| Home |
| • | The IBM 5150's motherboard must have the third BIOS revision, the 10/27/82 one. (That BIOS supports BIOS expansion ROM's.) |
| • | The two video switches on SW1 (shown here) are to be set for: 5=ON, 6=ON (Otherwise the POST will complain when it doesn't find an MDA/CGA card.) |
| • | You must not assume that because a particular VGA card works in an IBM 5160 (IBM XT), that the same card will also work in an IBM 5150. |
| • | The documentation for some 16-bit VGA cards indicate that they work in an 8-bit expansion slot. You should not expect that to mean all 8-bit slots. Some of those cards are intended only for an 8-bit slot within an AT-class computer, and will not work in an IBM 5150. The maker's documentation for the card will indicate whether the card will work in an IBM 5150. |
| • | Some people have discovered that certain 8-bit compatible 16-bit VGA cards can be made to work in a 5150/5160 if the 8088 CPU on the motherboard is upgraded to a V20 CPU. And some people have discovered that it does not work. Note that such a CPU upgrade can sometimes cause a problem (example). |
| • | Some VGA cards have configuration switches and/or jumpers. An example is here. Refer to the card's documentation to ensure that those switches/jumpers are set appropriately. For the switches, do not confuse the off position with the on position. |
| • | 16-bit VGA cards that are known to work in an IBM 5150, sometimes need to be manually configured to run in 8-bit mode. Refer to the card's documentation, because configuration is done differently on different cards. |
| Note 1 | Printed on the PCB is, "TSENG LAB INC." and "P/N 8927". On power up, the card displays, "VGA-4000". Set the BIOS8/BIOS16 jumper to BIOS8 (force BIOS ROM reads into 8-bit mode). |
| Note 2 | I have one of these cards. The VGA-16 user's guide indicates 5150 (IBM PC) compatibility, and indicates how to force the card into 8-bit operation. But whilst I can get my card to operate in a 16-bit slot, I have been unable to get my card to operate in 8-bit mode (fitted to a 5150/5160/5170). Maybe my card is faulty. Also, I have noted that the user's guide indicates an FCC ID of D2A62LTJWBJC, whereas my card has the FCC ID of D2A62LVGA16. Maybe I have a later version of the card, in which 8-bit operation was dropped! |
| Note 3 | Model based on the fact that Western Digital released a card known as the 'Paradise VGA Professional', and the FCC ID of the subject card. |
| Note 4 | Model based on the fact that Western Digital (WD) released a card known as the 'Paradise VGA Plus 16', and printed on the subject card is 'PVGA PLUS-16'. Possibly a non-WD copy, because: 1. No FCC ID, and 2. BIOS stickers do not look to me like the kind of thing that WD would use. |
| Note 5 | 'OTI037C' is on the main chip. Not necessarily the model/part number of the card. Some card makers may have used the OTI037C chip on their card, but not made their card compatible with the IBM 5150. |
| Note 6 | From the web page: "PCB Version 1.0 requires a rework for compatibility with the original IBM PC and IBM XT computers, please see the Errata section below. This errata was fixed in the PCB Version 1.1" |
| Note 7 | Same as Sergey's 'ISA Super VGA' card, and so is expected to work in an IBM 5150. However, like that card, for IBM 5150 compatibility, the XT-SVGA needs to be of at least revision 1.1 (look for "Rev1.1" printed on the XT-SVGA card). |
