3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 Readme
========================================
This file contains additional information to supplement the manual.
Please read through all the sections before you proceed with the
installation.
This file contains the following sections:
1. BlasterControl Limitations
2. Switching Drivers
3. System Compatibility Issue
4. Known Problems
5. General Notes
1. BLASTERCONTROL LIMITATIONS
a) BlasterControl only works with 256 colors and above.
b) The Color Control page will not be available if your desktop
is in 256 color depth or when you have Sonnetech Colorific
installed. Sonnetech Colorific already provides for the color
correction capability.
c) For Windows 98 and Windows 95 OSR2:
Your monitor's refresh rate can be customized using Windows
98's built-in Display Properties' Settings tab. You can open
the Display Properties dialog by clicking the Start button,
pointing to Settings, clicking Control Panel, double-clicking
Display, clicking Settings tab, clicking Advanced button, and
then clicking the Adapter tab.
2. SWITCHING DRIVERS
If you intend to switch from Creative Technology's drivers to
Nvidia's drivers, you will be unable to use the BlasterControl
software and Creative SoftMPEG.
Regardless of which drivers you choose to install, you must
install all files from the installation. Failing to do so may
result in the Windows not being able to detect your 3D Blaster
RIVA TNT2 card. If this occurs, reboot your system to Windows Safe
Mode and reinstall the 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 Drivers.
3. SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY ISSUES
a) General
If your system hangs during games, video playback, or 3D
applications, try the following:
i) Ensure that you have sufficient disk space in your hard
drive.
ii) Contact the vendor or their website for an update.
iii) Install the latest DirectX 6.1 drivers, which you can
find on your 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 CD.
iv) Reinstall the 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 driver, this will ensure
that the drivers' preferred settings have been preserved.
v) If you are using Windows OSR2 version with an Intel
chipset motherboard, un-install the Intel Vgartd drivers
or disable the AGP support. The Intel Vgartd drivers may
cause compatibility problems with the 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2
or any AGP 2.0 devices. ( see "How to Disable AGP support"
section below for instructions). If you are still having
compatibility problems, please refer to the motherboard
compatibility section below.
b) Motherboard compatibility with AGP Cards
If you are still experiencing random screen corruption or
system hangs when you run certain games, during video
playback, or 3D applications, you can try the following:
i) Ensure that you have the following suggested settings in
your system BIOS setup:
1. Enable "Assign IRQ to VGA" if possible.
2. Disable "VGA Palette Snoop".
3. Disable "Video BIOS Cache" and "Video BIOS Shadow".
4. Disable "C800-CBFFF Shadow" or similar options.
5. Set AGP Aperture Size to about half the size of
system RAM size.
ii) If you have an older LX series motherboard and are
experiencing problems, check with your system vendor to
update your system BIOS.
iii) If you are overclocking your CPU, you might want to
revert to the original clock settings.
iv) You might want to disable AGP support. (see "How to
Disable AGP support" section below for instructions).
c) How to disable AGP support
Warning: Disabling AGP support will affect graphics
performance negatively. If this option does not solve your
problem, you should re-enable AGP support by clearing the
Disable AGP support checkbox.
To disable AGP support:
i) Right-click your desktop, and then click Properties on
the menu that appears.
ii) Select Blaster Control tab from your Display Properties.
For Windows 98 users, click the Setting tab, then click
the Advanced button. In the Advanced Properties dialog
box, click the BlasterControl tab.
iii) Click the Tweak Icon at the top the page.
iv) Click the Advanced button on the page, the Advanced
Settings page will be displayed.
v) Select the Other Options page.
vi) Under the Display Options section, check the Disable AGP
Support checkbox.
4. KNOWN PROBLEMS
a) Windows 98 Multimonitor Support
Before attempting to use Multimonitor support, make sure
that your monitors are connected to your VGA adapters. If
you fail to do so, you must run ASD.exe from your Windows
directory and select the 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 card before
re-attempting to use Multimonitor support.
b) Lines on the screen is not drawn correctly when playing some
D3D games.
This problem can be resolved by disabling Hardware Anti-
Aliasing option in the Advanced Properties dialog box, "More
D3D page" of BlasterControl.
c) A system operating on the retail version of Windows 95
reports "Unable to Load Display Driver".
Windows 95 attaches a generic PCI VGA display adapter driver
to any card it does not immediately recognize. When the
3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 driver loads, Windows 95 fails to detach the
generic driver.
This is fixed with the OSR2 release of Windows 95.
To fix this, do the following:
i) Go to Start\Control Panel\System\Device Manager.
ii) Double click on "Other Devices."
iii) Highlight "PCI VGA-Compatible Display Adapter" and
click on the "Remove" button.
iv) Click "OK" and restart the system.
v) The system should prompt you to install the 3D Blaster
RIVA TNT2 driver.
vi) Install the 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 driver, the system will
reboot and should recognize the 3D Blaster RIVA TNT2 card.
5. GENERAL NOTES
a) DPMS
If you are experiencing lockup in low-power standby mode, try
disabling the DPMS feature in the motherboard BIOS.
b) Windows 95 OSR 2.1
Only OSR 2.1 version (with USB supplement) of Windows 95 has
the system files that supports AGP. To check whether your
Windows 95 is a OSR 2.1, look into this registry key:
HKEY_LOCATE_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\
The data for VersionNumber should be 4.03.1212 and above.
c) AGP Aperture
The motherboard's BIOS setting for AGP Aperture should be 8MB
and above. Otherwise the DirectDraw/Direct3D will fail to use
hardware acceleration (HAL).
d) GART Vxd
The current GART (Graphics Address Remap Table) Vxd for Intel
chipset (LX440/BX400) does not work well with the 3D Blaster
RIVA TNT2 card and other AGP 2.0 devices. For motherboard with
other non-Intel chipsets ( namely SIS, VIA and ALI), please
check the availability of similar Vxd from your motherboard/
chipset manufacturer.
For VIA motherboard, make sure you are using VIAGART.VXD
version 2.0 and above. This Vxd can be obtained from the
motherboard manufacturer.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.