The following troubleshooting tips are general in nature. Be sure to consult the owner’s manual for your computer for specific details of your system that may be relevant to these suggestions.
| IMPORTANT
NOTE: The Voodoo3 card requires an IRQ. Your computer’s BIOS
should be able to assign an IRQ to the card automatically on boot-up. If the BIOS does not
automatically assign an IRQ to the card, try to assign one manually according to the
instructions for your computer. If your computer does not support the assignment of an IRQ for the display card, then you may need to upgrade the computer’s BIOS to have this option. Please refer to the instructions for your computer for more information about your computer and its BIOS. |
If you have trouble restarting your computer after installing your new Velocity 100 card…
Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
The questions and answers that follow should cover most of the common installation, compatibility, and software support issues for your new 3dfx Velocity 100 card.
| Hardware Installation |
Why does the computer fail to boot after installing the Velocity 100 card?
Check to be sure that the Velocity 100 card is properly seated in the AGP connector.
Some computers have a display device built into the system motherboard. If so, then the system's BIOS must have some method for completely disabling the on-board display device in order to allow the Velocity 100 card to function properly. Please refer to the instructions for your computer to determine if it has an on-board display device and how to completely disable it. You may need to contact the computer's manufacturer for a BIOS upgrade to allow this.
You may also need to contact the computer's manufacturer to obtain a BIOS upgrade, software patch, or updated Bus Mastering or AGP Port Drivers to allow your new Velocity 100 card to function properly in the system.
| Driver Support |
Why do the Velocity 100 card's display drivers fail to load, or report an invalid display type, or identify the Velocity 100 card as a Voodoo2-based or Banshee-based card?
If you have previously installed a graphics card based on another 3dfx chipset (i.e., Banshee, Voodoo2, etc.) into this computer, then Windows 95, 98, or NT 4.0 may attempt to use the device drivers for that older 3dfx-based card with the Velocity 100 card. This could cause any of the problems described. You will need to remove all of the older 3dfx drivers from your system and from the Windows Registry to completely resolve this problem. Even if these older drivers don't seem to be causing any problems, you should still remove them because their presence in the system can prevent your Velocity 100 card from fully delivering all of its 3D acceleration performance.
Why do 3D applications seem to slow down after installing the Windows NT 4.0 display drivers for the Velocity 100 card?
Install the Velocity 100 card's MiniGL driver from the Velocity 100 CD. Windows NT 4.0 does not allow software to completely and directly access the graphics hardware under Direct3D as well as it does under GL.
| Games and 3D Applications |
Why do some 3D games or applications produce unusual display problems like doubled text or generate error messages regarding the display adapter not being properly configured, or simply lock-up the system, or terminate unexpectedly?
Some 3D games or applications have been written to take direct advantage of the 3D processing power of 3dfx graphics accelerator chips using the Glide 3D Application Programming Interface (API). The Glide API has now been updated to version 3.0 to include the advanced 3D features and functions of the new 3dfx chipset. You should contact the manufacturer of your 3D games or applications to obtain a software patch that will allow your programs to fully access the advanced 3D power of your new Velocity 100 card.
Why do some 3D benchmark applications show that the Velocity 100 card has failed some of the 3D tests that it is supposed to support?
The shareware versions of some 3D benchmark applications may not be able to run all of the 3D tests that are available from the registered versions of the same software. They will indicate that the Velocity 100 card has failed these tests, when in fact the tests have not been run on the card at all. Anytime that you use benchmarking software to compare performance, you should always be very careful to ensure that you are using the same version of that software for each side of the comparison to obtain valid results.