Creative Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Manual
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................1
Preliminary step for Windows 95 users.......................................................................3
Installing Your Graphics Card.....................................................................................4
Installing Software.......................................................................................................6
Changing Settings......................................................................................................10
About Sonnetech Colorific/3Deep.............................................................................12
Getting More Information .........................................................................................14
Technical Specifications............................................................................................16
Troubleshooting.........................................................................................................20
Introduction
The Graphics Blaster™ RIVA TNT2™ Value is a high quality 2D/3D/video graphics
accelerator card that is well suited for a wide variety of applications ranging from everyday
desktop use to gaming and entertainment.
Leveraging NVIDIA
™
’s RIVA TNT2 graphics controller, the Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2
Value delivers high quality and performance. Its dual texture architecture can process 2 pixels
or textures per clock cycle; this enables developers to create special effects such as multilayered textures, bump mapping to simulate rough surfaces, and environmental mapping that
gives objects reflective properties. Developers can take advantage of advanced filtering modes
(including trilinear mipmapping and anisotropic filtering) with full scene anti-aliasing to create
realistic images that rival more expensive graphics workstations.
Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value
Installation Guide
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2 Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Guide
The Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value provides outstanding 2D and video acceleration as
well and also supports software DVD decoders through hardware color and pixel format
conversion.
Serial and Model
Numbers
Your card’s serial and model numbers can be found at the back of the card. We recommend
that you record the serial and model number below. This information will be useful in the
event that you need to contact our Technical Support staff for troubleshooting or your dealer
for warranty service.
Before You Begin
The README file on the CD-ROM contains information not a vailable at the time of printing.
Read the file before you continue. In addition, read the following:
❑ Minimum System Requirements
❑ Updating Drivers
Minimum System
Requirements
❑ IBM
®
PC 100% compatible
❑ Genuine Intel Pentium II, Pentium III, AMD-K6 or AMD-K6-2 processor running at
90 MHz or higher
❑ 32 MB RAM
❑ 15 MB free hard disk space
❑ Vacant 32-bit AGP 1.0 expansion slot for Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value
❑ VGA monitor
Table 1: Serial numbers and model numbers.
Hardware Product Codes Numbers
Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value
Serial Number
Model Number
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Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Guide 3
❑ CD-ROM drive installed
❑ Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 (with Service Pack 3),
or Windows 2000 (when available)
Updating Drivers
To download the latest drivers for Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value, visit Creative’s Web
site (refer to the
Technical Support
leaflet for details).
Preliminary step
for Windows 95
users
Since Windows automatically detects new hardware and starts the software installation
procedure upon startup, you should verify your Windows version number before installing the
graphics card.
To verify your Windows 95 version number
1. Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel window, double-click the System icon.
Your Windows 95 version number is displayed in the General tabbed page of the Systems
Properties dialog box.
3. Note the version number.
The following are the possible Windows 95 version numbers:
❑ 4.00.950 (Retail version)
❑ 4.00.950A (Retail version)
❑ 4.00.950B (OSR version 2 and 2.1)
❑ 4.00.950C (OSR version 2.5)
Check the appropriate box so that
you can refer to the Windows’
version number quickly during
the software installation process.
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4 Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Guide
Installing Your
Graphics Card
Figure 1 shows you the connectors on the Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value card.
To install the graphics
card
1. Switch off your computer and all peripheral devices.
2. Disconnect the power cord from the wall outlet.
3. Touch any metallic surface on your computer to discharge any static electricity.
4. Remove the computer cover.
5. Locate a free AGP expansion slot.
Figure 2 shows the various types of e xpansion slots.
6. Remove the metal plate from the AGP slot.
Keep the screw and metal plate for future use.
7. Align the bus connector of the graphics card with the
expansion slot.
Figure 1: The Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value card.
AGP bus connector
VGA Out connector
Connects to your monitor via a monitor cable.
Video Expansion connector
Connect to a video expansion board.
If you are replacing an existing
VGA card with Graphics Blaster
RIVA TNT2 Value, please
remember to remove the existing
VGA card.
Figure 2: Types of expansion slots.
An AGP slot
A PCI slot
An ISA slot
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Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Guide 5
8. Press the card’s bus connector gently and evenly into the slot, making sure that the bus
connector comes into full contact with the slot. Then, secure the card to the computer casing
with a screw. See Figure 3 below.
9. Connect the monitor cable to the VGA Out connector of Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2
Value, as shown in Figure 4.
10.Replace the computer cover and plug the power cord back into the wall outlet.
Figure 3: Securing the graphics card to the slot.
ii.Secure the card to the slot
with a screw.
i. Gently and evenly press the card’s
bus connector into the slot.
Warning: Do not force the graphics card
into place. If it does not fit properly, gently
remove it and try again.
If you are using a multifrequency monitor, you may need
a special 15-pin PS/2-compatible
adapter cable. If your multifrequency monitor allows you to
switch between ‘TTL’ and
‘analog’ operation modes, set the
switch to ‘analog’. For details,
refer to your monitor’s manual.
Figure 4: Connecting your VGA monitor to Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value.
VGA Out
connector
Graphics Blaster
RIVA TNT2 Value
VGA Monitor
cable
VGA monitor
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6 Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Guide
Installing Software
After installing the graphics card, you can install the software. The Graphics Blaster RIVA
TNT2 Value CD contains the following:
❑ Drivers for Windows 95/98 (common to both)
❑ Drivers for Windows NT 4.0
❑ Creative Enhanced BlasterControl
™
for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0
❑ Creative SoftMPEG for Windows 95/98
❑ Sonnetech Colorific®/3Deep™ for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0
This section is organized as follows:
❑ To install in Windows 95 (Retail version)
❑ To install in Windows 95 (OSR version 2.0 and later)
❑ To install in Windows 98
❑ To install in Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 3)
To install in
Windows 95
(Retail version)
1. Switch on your system.
Windows 95 automatically detects the
graphics card.
A New Hardware Found message box
appears, informing you that a display
adapter has been detected.
2. When a dialog box similar to Figure 5
appears, ensure that the Driver from disk
provided by hardware manufacturer
option is selected.
3. Click the OK button.
4. Insert the Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2
Value CD into your CD-ROM drive.
Figure 5: Selecting the Driver from disk provided by
hardware manufacturer option.
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Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Guide 7
5. In the Install From Disk dialog box, type D:\WINDOWS (where D: represents your
CD-ROM drive) and click the OK button.
6. If prompted to select drivers, click the Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value drivers.
The drivers are copied to your system.
7. When prompted to restart your system, click the Yes button.
8. After the system has restarted, proceed to install the applications. Click Start -> Run.
9. In the Run dialog box, type D:\WINDOWS\SETUP and click the OK button.
10.Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the setup.
If you do not install all the applications now, you can install them later.
To install in
Windows 95
(OSR version 2.0 and
later)
1. Switch on your system.
Windows 95 automatically detects the graphics card.
A New Hardware Found message box appears, informing you that a display adapter has
been detected.
2. When a dialog box similar to Figure 6
appears, click the Next button.
3. Click the Other Locations button when it
appears in the Update Device Driver
Wizard dialog box.
4. Insert the Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2
Value CD into your CD-ROM drive.
5. In the Select Other Location dialog box,
type D:\WINDOWS (where D: represents
your CD-ROM drive) and click the OK
button.
6. In the Update Device Driver Wizard
dialog box, click the Finish button.
7. In the Insert Disk message box, click the OK button.
Figure 6: The Update Device Driver Wizard dialog box.
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8 Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Guide
8. In the Copying Files dialog box, type D:\WINDOWS and click the OK button.
The drivers are copied to your system.
9. In the Update Device Driver Wizard dialog box, click the OK button.
10.When prompted to restart your system, click the Yes button.
11.After the system has restarted, proceed to install the applications. Click Start -> Run.
12.In the Run dialog box, type D:\WINDOWS\SETUP and click the OK button.
13.Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the setup.
If you do not install all the applications now, you can install them later.
To install in
Windows 98
1. Switch on your system.
Windows 98 automatically detects the graphics card.
An Add New Hardware Wizard message box appears, informing you that a display adapter
has been detected.
2. When a dialog box similar to Figure 7
appears, select the option Display a list of
all the drivers in a specific location, so
you can select the driver you want.
3. Click the Next button.
4. Insert the Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2
Value CD into your CD-ROM drive.
5. In the Models list box, click the Have Disk
button.
Figure 7: Selecting the option Display a list of all the
drivers in a specific location, so you can
select the driver you want.
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Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value Installation Guide 9
6. In the Install From Disk dialog box, type D:\WINDOWS (where D: represents your
CD-ROM drive) and click the OK button.
If you are installing Graphics Blaster RIVA TNT2 Value as a second or subsequent card to
make use of Windows 98’s multi-monitor capability, you will see an Update Driver
Warning message telling you that the driver you have selected may not w ork correctly . You
must
click the Yes button to confirm that you want to use the selected driv er. Otherwise, the
system will install the wrong driver and will not recognize the card as a Graphics Blaster
RIVA TNT2 Value card (for details, see “Windows 98 Multi-Monitor Display Problems” on
page 20).
7. In the Models list box of the Select Device dialog box, make sure the Graphics Blaster
RIVA TNT2 Value entry is selected and click the OK button.
8. Click the Next button.
9. Click the Finish button.
The drivers are copied to your system.
10.When prompted to restart your system, click the Yes button.
11.After the system has restarted, proceed to install the applications. Click Start -> Run.
12.In the Run dialog box, type D:\WINDOWS\SETUP and click the OK button.
13.Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the setup.
If you do not install all the applications now, you can install them later.
To install in
Windows NT 4.0
(Service Pack 3)
1. Switch on your system.
2. Click Start -> Run.
3. In the Run dialog box, type D:\WINNT40\SETUP and click the OK button.
4. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the setup.
If you do not install all the applications now, you can install them later.
5. If the Invalid Display Settings message box appears after your system has restarted, click
the OK button and change the display settings.
For details, see “To change the display settings in Windows NT 4.0” on page 10.
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