panel
items, refresh rate utilities, or color matching
utilities), an upgrade to the provided Windows 98
Second Edition driver may cause the utilities to work
incorrectly.
If Windows 98 Second Edition upgrades your
display driver and your display-specific utilities are
not working correctly, this is because the existing
third-party Windows 95 driver is incompatible with
Third-party display drivers and utilities are often
very interdependent, so that if you remove one piece,
you will break the other. The display drivers included
with Windows 98 Second Edition are intended to be generic
drivers that provide stable support for standard Windows
APIs and features. Because each driver must support
a number of different configurations, it is impossible
to support every utility with one driver. Some features
that were formerly included in third-party utilities have
been integrated into Windows.
If you still want the extra
features offered by your display adapter vendor, contact
your vendor to obtain an updated driver and software.
Windows 98 Second Edition is compatible with Windows 95
display drivers. However, because the internal structure
and behavior of the operating system have changed since
Windows 95, some problems in existing Windows 95 drivers
might become apparent only in Windows 98 Second Edition.
If the Windows 98 Second Edition CD contains a driver for
your device, Windows 98 Second Edition automatically
upgrades known bad drivers (see Windows 95 Upgrades
section earlier in this document). If the Windows 98
Second Edition CD does not contain a driver for your
device, Windows 98 Second Edition converts the driver to
VGA to allow the system to start.
In this case, you need
to obtain an updated driver, either by following the
procedure in the Windows Update or Windows Driver Library
section earlier in this document or by contacting your
Windows 98 Second Edition Setup configures your adapter
type based on the controller it uses, for example, S3,
Cirrus Logic, or ATI. However, you may find a more exact
match for your adapter make and model by using the Update
In most cases, selecting a more precise adapter type
does not change the driver or its behavior in any way.It only changes the name displayed in the Display
Properties dialog. If your system is working with the
display driver Windows 98 Second Edition automatically
installed, there's no need to make a change.
*** To choose a more specific adapter:
1. Start the Update Device Driver wizard (see
Changing device drivers in Windows Help).3. Click Display a list of all of the drivers
4. In the Models list, select your adapter.5.
Click Next, and then follow the instructions
If Windows 98 Second Edition does not contain a
driver for your monitor type, select one of the
standard monitor types instead. This selection will
not adversely affect the performance or quality of
the Windows 98 Second Edition display output.To adjust the refresh rate in Windows 98 Second
Edition, click Start, point to Settings, and then
click Control Panel. Double-click Display. Click
Settings, and then click Advanced.
Click Adapter,
and then select a refresh rate from the list.You must select a monitor in order to set refresh
rates. If Monitor is set to unknown monitor, no
Refresh rates are affected by the capabilities of
both the display adapter and the monitor. Windows 98
Second Edition makes available all the refresh rates
within the combined capabilities of the display
*** If your display is visible but imaging incorrectly:
3. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the
4.
Click Advanced, and then click Performance.5. Move the Hardware acceleration slider one notch
If the problem isn't corrected, repeat the above
procedure and move the slider farther to the left.NOTE: Moving the Hardware acceleration slider to
the left disables some of the graphics acceleration
functions of your display adapter. If your display-related
problems are due to incompatibilities in the display
driver, this fixes them by using less of the
acceleration features in the driver.*** If your display is blank or unreadable when
2.
Press and hold CTRL until the Microsoft
Windows 98 Second Edition Startup menu appears.6. In the Display Properties dialog box,
Windows notifies you that it will restart
8. Click Yes, and restart your computer.
When your computer restarts, it will be running
in VGA (640x480, 16-color) mode. You can now reset
your display settings by right-clicking the
desktop, clicking Properties, and then clicking
Settings. If the resolution you want to select is
not available, choose another resolution (anything
but 640x480, 16-color), and let Windows restart.
The full set of resolutions and color depths will
be available after you restart your computer.NOTE: Your display can be blank for a number of
reasons, including incorrectly set refresh rates,
an incompatible display driver, an invalid mode,
etc.
Because the display is not visible in these
cases, it is impossible to correct these problems
without restarting in Safe Mode. In Safe Mode,
Windows does not load your original display driver,
so none of the display settings are available for
you to change. Instead, Windows automatically
resets your display settings to the defaults
(640x480, 16-color, single monitor, default
refresh rate). Then, you can restart in normal
Windows mode and make corrections to your
After restarting your computer in Safe Mode,
change the resolution to VGA.
Not all display
modes may appear in the Display Properties Settings
dialog box. This is because when Windows 98 Second
Edition is running in VGA mode, the accelerated
display driver is not loaded, so Windows cannot
query it for available modes. Once you switch to
another mode, Windows prompts you to restart so it
can load the accelerated display driver. After the
second restart, Windows 98 Second Edition adds the
full mode list supported by your display hardware
to the Display Properties Settings dialog box.
Although most programs allow you to dynamically
change color depth, some programs may not display
colors or other elements correctly after a color
change.
To avoid this problem, change color depth
before you start the program. If you change color
depth while a program is running, you might need
to restart the program to ensure that the changed
If Windows 98 Second Edition is not using 32-bit
disk access, cursors are not animated. To determine
if you are using 32-bit disk access, click Start,
point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then
double-click System. In the System Properties
IRQ CONFLICTS WITH PCI DISPLAY ADAPTERS
=======================================
If your PCI display adapter is configured by your
BIOS to use IRQ 15 and a functioning secondary PCI
IDE disk controller is also configured to use IRQ 15
(by default), Windows 98 Second Edition assigns IRQ
15 to the IDE disk controller. This assignment forces
your display adapter to use VGA mode.
To load the accelerated Windows 98 Second Edition
driver for your display adapter, eliminate the
resource conflict.
Choose one of the following methods:
- If your BIOS allows, and the secondary PCI IDE
controller is not being used, disable the
secondary PCI IDE controller in the BIOS, and
if it remains in Device Manager, disable it there
- If your BIOS allows, disable the IRQ of the
- If your BIOS allows, manually reconfigure the
display adapter to use a different IRQ setting.- Obtain a BIOS upgrade from your hardware vendor.
With multiple-monitors you can use one computer
to control two to nine monitors through a common
desktop. Multiple-monitors increases the size of
your screen, so you can see multiple applications
Required Hardware for Multiple-Monitors
---------------------------------------
Any combination of the following supported PCI-based
cards can be used with multiple monitors. Only cards
based on the following chipsets work as secondary cards
with drivers from the Windows 98 Second Edition CD.
NOTE: You also need to use the specified driver.- The following drivers are supported by Microsoft and
are included on the Windows 98 Second Edition CD:
----------------------------------------------------
ATI Mach 64 GX (GX, GXD, VT)ATIM64.drv
Only certain updates work. These are 40, 42, 43,
NOTE: If the card is at one of these updates, then
Windows 98 Second Edition will recognize the card
as a Trio 64V+, provided the Microsoft driver is used.
If the card is not at one of these updates, then it
is recognized as a Trio 32/64.
Some OEM drivers dont
care which update is present; be sure to note
carefully which Microsoft driver Windows 98 Second
Edition selects when you use this card.Trident 9685/9680/9682TRID_PCI.DRV
- The following driver is located in the
C:WindowsSystem32drivers directory:
InterGraphics Systems (IGS) IGA2K.DRV
- The following drivers are available directly from
the vendor and work in multiple-monitor systems.
These drivers are not supported by Microsoft.To download this driver used with these cards, visit
the Web site at http://www.
3dlabs.com
In addition, newer cards and drivers that were not
available when Windows 98 Second Edition was
developed may also support multiple-monitors. Consult
the vendor documentation or contact the vendor to
determine whether your card and drivers support
1. Determine which card you want to use as your
primary card. First make sure that the card
2.
Insert the card into your motherboard, and then
add your second card. The system BIOS will decide
which card is the primary card. One way to verify
which card is your primary card is to check which
card displays the Windows 98 Startup logo when you
turn on the computer. The card that displays the
Startup logo is the primary card, and the card
that appears to be inactive is the secondary card.
If this is not what you want, reverse the order of
3. Repeat this procedure for each additional card.
Unfortunately, with current system BIOSs, there is
no way to determine which adapter will be the second,
third, or fourth card until the card is actually
4. Start Windows 98 Second Edition. Windows automatically
detects the new cards. When you are prompted, restart
5.
During Startup, Windows initializes the new secondary
adapter and displays a message indicating the card is
6. If the primary card displays in 640x480 and 16
colors, right-click the desktop, click Settings,
click the Colors down arrow, and then select the
256 Colors setting or a higher setting. Click OK,
7. After you log on, right-click desktop, click Properties,
and then click Settings. In the Display area, Windows
lists each video adapter in your system.
Find the adapter
8. Click the Extend my window desktop onto this monitor
Troubleshooting Multiple-Monitor Setup
--------------------------------------
Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor
1. Make sure that the monitor is set to display in
2. Verify that your secondary card is compatible
3. Make sure you are not using a Windows 3.1
4.
Check to see if you are using an ISA, VLB, or
MCA card. Multiple-monitors require PCI or AGP cards
5. Check to see whether any third-party display control
panels are installed. Right-click the desktop, and
then click Properties.
Look for any tabs that are
related to the video cards in your system. Next,
click Settings, and then click Advanced. You should
see only the General, Adapter, Monitor, Performance,
Color Management, and possibly the ATI Display tabs.
You can usually remove any Display Control Panel
extensions that you find by using the Add/Remove
Programs feature in the Control Panel.
If your system will not start when you have two video
cards installed or if the second comes up with a "code 12"
in Device Manager, move all the video cards needed to
the slots that are closest to the motherboard when on a
riser card. Some systems only support display adapter
cards in the first one or two slots closest to the
If you experience one of the following problems, disable
your on-board Rage II. This device cannot be used as one
of your multiple-monitor display adapters.- Your on-board ATI Rage II displays vertical green
bands when you install the secondary card.
- Your system locks up during Startup, and the Automatic
Skip Driver (ASD) reports that My system died while
- Your IBM Aptiva locks up during Startup after detecting
the secondary, loading the drivers, and rebooting.- Nothing happens when you click the Extend my Windows
desktop onto this monitor check box.
If a yellow exclamation point appears beside one of your
video cards in Device Manager and if it indicates the region
of memory that the video card uses is in use, try one of
- On some laptops, you can specify where the region
of memory used by the video card is located in the
system BIOS. Set this to C000-CFFF or to the largest
range possible that begins with C000.- Type the following under the 386enh section of
If your system locks up after installing the secondary
card when you add a STB Workstation two-adapter card, then
the video cards in this system are configured incorrectly
by the system BIOS. As a result, it destabilizes the entire
system.
Your particular system probably cannot use video
cards that are behind PCI-PCI bridges.If your card is listed in the supported card section, but
Device Manager indicates that your card does not work with
Multiple Display Support, then make sure that you are using
the right driver, as listed at the beginning of this document.If Device Manager indicates that My primary video card
cannot be disabled, your card is not supported in this
If you experience one of the following problems, then your
display driver is not compatible with multi-monitor. Contact
- If your screen goes black during Startup or your system
hangs and the Windows bootlog option indicates that the
- A message appears on your screen indicating that a fatal
Bibliography:
