Hi, this is a followup to a news thread I started a while back. I am
restoring on old Gateway2000 4DX-33 (33 MHz 486!). It has an on board
Cirrus Logic video chip and 1 MB of video RAM. I have now acquired a
Diamond Speedstar 64 ISA card, with 2 MB of video RAM and would like to
use it instead (better resolution).

However, I can't seem to figure out how to do this. I tried just
plugging the card in - it did not simply take over from the on board
stuff. In fact, the two video memories seemed to "fight" with each.
While I still had video output from the onboard Cirrus Logic stuff (but
none from the new Diamond card!) that video was really shaky/jittery. As
soon as I took the Diamond card out, it was clean as a whistle again.

I tried the BIOS, but no joy there either. There is no "disable on board
video" setting there.

So, I am down to hoping that there may be some motherboard jumpers that
disable the Cirrus chip, or perhaps some deliberate damage I could do
(cut a trace, bend a pin, whatever) to achieve the same result. However,
I can't seem to find any identifying model name/number on the
motherboard, making it difficult to find any documentation. I have
scanned it carefully, looking for any obviously named jumpers - of
course there are not any!

Per the earlier thread, I have the square Intel made motherboard with
the ISA slots up on a riser card that is perpendicular to the
motherboard. Does anyone recognize this machine/motherboard, and perhaps
still have some documentation on it?

Thanks!

Send me an email with your real email address in it and I can respond with a
Microsoft Word attachment that contains the best info possible about the board
you have.

Unfortunately, back in the dark ages of 486s, it was not always possible to
disable on-board video. Heck, some Pentium II systems with built-in video would
even refuse to work with an add-on video card... Ben Myers

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:05:00 GMT, Michael Campbell <> wrote:

>Hi, this is a followup to a news thread I started a while back. I am
>restoring on old Gateway2000 4DX-33 (33 MHz 486!). It has an on board
>Cirrus Logic video chip and 1 MB of video RAM. I have now acquired a
>Diamond Speedstar 64 ISA card, with 2 MB of video RAM and would like to
>use it instead (better resolution).
>
>However, I can't seem to figure out how to do this. I tried just
>plugging the card in - it did not simply take over from the on board
>stuff. In fact, the two video memories seemed to "fight" with each.
>While I still had video output from the onboard Cirrus Logic stuff (but
>none from the new Diamond card!) that video was really shaky/jittery. As
>soon as I took the Diamond card out, it was clean as a whistle again.
>
>I tried the BIOS, but no joy there either. There is no "disable on board
>video" setting there.
>
>So, I am down to hoping that there may be some motherboard jumpers that
>disable the Cirrus chip, or perhaps some deliberate damage I could do
>(cut a trace, bend a pin, whatever) to achieve the same result. However,
>I can't seem to find any identifying model name/number on the
>motherboard, making it difficult to find any documentation. I have
>scanned it carefully, looking for any obviously named jumpers - of
>course there are not any!
>
>Per the earlier thread, I have the square Intel made motherboard with
>the ISA slots up on a riser card that is perpendicular to the
>motherboard. Does anyone recognize this machine/motherboard, and perhaps
>still have some documentation on it?
>
>Thanks!

Hi Ben,

Thanks so much - I have sent you the requested email! I too am afraid
that the board may not support any graceful way of doing this, which is
why I am starting to consider intentional but focused "damage" I could
do to the board to simply disable that chip.

Thanks again, Michael


Ben Myers wrote:
> Send me an email with your real email address in it and I can respond with a
> Microsoft Word attachment that contains the best info possible about the board
> you have.
>
> Unfortunately, back in the dark ages of 486s, it was not always possible to
> disable on-board video. Heck, some Pentium II systems with built-in video would
> even refuse to work with an add-on video card... Ben Myers
>
> On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:05:00 GMT, Michael Campbell <> wrote:
>
>> Hi, this is a followup to a news thread I started a while back. I am
>> restoring on old Gateway2000 4DX-33 (33 MHz 486!). It has an on board
>> Cirrus Logic video chip and 1 MB of video RAM. I have now acquired a
>> Diamond Speedstar 64 ISA card, with 2 MB of video RAM and would like to
>> use it instead (better resolution).
>>
>> However, I can't seem to figure out how to do this. I tried just
>> plugging the card in - it did not simply take over from the on board
>> stuff. In fact, the two video memories seemed to "fight" with each.
>> While I still had video output from the onboard Cirrus Logic stuff (but
>> none from the new Diamond card!) that video was really shaky/jittery. As
>> soon as I took the Diamond card out, it was clean as a whistle again.
>>
>> I tried the BIOS, but no joy there either. There is no "disable on board
>> video" setting there.
>>
>> So, I am down to hoping that there may be some motherboard jumpers that
>> disable the Cirrus chip, or perhaps some deliberate damage I could do
>> (cut a trace, bend a pin, whatever) to achieve the same result. However,
>> I can't seem to find any identifying model name/number on the
>> motherboard, making it difficult to find any documentation. I have
>> scanned it carefully, looking for any obviously named jumpers - of
>> course there are not any!
>>
>> Per the earlier thread, I have the square Intel made motherboard with
>> the ISA slots up on a riser card that is perpendicular to the
>> motherboard. Does anyone recognize this machine/motherboard, and perhaps
>> still have some documentation on it?
>>
>> Thanks!

Hey Ben, could you confirm that you received the email I sent? I haven't
seen an email back from you, so I just wondering if my email to you got
stuck in a spam filter or some such. Thanks!

Michael Campbell wrote:
> Hi Ben,
>
> Thanks so much - I have sent you the requested email! I too am afraid
> that the board may not support any graceful way of doing this, which is
> why I am starting to consider intentional but focused "damage" I could
> do to the board to simply disable that chip.
>
> Thanks again, Michael
>
>
> Ben Myers wrote:
>> Send me an email with your real email address in it and I can respond
>> with a
>> Microsoft Word attachment that contains the best info possible about
>> the board
>> you have.
>>
>> Unfortunately, back in the dark ages of 486s, it was not always
>> possible to
>> disable on-board video. Heck, some Pentium II systems with built-in
>> video would
>> even refuse to work with an add-on video card... Ben Myers
>>
>> On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:05:00 GMT, Michael Campbell <> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi, this is a followup to a news thread I started a while back. I am
>>> restoring on old Gateway2000 4DX-33 (33 MHz 486!). It has an on board
>>> Cirrus Logic video chip and 1 MB of video RAM. I have now acquired a
>>> Diamond Speedstar 64 ISA card, with 2 MB of video RAM and would like
>>> to use it instead (better resolution).
>>>
>>> However, I can't seem to figure out how to do this. I tried just
>>> plugging the card in - it did not simply take over from the on board
>>> stuff. In fact, the two video memories seemed to "fight" with each.
>>> While I still had video output from the onboard Cirrus Logic stuff
>>> (but none from the new Diamond card!) that video was really
>>> shaky/jittery. As soon as I took the Diamond card out, it was clean
>>> as a whistle again.
>>>
>>> I tried the BIOS, but no joy there either. There is no "disable on
>>> board video" setting there.
>>>
>>> So, I am down to hoping that there may be some motherboard jumpers
>>> that disable the Cirrus chip, or perhaps some deliberate damage I
>>> could do (cut a trace, bend a pin, whatever) to achieve the same
>>> result. However, I can't seem to find any identifying model
>>> name/number on the motherboard, making it difficult to find any
>>> documentation. I have scanned it carefully, looking for any obviously
>>> named jumpers - of course there are not any!
>>>
>>> Per the earlier thread, I have the square Intel made motherboard with
>>> the ISA slots up on a riser card that is perpendicular to the
>>> motherboard. Does anyone recognize this machine/motherboard, and
>>> perhaps still have some documentation on it?
>>>
>>> Thanks!

Michael,

No email from you yet. Here's my email address: . Now
the spammers will go nuts and send me lots of offers for viagra and home loans.
So what? I get enough of those offers already just getting the mail and
watching TV.

.... Ben Myers

On Wed, 18 Apr 2007 01:25:47 GMT, Michael Campbell <> wrote:

>Hey Ben, could you confirm that you received the email I sent? I haven't
>seen an email back from you, so I just wondering if my email to you got
>stuck in a spam filter or some such. Thanks!
>
>Michael Campbell wrote:
>> Hi Ben,
>>
>> Thanks so much - I have sent you the requested email! I too am afraid
>> that the board may not support any graceful way of doing this, which is
>> why I am starting to consider intentional but focused "damage" I could
>> do to the board to simply disable that chip.
>>
>> Thanks again, Michael
>>
>>
>> Ben Myers wrote:
>>> Send me an email with your real email address in it and I can respond
>>> with a
>>> Microsoft Word attachment that contains the best info possible about
>>> the board
>>> you have.
>>>
>>> Unfortunately, back in the dark ages of 486s, it was not always
>>> possible to
>>> disable on-board video. Heck, some Pentium II systems with built-in
>>> video would
>>> even refuse to work with an add-on video card... Ben Myers
>>>
>>> On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:05:00 GMT, Michael Campbell <> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi, this is a followup to a news thread I started a while back. I am
>>>> restoring on old Gateway2000 4DX-33 (33 MHz 486!). It has an on board
>>>> Cirrus Logic video chip and 1 MB of video RAM. I have now acquired a
>>>> Diamond Speedstar 64 ISA card, with 2 MB of video RAM and would like
>>>> to use it instead (better resolution).
>>>>
>>>> However, I can't seem to figure out how to do this. I tried just
>>>> plugging the card in - it did not simply take over from the on board
>>>> stuff. In fact, the two video memories seemed to "fight" with each.
>>>> While I still had video output from the onboard Cirrus Logic stuff
>>>> (but none from the new Diamond card!) that video was really
>>>> shaky/jittery. As soon as I took the Diamond card out, it was clean
>>>> as a whistle again.
>>>>
>>>> I tried the BIOS, but no joy there either. There is no "disable on
>>>> board video" setting there.
>>>>
>>>> So, I am down to hoping that there may be some motherboard jumpers
>>>> that disable the Cirrus chip, or perhaps some deliberate damage I
>>>> could do (cut a trace, bend a pin, whatever) to achieve the same
>>>> result. However, I can't seem to find any identifying model
>>>> name/number on the motherboard, making it difficult to find any
>>>> documentation. I have scanned it carefully, looking for any obviously
>>>> named jumpers - of course there are not any!
>>>>
>>>> Per the earlier thread, I have the square Intel made motherboard with
>>>> the ISA slots up on a riser card that is perpendicular to the
>>>> motherboard. Does anyone recognize this machine/motherboard, and
>>>> perhaps still have some documentation on it?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks!