™ NV1 ™

WINDOWS 95 MULTIMEDIA ACCELERATOR

CUSTOMER EVALUATION KIT

CEK 1.22
Installation Guide

October 26, 1995 DOC-15-RIN

The information in this document is subject to change

 Copyright © 1995 by NVidia Corporation

All rights reserved

This software may not, in whole or in part, be copied through any means, mechanical, electromechanical, or other-
wise, without the express permission of NVidia Corporation.

You are granted the right to install the software on computers for the purpose of software or hardware development.

Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, NVidia assumes no responsibility for the
consequences of use of such information nor for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties which
may result from its use.

Specifications mentioned in this software are subject to change without notice.

NVidia is a registered trademark of NVidia Corporation

NV, NV1, NVidia Corporation and NV Unified Media Architecture are trademarks of NVidia Corporation

Additional material copyright 1994 Microsoft Corporation. Intel Indeo(TM) driver software copyright 1994 Intel
Corporation. Adobe Acrobat(TM) reader copyright 1995 Adobe Systems, Incorporated. Compatibility Software (c)
1984, 1992 Phoenix Technologies Ltd, All Rights Reserved.

All other brand names and product names mentioned in this publication are trademarks or registered trademarks of
their respective companies.
 Contents

CHAPTER 1 Introduction
About the Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Kit Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

CHAPTER 2 Pre-Installing with NV1 Advisor

Executing NV1 Advisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

CHAPTER 3 Installing NV1 Hardware

Installing NV1 Windows 95 Multimedia
Accelerator Evaluation Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using Windows 95 Support

Software
Installing Windows 95 Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Using the NV1 Board in Windows 95 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

CHAPTER 5 Installing and Using DOS Support Software

Installing DOS Support Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Using DOS Support Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
 Contents

CHAPTER 6 Installing and Using Demonstration Programs

Installing the Demonstration Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Using the Demonstration Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Video Memory Required for Double Buffering. . . . . . 22

CHAPTER 7 System Configuration and Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
PCI System Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chipset Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
BIOS Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Checking NV1 Chip Revision Number . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Running a Monochrome Display Adapter . . . . . . . . . . 29
Installing NV1 to Compaq Presario or Prolinea. . . . . . 29

Appendix A NV1 MIDI Implementation Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

 CEK 1.22 Installation Guide
About the Documentation

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

Welcome to a new dimension in interactive multimedia! The NV1 Windows

95 Multimedia Accelerator delivers an unprecedented interactive
experience. This breakthrough product combines real-time photorealistic 3D
graphics, video-based special effects, full-motion video acceleration,
concurrent high-fidelity wavetable audio, a high-precision digital (and
analog) game port and a Sega game pad port. NV1-based products offer
advanced arcade-level features that transform the PC into the ultimate
multimedia machine.

About the Documentation

The Installation Guide leads you through installation of the NVidia

Customer Evaluation Kit (CEK) software and hardware. First, you’ll run the
NV1 Advisor program, a DOS-based utility which determines if your system
is optimally configured prior to installation. Then, Chapter 3 helps you
install the NV1 Windows 95 Multimedia Accelerator Evaluation board and
Chapter 4 covers installing and using Windows 95 support software. Chapter
5 details installing and using DOS support software. Exciting demonstration
programs are introduced in Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 provides trouble-
shooting information.

Additional information on features and known problems of the release can

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Kit Contents

be found in the companion document, Release Notes. Both Installation

Guide and Release Notes are written for a technical audience and are
available in hard copy and online. Adobe Acrobat reader for Windows is
included on the CEK CD-ROM in the \ACROBAT directory. Run the
Acroread executable ([Link]) to enable the program.

Please contact NVidia Customer Support (support@[Link]) for more

information about any portion of the Customer Evaluation Kit.

Kit Contents

Your Customer Evaluation Kit (CEK) features the following items:

NV1 Windows 95 Multimedia Accelerator Rev E Evaluation Board (ASSY

BRD-002-E-XX)
ROM containing Revision 26 or higher BIOS
CD-ROM audio cable
Joystick adapter
Audio patch cable
Sega game pad board and cable

The CEK CD-ROM

Software to support NV1 Evaluation Board
Demonstration programs
MIDI sound libraries
Online documents and Adobe Acrobat reader

NV1 Advisor disk

NV1 Advisor utility

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 CEK 1.22 Installation Guide
System Requirements

Documentation
Installation Guide
Release Notes

System Requirements

Minimum Configuration Recommended Configuration

486-66 DX/2 with PCI bus 90 MHz Pentium-class processor or later, with
PCI bus

8 MB system memory 16 MB or more system memory

MS Windows 95 MS Windows 95

Powered speakers or headphones (optional) Powered speakers or headphones

IBM-compatible joystick (optional) IBM-compatible joystick
Sega(TM)-compatible game pad(s)

Sound card (optional) Sound card

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System Requirements

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Executing NV1 Advisor

CHAPTER 2 Pre-Installing with NV1 Advisor

Run the NV1 Advisor before installing the NV1 hardware and software.
This DOS-based utility safely and quickly checks your system prior to
installation to ensure that your system is optimally configured.

Executing NV1 Advisor

The NV1 board represents the latest in multimedia technology and is fully
compliant with PCI specifications. Some systems need a BIOS update in
order to be PCI compliant. The NV1 Advisor checks your system to find
potential issues before they are encountered.

The NV1 Advisor utility is executed from the floppy disk. The commands
are entered in DOS. Change to the drive designator for your 3.5" floppy
drive and run NV1 Advisor ([Link]). The NV1 Advisor program
is also located on the CEK CD-ROM in the \DIAGS directory for the
purpose of making a replacement floppy disk.

The NV1 Advisor will check your system. If compliance issues are found,
the NV1 Advisor will prompt with a message.

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Executing NV1 Advisor

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Installing NV1 Windows 95 Multimedia Accelerator Evaluation Board

CHAPTER 3 Installing NV1 Hardware

Installing NV1 Windows 95 Multimedia Accelerator Evaluation

Board

1. Remove any existing graphics board.

If your system has video on the motherboard, skip to Step 2.
2. Locate an unused PCI bus expansion slot that supports bus mastering;
you will use this slot for the NV1 board. Locate an unused ISA slot near
the PCI slot; you will use this backpanel space for the Sega game pad
board.
Remove the corresponding expansion slot covers on the computer
chassis.
3. Connect the NV1 CD-ROM audio cable.
A. Connect the single-connector end of the audio cable to the input
connector on the Multimedia Accelerator board.
B. The multi-connector end of the audio cable has five connectors for
compatibility with a wide variety of CD-ROM drives. Attach the
appropriate connector to the output connector on the back of the CD-
ROM drive.

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Installing NV1 Windows 95 Multimedia Accelerator Evaluation Board

4. Attach the Sega game pad board to the NV1 board. Pin 1 on the NV1
board is marked with a small up arrow. See the diagram for pin 1
location on the Sega game pad board.

Red Stripe
pin
1

5. Insert the NV1 board and the Sega game pad board into the appropriate
slots. Secure the boards to the chassis.
6. If you are using a sound card in your system, you’ll need to pass its
output through the NV1 board using the audio patch cable included in
the CEK.

RJ-11 (phone-style) Joystick connector

D-Shaped VGA monitor connector

Audio Line In (CD, sound card, or tape player)

Microphone

Audio Line Out (Headphones or speakers)

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 CEK 1.22 Installation Guide
Installing Windows 95 Support

CHAPTER 4 Installing and Using Windows 95

Support Software

Installing Windows 95 Support

This section provides Windows 95 installation procedures for three

scenarios: Installing NV1 to a system currently running Windows 95,
installing Windows 95 to a system that is currently running NV1, and
upgrading NV1 Windows 95 drivers from a previous version. Choose the
procedure that is right for you.

Adding the NV1 board to a Windows 95 system

This procedure assumes you are running Windows 95 with VGA drivers on
a third-party video card. An automated installation program for Windows 95
support is not currently available. Display drivers and multimedia drivers are
installed manually and must be added in order: display drivers first followed
by multimedia drivers.

1. Install the NV1 board. See "Installing NV1 Hardware" on page 7.

2. Install the Display Adapter Driver.
A. Power on your system. Windows 95 displays a dialog box indicating

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Installing Windows 95 Support

"New Hardware Found—A PCI VGA Compatible Display Adapter."

Choose to install drivers from a disk provided by the hardware manu-
facturer.
B. Type the appropriate path to the CEK CD-ROM.
Drivers are copied to the system directory.
C. Choose No when asked to restart the system.
3. Install the Multimedia Device Driver.
A. Windows 95 displays a dialog box indicating "New Hardware
Found—A PCI Multimedia Device." Choose to install drivers from a
disk provided by the hardware manufacturer.
B. Type the appropriate path to the CEK CD-ROM.
Drivers are copied to the system directory.
C. Choose Yes when asked to restart the system.
Some systems experience a long pause after restarting. If you can’t
run Windows 95 after restarting, see "System Configuration and
Troubleshooting" on page 23.
4. Change the Resolution.
A. Open Display Properties.
(Start, Settings, Control Panel, Display)
B. Choose Settings and adjust the color palette, desktop area and font
size as you wish.
C. Click OK. You may be asked to restart Windows for changes to take
effect.

Installing Windows 95 on a system running an NV1 board

This procedure assumes your system is currently running an NV1 board in
standard VGA mode and you wish to install Windows 95.

If you are upgrading from Windows 3.x, boot Windows in Safe Mode
before beginning the NV1 upgrade procedure—failure to do so could cause
your system to crash. See your Windows 95 documentation for information
about booting Windows in Safe Mode.
1. Install Windows 95

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Installing Windows 95 Support

2. Install the Display Adapter Driver

A. Open Device Manager.
(Start, Settings, Control Panel, System)
B. Double click Other Devices.
C. Double click PCI VGA-Compatible Display Adapter.
D. Under the Driver tab, click the Change Driver button.
E. Select Display Adapters. Click OK.
F. Click the Have Disk button.
G. Type the appropriate path to the CEK CD-ROM.
H. Click OK to approve NVidia NV1 VGA-Compatible Device.
I. Click OK to approve the PCI VGA-Compatible Display Adapter
properties page.
Drivers are copied to the system directory.
J. Choose No when asked if it is okay to restart the system.
3. Install the Multimedia Device Driver
A. From Device Manager, double click Other Devices.
B. Double click PCI Multimedia device.
C. Under the Driver tab, click the Change Driver button.
D. Select Sound, Video and Game Controllers. Click OK.
E. Click the Have Disk button.
F. Type the appropriate path to the CEK CD-ROM.
G. Click OK to approve NVidia NV1 Multimedia Device.
H. Click OK to approve the PCI Multimedia Device properties page.
I. Drivers are copied to the system directory.
J. Choose Yes when asked to restart the system.

Updating NV1 drivers

This procedure assumes you are running NV1 and Windows 95 and want to
update your NV1 drivers to the current version. Display drivers and
multimedia drivers are installed individually. The MIDI bank file setting
should be added or confirmed—see "Setting the MIDI bank file" on page 12.
1. Update the Display Adapter driver

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Using the NV1 Board in Windows 95

A. Open Device Manager.

(Start, Settings, Control Panel, System)
B. Double click Display Adapters. Double click NVidia NV1 VGA-
Compatible device.
C. Under the Driver tab, click the Change Driver button.
D. Click the Have Disk button.
E. Type the appropriate path to the CEK CD-ROM.
F. Click OK to approve NVidia NV1 VGA-Compatible Device.
G. Click OK to approve the NVidia NV1 VGA-Compatible Adapter
properties page. Drivers are copied to the system directory.
H. Choose No when asked to restart the system.
2. Update the Multimedia Device driver
A. From Device Manager, double click Sound, Video and Game
Controllers.
B. Double click NVidia NV1 Multimedia device.
C. Under the Driver tab, click the Change Driver button.
D. Click the Have Disk button.
E. Type the appropriate path to the CEK CD-ROM.
F. Click OK to approve NVidia NV1 Multimedia Device.
G. Click OK to approve the PCI Multimedia Device properties page.
Drivers are copied to the system directory.
H. Choose Yes when asked to restart the system.

Using the NV1 Board in Windows 95

Setting the MIDI bank file

This release provides two MIDI sample sets, or bank (.BNK) files: a 1 MB
sample set ([Link]) that may be used on all systems and a 6 MB
sample set ([Link]) that provides even higher sound quality for
systems which have a minimum of 16 MB of main memory. The small MIDI
bank file setting is added during the installation procedure. Instructions to

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Using the NV1 Board in Windows 95

change to the large MIDI bank file setting follow; use only if you have 16
MB or more system memory.
1. Open Device Manager.
(Start, Settings, Control Panel, System)
2. Double click Display Devices. Double click Sound, Video and Game
Controllers.
3. Double click NVidia NV1 Multimedia device.
4. Under the Settings tab, select the MIDI bank file of choice and click
OK.
5. Choose Yes when asked to restart the system.

Using the audio quality switch

There is a switch in the [NVidia] section of the [Link] file to optimize
audio quality in your system. The audio switch is "audioquality" and can be
set "true" or "false," as follows:
[NVIDIA]
AUDIOQUALITY=FALSE

Setting audio quality to true provides lower polyphony and higher quality
audio, false (default) provides higher polyphony with lesser audio quality.
No audioquality setting in your [Link] is the same as the "false"
setting. Be sure to exit and restart Windows after adding the switch for it to
take effect.

Tuning systems with small memory configurations

If you have 8 MB or less in your system and Windows performance is
sluggish, we recommend that you change the [Link] line in the
DOS file to use only 512K memory for Windows.
C:\WINDOWS\SMARTDRV 2048 512

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Using the NV1 Board in Windows 95

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 CEK 1.22 Installation Guide
Installing DOS Support Software

CHAPTER 5 Installing and Using DOS Support

Software

Windows 95 provides two methods for running MS-DOS applications: the

MS-DOS box and MS-DOS exclusive mode. Windows 95 includes a
database ([Link]) of applications known to be unstable when executed
from a DOS box and it polls this database each time it receives a command
to execute a DOS program. When Windows 95 encounters an application
noted in the database, it issues a message that it will run the application
from MS-DOS exclusive mode (also known as MS-DOS mode).

The Windows 95 DOS box functions much like the Windows 3.x DOS box,
but has many limitations. A large number of applications do not run well
from an MS-DOS box due to performance and memory issues. Also, sound
and extended video modes in the DOS box are not currently supported by
NVidia. We recommend installing MS-DOS exclusive mode support.

Installing DOS Support Software

When switched to MS-DOS mode, Windows 95 removes itself from

memory to provide the application maximum use of system resources and
runs [Link]. NVidia DOS support software must be located on the

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Installing DOS Support Software

hard drive and the [Link] file must be configured prior to

switching to MS-DOS mode.

Install NVidia DOS support as follows.

1. The NVidia Windows 95 installation procedure does not copy the DOS
files from the CEK CD-ROM. You must manually copy the NV\DOS and
NV\MIDI directories from the CEK CD-ROM to the hard drive before
using DOS functionality.
2. To configure [Link], add the following lines to the end of the
[Link] file located in the Windows 95 directory. It is not
necessary to restart Windows 95 after editing this file.
SET NVMIDI=P330
SET NVDIR=C:\NV
SET NVJOY=ON
C:\NV\DOS\[Link]
Where
P330 is the MPU-401 address. Options are 330, 300, 230, or
OFF. Set to OFF to use another MPU-401 device in your
system.
C:\NV is the full path to the NVidia directory on your hard
drive.
NVJOY toggles DOS joystick support. Set ON to use the NV1
joystick port. Set to OFF use another joystick port in your
system.
C:\NV\DOS is the full path to the location of the [Link] file
on your hard drive. [Link] provides support for MPU-401
MIDI, DOS joystick, and extended VGA/SVGA video modes.

Setting up a custom startup configuration

For even more control over the execution environment of the DOS
application, you can set up a custom startup configuration by detailing
specific [Link] and [Link] settings. If you choose to use
this feature, be sure to add the same lines you added to [Link] to
the end of your custom [Link]. You also need to place
[Link] in your custom [Link].

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Using DOS Support Software

Using DOS Support Software

Setting an application to run in DOS mode

You may want an application to run in DOS mode each time it is executed.
This may be required if the application is not present in the Windows 95
database. Change the execution mode for an application as follows.
1. Open Explorer and right-click the executable file for the application.
2. Select Properties, click the Program tab, then click the Advanced
button.
3. In the Advanced dialog box, check MS-DOS mode.
4. Click OK to exit.

Shutdown to DOS mode

It is possible to place your system entirely in MS-DOS Mode and run DOS
applications from the familiar DOS command line.
1. From the Start button, choose Shutdown.
2. Check Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode and click Yes.

The system will execute [Link], then drop to a DOS command

line. When finished in DOS, type EXIT at the prompt to return to Windows
95.

Installing and Using the DOS Mixer

The CEK CD-ROM contains a mixer to control the MIDI, CD, and Line In
volume of DOS applications in a DOS box or DOS mode. The NVidia
Windows 95 installation procedure does not copy the mixer file from the
CEK CD-ROM. You must manually copy the file ([Link]) from the
NV\DOS directory on the CEK CD-ROM to the hard drive before using.

The mixer responds to arrow and tab key commands. To run the DOS mixer,
type MIXER from the directory on your hard drive that contains the
executable file.

Command-line options are also available for controlling mixer settings from

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Using DOS Support Software

batch files. Type MIXER /? from the directory on your hard drive that
contains the executable file for a description of the command-line options.

Using DOS Memory Managers

The PC has evolved substantially in the past 15 years, but the original
memory architecture limitation of 640k conventional memory still causes
headaches. Memory managers such as Microsoft EMM386 and Quarterdeck
QEMM assist in arranging the system memory layout to achieve maximum
conventional memory; proper use of these tools can achieve conventional
memory totals above 600k.

Since part of the NVidia DOS emulation exists within a software TSR, you
need to find space available in conventional memory. The initial size of the
DOS emulation software is over 40k (.EXE size) and only drops below 20k
after loading. The memory manager must find room for the initial size in
upper memory. EMM386 often has problems finding a memory space large
enough in upper memory, but QEMM can often find enough room with a
good optimization.

The NV1 uses a preset range of system memory above the 640k boundary in
order to communicate with the DOS emulation software. This memory
window exists within the standard PC Monochrome Display Adapter
(MDA) memory space, located within the 32k from B000:0 to B7FF:F. It is
important that the memory manager does not attempt to reuse this memory
as extra storage, or the system may become unstable and crash. See
"Running a Monochrome Display Adapter" on page 29.

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Installing the Demonstration Programs

CHAPTER 6 Installing and Using Demonstration

Programs

Direct applications such as 3-D Viewer are 32-bit Windows applications

which use the NV Unified Media Architecture interface to enable hardware
features of the Multimedia Accelerator. The following programs are
included on the CEK CD-ROM to demonstrate the NV Unified Media
Architecture approach to multimedia acceleration.
• 3D Viewer—NV virtual reality simulation, including MIP-mapping
• Shapes—NV quadratic demonstration
• Quad Texture—NV quadratic texture explorer
• Rotate AVI—Video on a curved surface demonstration

Installing the Demonstration Programs

Prior to running the demonstration programs and direct applications

• Be sure your display driver is running at 800x600x32K resolution. See
Step 4 under "Installing Windows 95 Support" on page 9.
• Copy the demonstration programs and direct applications to your local

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Using the Demonstration Programs

hard drive. The demonstration programs perform better when run from a
hard drive due to the slow access time of CD-ROM.

Using the Demonstration Programs

• Each demonstration program and direct application is run individually

from its subdirectory under NV\DEMOS on your hard drive; do not run
more than one at a time.
• Run the executable file (.EXE) to start each demonstration program.
• Check the About dialog box for a summary of function keys.

3D Viewer
This program demonstrates how the high-speed quadratic texture mapping
of the controller allows rapid, immersive, perspective-corrected, and MIP-
mapped presentation of a 3-D environment. 3DVIEW allows real-time
navigation around the inside of rooms (attic or chapel). These views were
captured as a series of bitmaps "looking" in six directions (up, down,
forward, backwards, left, and right). 3DVIEW samples these bitmaps in
realtime for a set of quadratic textures to generate the current view of the
room. The other two views (factory and checkerboard) are provided to
demonstrate perspective correction.

When you open a file, the cursor moves to the center of the window; press
and hold the right mouse button and move the mouse to rotate the room up/
down or right/left. Window resizing is supported and in/out zoom function
is controlled with the HOME/END and PgUp/PgDown keys. Notice the
following:
• As the room is rotated, the parallel lines in the wall surfaces are perspec-
tive corrected (lines meet on the imaginary horizon).
• As the view zooms, detail is maintained through on-the-fly MIP-map-
ping to sample pixels for texels.

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Using the Demonstration Programs

Shapes
This program demonstrates the difference between bilinear and quadratic
texture mapping in 3-D modeling. Use the Options-Shapes functions to
compare the same object in bilinear versus quadratic models. Quadratic
Texture Mapping provides a far more realistic rendition using many fewer
control points, minimizing the computational load on the CPU.

A bilinear texture has four control points (easy to calculate movement) and
is represented with a flat-sided, flat surface without perspective correction.
A quadratic texture has nine control points, but the resulting surface can
appear curved and perspective-corrected. It has a real-world appearance
without requiring hundreds of polygons.

Each object can be moved and rotated with the mouse or automatically
using the Options menu. The number of control points can be increased in
the bilinear model (Patches function) to improve the realism, but redraw
performance drops due to overhead to calculate additional control points.
Home and End keys will scale the object.

Quad Texture
This interactive demo lets you adjust the nine control points of a quadratic
texture while rotating it and zooming it as with the other demos. Only the
nine control points need to be transformed to world coordinates—the texture
doesn't change. The source to this program is available in the NV Software
Development Kit—contact Customer Support (support@[Link]) for
more information.

Rotate AVI
This program demonstrates video warping onto a curved surface. With
NVidia's forward texture mapping, the CPU supplies the texture so video is
just a texture which changes every frame.

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Video Memory Required for Double Buffering

Video Memory Required for Double Buffering

The following table illustrates minimum on-board video memory necessary

to achieve double buffering at each possible resolution. NV1 boards are
available with 1, 2, and 4 MB video memory. Please check with NVidia
Customer Support if you are uncertain which board you have.

Double buffering is important when running NV1 direct application and

demonstration programs.

Table 1: Video Memory

Single Buffer Double Buffer

High Color True Color High Color True Color

Resolution 256 Color 32K Color 16M Color 32K Color 16M Color

640x400 1 1 1 1 2

640x480 1 1 2 2 4

800x600 1 1 2 2 4

1024x768 1 2 4 4 n/a

1152x864 1 2 4 4 n/a

1280x1024 2 4 n/a n/a n/a

1600x1200 2 4 n/a n/a n/a

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Troubleshooting

CHAPTER 7 System Configuration and

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

Symptom While running multiple audio files under Windows, it sounds like there are
notes that are not being played.
Solution The performance of the NV1 card is dependent on how well the chipset
used in your PCI system can meet the demand of a high performance, bus
mastering PCI card. The NV1 card starts "dropping notes" on audio files
when the system is unable to keep up with the demands of the application.
This is necessary to keep the system from locking up.
Be sure that system memory cache (if available) is enabled and the system is
set up to maximize its performance. In general, system memory cache
(typically 256K) is required for maximum performance.

Symptom [Link] reports, "ERROR: No PCI interrupt detected."

Solution During boot-up, your system assigns a PCI interrupt to the NV card which
is validated by NVidia’s initialization utility. When an invalid interrupt is

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Troubleshooting

assigned, the error message is displayed and the card will not function prop-
erly.
The NVidia Multimedia Accelerator card is one of the first PCI graphics-
based accelerator cards to utilize interrupts. By definition, PCI systems
automatically assign interrupts to PCI devices. If you have early PCI system,
you may have to manually ensure that an interrupt is assigned to the slot
where the NV1 card is located. Most manufacturers have an Advanced
Settings section of the system setup program which allows you to specify the
interrupt assigned to the PCI slot.
If all interrupt assignments have been tried and the problem persists, your
PCI system probably needs a BIOS upgrade from your system manufacturer
as outlined in "BIOS Compatibility" on page 27.

Symptom ISA add-in cards, such as SCSI controllers, hang on boot-up after the
NVidia Multimedia Accelerator card is installed; boot-up correctly with a
different PCI video card installed.
Solution The NVidia Multimedia Accelerator card is one of the first PCI graphics-
based accelerator cards to utilize interrupts. By definition, PCI systems
automatically assign interrupts to PCI devices. If you have an early PCI sys-
tem, you may have to manually ensure that the interrupt assigned to the ISA
card is not the same interrupt being used by any other card (PCI or ISA).
Most manufacturers have an Advanced Settings section of the system setup
program which allows you to specify the interrupts assigned to the PCI slot
and ISA add-in cards.
If all interrupt assignments have been tried and the problem persists, check
with your system manufacturer. It is likely that your system will not support
both PCI (level-based ) and ISA (edge-based) interrupts at the same time—
you’ll need to use either PCI add-in cards or ISA add-in cards.

Symptom No video or system hangs during initialization screen.

Solution Make sure that the NV1 card is the only video display card installed in your
system and you have commented out any other video display drivers in your
[Link]. If this is the case, it is likely that you have an older PCI sys-
tem which requires a BIOS upgrade from your system the manufacturer, as

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PCI System Compatibility

outlined in "BIOS Compatibility" on page 27.

The BIOS in a Micron system may be assigning the NV1 board an incorrect
interrupt; two of the three PCI slots assign interrupt 15 which often "steps
on" other devices. Try moving your NV1 board to another PCI slot and
rebooting.

If you have a Compaq Presario or Prolinea, please see "Installing NV1 to

Compaq Presario or Prolinea" on page 29.

PCI System Compatibility

The NVidia Multimedia Accelerator card is a PCI multi-function card. The

first function is Function 0—a VGA-compatible controller. The second
function is Function 1—a Bus Master controller requiring a 32 MB region of
memory and the use of interrupts.

The system BIOS and chipset are the two areas of the system responsible
for ensuring PCI compatibility. NVidia has encountered several systems in
which the system BIOS does not configure a PCI multifunction card
correctly. Proper motherboard chipset implementation and use of interrupts
has also been an issue.

We have incorporated code to correct these configuration issues, however

there may be issues with some early (before mid-April 1994) 486- and
Pentium-based PCI machines.

The PCI specification calls for interrupts to be active low, level, and
sharable and the NVidia Multimedia Accelerator card requires a PCI Bus
Master slot. If possible, ensure that PCI configuration options available
under the system setup program are set properly.

Some system setup programs have a PCI Configuration section of the setup
utility. The typical choices for interrupt usage are AUTO, LEVEL, or
EDGE. The interrupt assigned to the NVidia Multimedia Accelerator card
must be level-based rather than edge-based. The default choice by the

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Chipset Compatibility

system manufacturer is generally AUTO. If a random system hangs occur,

try manually setting the interrupt. When either LEVEL or EDGE is chosen,
an interrupt value (typically 9, 10, or 11) must also be assigned to the
specific PCI slot or to PCI interrupt INTA.

Chipset Compatibility

There are several chipset manufacturers who provide PCI chipsets to system
manufacturers for use in their systems. Following is a list of chipsets and
the potential issues associated with them.

These issues are completely dependent on the specific motherboard imple-

mentations using the particular chipset. One system with the chipset may
have no problems, while another may exhibit failures.

Chipset Intel 82434EX (Aries)

SiS 85C496/497
Symptom Performance degradation under Windows, most noticeably with audio,
when the built-in IDE controller is being used. (The on-board IDE control
lines are multiplexed with the PCI address/data lines, limiting the perfor-
mance of the PCI bus.)
Solution Use an IDE controller card in an ISA slot and disable the on-board IDE.

Chipset Intel 82434FX (Triton-A1 stepping)

Symptom System hang during Windows 95 initial install. Occurs when upgrading to
Windows 95 after the NVidia Multimedia Accelerator card is installed in a
system which also uses a PCI Bus Master SCSI controller card. (Problem is
associated with the default Standard VGA driver used by Windows 95 and
doesn’t persist once NVidia’s Windows 95 drivers are loaded.)
Solution Please refer to the Installation Guide for the recommended procedures for
upgrading to Windows 95 and installing the NVidia Multimedia Accelerator
in a Windows 95 system.

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BIOS Compatibility

BIOS Compatibility

NVidia has corrected all known BIOS configuration issues with the
exception of the system BIOS and motherboard chipset combinations listed
here. BIOS revision information is usually displayed at the top of the initial-
ization screen. Most BIOS manufacturers (including AMI, Phoenix, Award,
SystemSoft, Compaq, IBM, Intel, HP) have continually upgraded their
BIOSs in an effort to resolve many compatibility issues. Contact your
system manufacturer to verify you have the most recent BIOS available for
your system.
Motherboard/BIOS AMI BIOS 12/15/93.
Located at the bottom of the initialization screen:
51-0100-00000-00101111-121593-0596822-P
Symptom No video or system hang initialization screen. The NV1 card is not prop-
erly recognized by the system BIOS.
Solution Upgrade system BIOS.

Motherboard/BIOS Phoenix BIOS 4.02.

Symptom No video or system hangs on the initialization screen. The NVcard is not
properly recognized by the system BIOS.
Solution Upgrade system BIOS.

Motherboard/BIOS Phoenix BIOS 1.03.

Symptom No PCI interrupt detected by [Link].
Solution See "Troubleshooting" on page 23.

Motherboard/BIOS Clone Motherboard, Award 4.50G Modular BIOS 10/8/94.

Chipset Fugutech Chipset; ALI PCI/ISA Chipset - M1449, M1451.
Symptom No video. The NV1 card is not properly recognized by the system BIOS.
Solution Upgrade system BIOS.

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Checking NV1 Chip Revision Number

Motherboard/BIOS ASUS Motherboard (PVI-486SP3 Victoria), Award BIOS 4.50G Modular

BIOS.
Chipset SiS Chipset.
Symptom The NVidia Multimedia Accelerator is not properly recognized by the sys-
tem BIOS.
Solution Upgrade system BIOS.

System/BIOS AST Bravo MS-T P/133, AST 1.04 BIOS.

Chipset Sis Chipset.
Symptom Unable to boot DOS or Windows after installing the NVidia Multimedia
Accelerator. Subsequent reboots cause system lock-up.
Solution Upgrade system BIOS.

Checking NV1 Chip Revision Number

The CEK CD-ROM contains a program to poll the NV1 chip and return the
revision number of the first NV1 board found in the system to your screen.

The NVidia Windows 95 installation procedure does not copy the file from
the CEK CD-ROM. You must manually copy the file (REV_NUM.EXE)
from the NV\DIAGS\PCI directory on the CEK CD-ROM to the hard drive
before using.

The program must be executed from MS-DOS Exclusive Mode (see

"Installing DOS Support Software" on page 15) and will not run if
EMM386 is loaded. To run the program, type REV_NUM from the directory
on your hard drive that contains the executable file.

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Running a Monochrome Display Adapter

Running a Monochrome Display Adapter

A portion of the DOS 1 MB memory map (B0000-B7FFF) is reserved for

MDA (monochrome display adapter) address space. Most systems don’t use
monochrome screens any more, so this part of the DOS address space is free
for other purposes. The NV1 BIOS uses a portion of this space, so you may
have to tell memory manager to exclude this region when using NV1.

B02 and later versions of the NV1 chip map in the MDA region to prevent
Windows 3.x and Windows 95 VxDs from using the MDA space.

The CEK CD-ROM contains a program that instructs NV1 not to map
memory to the initial portion of the MDA space, allowing you to use your
monochrome display for monochrome text. Do not use applications that use
Hercules Graphics Mode or multiple pages of monochrome display space.

Manually copy the file (MDA_OFF.EXE) from the NV\DIAGS\PCI

directory on the CEK CD-ROM to the hard drive before using.

Add MDA_OFF to your [Link] file prior to running Windows.

You may also need to add MODE MONO and MODE C080 commands to
initialize the MDA immediately following the MDA-OFF line.

Caution: Only run MDA-OFF if you are using a monochrome display

adapter.

Installing NV1 to Compaq Presario or Prolinea

Following is the Windows installation procedure for Compaq Presario and

Prolinea systems using an add-in video card (such as the NV1 card) and not
the on-board video. This procedure should be followed only if the standard
installation instructions did not work on your Presario or Prolinea.
1. Start in Windows with the NV1 Card Installed
A. Insert the NV1 card into an available PCI slot. Do not move the video

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Installing NV1 to Compaq Presario or Prolinea

cable from the on-board connector to the NV1 board until instructed
in Step 2.L.
B. Power on your system and start Windows.
C. Compaq’s Control Center will report a message that a VGA
controller has been added—click OK. At this point, on-board video is
still in use.
D. A STOP dialog box will notify you that in order for changes to take
effect the computer must be restarted. Would you like to restart now?
Click No.
2. Change Video Selection in Compaq Control Center
A. Open Compaq group and double click the Compaq Control Center
icon.
B. Choose Computer Setup, Add-in Devices, PCI Boards. A list
dialog box will appear. The embedded Cirrus VGA compatible
controller will be highlighted.
C. Click View, Change.
D. Click Resources Disabled, then click OK twice.
E. A list dialog box will appear. Under the System Options there are
three choices. Click Enable Interrupt Sharing. An X will appear.
F. Highlight VGA Compatible Controller (SGS-Thompson Micro-
electronics) and click View.
G. Highlight Logical Device 0: Resources Disabled and click
Change, Resources Enabled.
H. Click OK twice.
I. Click OK and Close. You should be back at the initial Computer
Setup screen.
J. Choose File, Save Settings, and Exit.
K. A STOP dialog box will notify you that in order for changes to take
effect the computer must be restarted. Would you like to restart now?
Click Yes.
L. Power off your system and switch the video cable from the on-board
connector to the NV1 VGA card connector. When you power-on,
your system will be using the NV1 Windows 95 Multimedia Acceler-
ator card.

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Installing NV1 to Compaq Presario or Prolinea

Appendix A. NV1 MIDI Implementation Chart

Function Transmitted Recognized Remarks

Basic Default x 1 - 16
Channel Messages x 1 - 16

Basic Default x Mode 3

Channel Messages x x
Altered ********** x

Note x 0 - 127
Number True Voice ********** 0 - 127

Velocity Note ON x o
Note OFF x x

After Key’s x o
Touch Ch’s x o

Pitch Bend x o Default: +/- 2

octaves

1 x o Modulation wheel
6,38 x o Data entry LSB,
7 x o MSB
10 x o Volume
Control 11 x o PanPort
Change 64 x o Expression
100,101 x o Hold Pedal
120 x o RPN LSB, MSB
121 x o All sound off
Reset all controllers

Program x o
Change True # ********** 0 - 127 Program # 1 - 128
System Exclu- x o
sive

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Installing NV1 to Compaq Presario or Prolinea

Function Transmitted Recognized Remarks

System Song Pos x x

Common Song Sel x x
Tune Req. x x

System Clock x x
Real Time Commands x x

AUX Local ON/OFF x x

Messages All notes OFF x o (123-127)
Active sensing x x
System reset x x

Notes All channels respond to MIDI volume (including drums).

Default power up: Pitch Bend=2 semitones, Master Vol-
ume=100
Controller Defaults: Pitch Bend=center, Modulation=off,
Expression=127 (max), Hold Pedal=off
RPN supported are Pitch Bend Sensitivity (00h,00h), Master
Fine Tuning (00h, 01h), Master Course Tuning (00h, 02h) and
RPN reset.

Mode 1: Omni ON, Poly Mode 2: Omni ON, Mono o : YES

Mode 3: Omni OFF, Poly Mode 4: Omni OFF, Mono x : NO

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