Dock II (2877) Windows 98 drivers?

[tdot]

I decided to put it in this section since it covers multiple different sections of ThinkPad models ...

I recently got a Dock II (2877) for my A22m. Windows XP detects/installs all drivers no issue. Windows 98 gets very lost with half the controllers. Does anyone have the Windows 98 drivers for a Dock II (or a Dock I maybe, if they shared some)? I've looked in the thinkpads.com drivers section, as well as Lenovos site, and Google, and I can't seem to find them.

The Lenovo page still up on the Dock II only specifically says "Windows 95 and Linux are not supported". I assume that means Windows 98 drivers DO exist, somewhere ...

I really need to make a Voodoo 2 run on my A22m!

Thanks,
Ryan

[CrazyTPFan]

There might not be any Windows 98 drivers because as you said there were no 95 drivers and those OS'es are built on the 9x kernel.

[tdot]

There might not be any Windows 98 drivers because as you said there were no 95 drivers and those OS'es are built on the 9x kernel.

I'm pretty sure they would exist ... somewhere ... the A20m was released before XP was released, and was supported by the docks. I don't think it would be like IBM to release a product that won't work with a configuration of a product they designed that product for.

I guess at the end of the day, I could probably locate the Win9x drivers individually using the drivers XP installed as a reference. It would just be nice if they had released a driver pack or something that someone has ...

[tdot]

Just as a follow up to answer my own question,

a) I was being stupid - 2 of the 3 drivers missing drivers were the LAN/modem, which I assume it just prompted me for (again) since I had done a fresh install and had never installed them in the first place.
b) There is ONE Win9x driver required for the dock, but it is easily available. On the thinkpads.com A22m drivers page, there is a "CMD Ultra DMA IDE driver" which is actually for the dock.

That solved all missing drivers!

Sadly, the Voodoo 2 is dead. I realized the 256 pin chip had a chunk of pins bent/cracked off the board. I tried to repair it but failed pretty bad. Those 0.25mm pitch pins are probably why BGA was invented ...
I still want to get a Voodoo running in this thing

[CrazyTPFan]

@tdot please post an update when you get a voodoo running in their. I would love to see something like that! It would essentially make it a fully fledged 90s desktop.

[tdot]

@tdot please post an update when you get a voodoo running in their. I would love to see something like that! It would essentially make it a fully fledged 90s desktop.

Still going to try! I have a Voodoo 3 on the way. It *looks* slightly smaller than the Voodoo 2, so I'm really *hoping* it will fit into the docking station on its own ... otherwise I'll just use the PCI extender I have for now until I can think of a better solution ...

[tdot]

Well, it finally arrived after 4 weeks! (Canada Post strike - they completely ignored all international shipments in favor of national ones)

I'm not exactly sure which revision it is, but it's obviously a PCI version of the Voodoo 3 (since Dock II has no AGP port)

Here is a picture of it:
https://imgur.com/tLRmto1

Luckily, it will JUST fit in the Dock II. There was no chance of ever getting the Voodoo 2 in there, but the 3 will just make it. It's a little tight - without the screw holding it in place, pushing it down will cause the regulator heatsink to contact with the Dock II motherboard, but with the screw in place there's a reasonable amount of clearance.

You can see how much it fills the Dock II:
https://imgur.com/aMWH8Lo

By default, the A22m BIOS is set for 'PCI when available'. This makes the Voodoo 3 the primary device, but for some reason seems to disable/not even load the built in AGP graphics. You'll have to go into the bios and set the AGP card as the primary device, to get dual monitor working.

As for compatibility, XP will load its own Voodoo 3 driver by default - but games have issues (missing glide DLLs?). I tried installing all available XP drivers for the Voodoo 3 (there are a few 3rd party ones), but they all resulted in a system lock-up on boot. But, who wants to use a Voodoo 3 in XP anyway?

The Win9x drivers installed flawlessly with no issues at all, and the few games I've tried (GTA1 and Battlezone 1) work flawlessly on it. Both of these games worked fine previously on the A22m (most do) built in graphics, but GTA1 can only run 3D accelerated under glide (so it looks significantly better), and Battlezone 1 looks significantly better on the Voodoo 3 versus the built in Rage Mobility. Also, it could just be the screen is significantly better than the terrible panel in the A22m...

Now, I really want to go back and try Metal Gear Solid, which was the only 3D game I found that would NOT work on the A22m (the Rage Mobility outputted nothing but a garbled mess, no matter which drivers I tried). Plus of course, now I can run all Glide only games accelerated (gonna install some Unreal)

GTA1 Glide:
https://imgur.com/JAVU0CS

Battlezone 1 (Direct3D on Voodoo3? I assume?):
https://imgur.com/2GUmXTE



I kind of wish I had one of the A22* versions with the SVideo inputs, it would be REALLY cool to see if I could play a game on the Voodoo3 with a VGA->SVideo adapter, and put the SVideo signal full screen on the laptops internal screen... but I think that would be more trouble than its worth

[CrazyTPFan]

@tdot This thing looks awsome!

[tdot]

@tdot This thing looks awsome!

Thanks! It should probably also work with anything compatible with the Dock II or Dock I (such as your R52), provided it has Win9x drivers available for the system ...

The only other problem I could see is if any DOS titles won't run under Windows - the A2* and X20/21 and T20/21/22 have a DOS compatible SoundBlaster chip, but the rest of the Dock II compatible systems do not.

[CrazyTPFan]

@tdot This thing looks awsome!

Thanks! It should probably also work with anything compatible with the Dock II or Dock I (such as your R52), provided it has Win9x drivers available for the system ...

The only other problem I could see is if any DOS titles won't run under Windows - the A2* and X20/21 and T20/21/22 have a DOS compatible SoundBlaster chip, but the rest of the Dock II compatible systems do not.

If I want to use a dock I or II I'll have to use my R31. The R52 has no Windows 98 drivers. (EDIT: I can use my "new" R52/T42 FrankenPad with the dock.)

[tdot]

Thanks! It should probably also work with anything compatible with the Dock II or Dock I (such as your R52), provided it has Win9x drivers available for the system ...

The only other problem I could see is if any DOS titles won't run under Windows - the A2* and X20/21 and T20/21/22 have a DOS compatible SoundBlaster chip, but the rest of the Dock II compatible systems do not.

If I want to use a dock I or II I'll have to use my R31. The R52 has no Windows 98 drivers.

Hmm, I'm not sure they will work with an R31. According to ThinkWiki the Dock II (Model 2877) and Dock I (Model 2631) aren't compatible with the R31. But I have no idea, it could just be missing the model.


As an update, I spoke too soon. GTA and Battlezone ran just great after plugging it in. It took me HOURS to get MGS (yes, it finally works now with the Voodoo 3) and Unreal working. MGS trying to switch graphics modes (and Unreal trying to go fullscreen with Glide) was completely locking up the system. I finally decided to play around with the IRQ assignments of the PCI busses in the BIOS (it seems to be A in the BIOS, that is shared with the Dock PCI, the non-DOS sound chip, and the AGP card). It's 11 by default, but it seems to like being 10 better. This stopped hanging the system and messing up Windows, but they still didn't work right. I played around with Voodoo drivers, updated the Voodoo BIOS, and finally decided to turn Hardware Acceleration down one notch in the Display Adapter settings. FINALLY they started working. I'm starting not to miss the "good old days" anymore

[pkiff]

I have a variety of Voodoo drivers and tools from when I had Voodoo cards installed in my SelectaDock systems. From what I recall, most of my drivers were targeted at the Voodoo 5. But I just checked and see that I have a 3dfx driver for Windows 9x in a folder labelled Voodoo 3 that is identified as v1.07.00 (2000-12-18). It's an exe file named "v3-w9x-1.07.00.exe". Let me know if you want it.

I also have some tools that I forget whether they worked in my Docks or not, and whether they worked with Voodoo 3 or more Voodoo 5: Voodoolizer, MesaFX, 3D Analyzer, WickedGL....you can go down a deep rabbit hole trying to tweak those cards for those docks.

The last online location I used to go to for up-to-date Voodoo drivers and technical know-how info is an Italian discussion forum - they have lots of areas in English. I just checked it, and even though they have some spammy stuff happening now, it looks like they still have a deep collection of files and tools for Voodoo cards:
http://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/3dfx/voodoo3/drivers/
and
http://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/3dfx/voodoo3 ... windows9x/

Phil.