Highest resolution and color with 1MB?

[Steve309]

I got an old computer for free that has onboard video with only 1MB. I can seem to go to 800x600, but if I go to 16 bit color the screen gets wacky. According to my calculations I should be able to do it: 800x600x16/8/1024 = 937.5K. Is this correct?

I don't think I'm using the right video drivers, but if I can't go to that color depth with 1MB I'm not going to search for them.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Looney]

What kind of monitor are you using? It could be the monitor's frequency, especially if the monitor is really old.

 

[Steve309]

Nope, unfortunately changing the refresh rate didn't make a difference.

Last night I tried looking for the correct drivers. I found drivers on Compaq's web site (it's a Compaq Proliant 4/100) for Windows NT, but they'd only allow a max of 16 colors! Also, in the BIOS setup 16 bit color is enabled for the adapter. Oh well, looks like I'm stuck at 256 colors. I shouldn't have expected too much working with an old computer.

Thanks for the suggestion though .

 

[Dan]

why don't you disable the onboard video and add a video card with more memory?

 

[Steve309]

I'll have to check out the documentation I downloaded from Compaq. I'm not sure if I can disable it, but it's worth a look. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Cpt. Duke]

I 2nd Munchausen's comment.

 

[Steve309]

It should, but the test image just looks all screwy. I think this computer is about 6 years old, and Compaq's documentation is pretty spotty. I'm only using it to learn networking off of so I'm not using it for any games or high end graphics.

I'm running NT on it, maybe if I was using Win 98 it would work correctly. Thanks for all your input though .

 

[ET]

My memory doesn't stretch that well 6 years back. I think I remember this problem with Cirrus Logic chips, but I have no idea how to fix it.

Do you know what graphics chip you have in that computer? (Maybe the control panel will tell you.)