Black screen on WB after a few minutes

[Kristian95]

I'm running OS 3.9 on my A4000T.
The Amiga has a Picasso IV card (WB resolution set to 1024 x 768 at 24bit colour).
It also has an eFlash card, a CSPPC card and only memory on that card (98 mb). If I run WHDLoad games the black screen issue never appears, if I quit the game and go back to WB though, I get that black screen after a few minutes.

I am running the system on a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW lcd screen, and by black screen I mean I get an "error message" from the screen saying this is not an optimal resolution and the screen goes black.

[Kristian95]

I found the cause of my problem but I don't know how to solve it
It seems that the gfx settings from my P-IV card are at a too high refresh rate for my lcd monitor, as when I run it on a crt monitor the image stays there just fine.
I have tried many times to access the early start menu for the P-IV board (both holding down left or right or both shift keys or tapping them) to no avail When I try using PicassoModeTNG I can't seem to be allowed to save settings, I read the guide on the Amiga but was left none the wiser Can someone help me out please ??

[a_petri]

Originally Posted by Kristian95

I found the cause of my problem but I don't know how to solve it
It seems that the gfx settings from my P-IV card are at a too high refresh rate for my lcd monitor, as when I run it on a crt monitor the image stays there just fine.
I have tried many times to access the early start menu for the P-IV board (both holding down left or right or both shift keys or tapping them) to no avail When I try using PicassoModeTNG I can't seem to be allowed to save settings, I read the guide on the Amiga but was left none the wiser Can someone help me out please ??

Dear Kristian95,

the P-IV early start menu can be a little tricky to activate. For me, it only works if I start tapping the right Shift button *repeatedly* at the very moment I push the power button... But your problem lies elsewhere.

The PicassoModeTNG program assumes that Picasso96 is installed correctly, and the Picasso IV is the active monitor (set in Prefs:ScreenMode). Moreover, it won't allow you to save until you actually do something - like create or select a monitor description.

I suggest the following procedure:
- copy the files "DEVS:Picasso96Settings" and "DEVS:Picasso96Settings.info" to somewhere (PicassoModeTNG will overwrite these files)
- after starting PicassoModeTNG, click Continue
- select "Generic 64 kHz monitor", click Copy, rename it to your monitor's name
- set the horizontal and vertical frequency limits according to your monitor's specification (or you can leave them as is - the defaults should be OK for LCD monitors)
- click Continue again, select the current Workbench display mode from the right side list - it should be "PicassoIV:1024x768 (16M, xx Hz, yy kHz)"
- click Continue again, now you are on the important screen
- set the "Scan rate (Hz)" setting to 60 - it should be OK for all LCD monitors, and almost surely this is set too high
- click "Test computed settings", check that the whole test pattern shows (you can move the screen's position with the arrow keys)
- if you want to be sure, wait a few minutes and/or check the frequencies on the OSD menu of the monitor, then press Enter
- click "Keep computed settings"
- select "Save | PicassoIV Default Configuration" from the menu - it should be active now
- exit PicassoModeTNG - it will offer to reboot the Amiga (do reboot it)

If this was successful, it would be advisable to set the scan rate of other modes (at least the other PicassoIV:1024x768 ones) as well.

[Kristian95]

Great, I got it working from PicassoModeTNG Thanks a_petri!! On to my next problems