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Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Leland Charon who wrote (9006)	10/7/1999 11:56:00 PM
From: hasan syed	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

Leland, after battling w/ IBM tech support (who suggested their onboard video will "automatically" disable when a multimonitor video card is added), I simply gave up. Here's what happened: I purchased (in late 1997) an Appian dual monitor video card called the Jeronimo J2. Not knowing that my IBM couldn't accomodate it, I proceeded to open the box, install it and boot up. Well, low and behold, the computer starts in "safe" mode (grade and white screen). I proceeded to telephone IBM tech support and ran through all their hoops. We tried everything (even reformatting as one tech suggested...sometimes I wonder about these folks...) and nothing helped. Realizing that this is more like Plug and Pray, rather than a simple upgrade, I gave up. I asked a gentleman who builds generic boxes to help me. He tried and was also unsuccessful. Finally, I proceeded to contact a professional computer consulting firm that not only services PCs for large firms, but manages all types of hardware from servers to mainframes. I figured if anyone knew what to do, these folks would. Well, after 1 wk, they told me that the dual monitor video card works great....but only in one of their machines. My Aptiva wouldn't take it. I called the video card manufacturer and they took back the card and refunded my money. Fast fwd to summer 1998. I hear about all this multimonitor support for win98. Obviously, this is something I have been craving for quite some time. I once again contacted Appian, had numerous precautionary phone calls w/ tech support prior to purchase (Lisa Epstein is the mgr of tech support) and she suggested that regardless of which card I select, I need to make sure there isn't any onboard video chipset on the motherboard. Well, it was time to upgrade anyway, so I ordered an Appian Jeronimo J3 quad and ordered the dell p2 400. Let me say this, you do not need a multimonitor video card like the Appian. They're expensive and not for everyone. For Real Tic 3, my primary application, its ideal for me. In any computer, regardless of manufacturer, you can have multimonitor support with ordinary video cards in your PCI slots (or your PCI and AGP if they're the same chipset, but the PCI remains as your primary). In fact, you can stick in as many "similar" chipset videocards into your free PCI slots as you wish. If you are succesful in putting together multimonitor support on your Aptiva, kindly let me know. I'd love to hear how you did it. Best of luck. Regards, Hasan