my compaq contura 4/25 wont show any colors and i cant change the settings to super vga 256 colors because i dont have the windows 3.1 disks anymore, is there any other way to change the color

Are you sure that your hardware will support color? I have a Toshiba Satellite 1910 that only displays in black and white. Perhaps if you post the exact model of Contura (not to mention the DOS/Win ver.) you have more details could be provided. In the mean time if you really want to try using SVGA without being sure what your system is capable of then Lightspeed has an SVGA driver on his site: http://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/win3x.htm

**Be warned: if your system cannot handle SVGA it won't boot past the the Windows Splash screen or will produce gibberish on the screen. You'll have to edit your system.ini via the DOS command EDIT to resolve this.

I would suggest using a program like SAW, System Analyst Wizard, or SysChk46 to determine exactly what you have installed. Personally I prefer SysChk46, it's a shareware program that is run from DOS and works pretty well. You can get the program here: http://syschk.com/
I'm sorry I don't have a link for SAW. Of course you could always just boot to a DOS prompt and run the command MSD and use the built in Microsoft Diagnostics program to determine what you have.

Without knowing more about your system that's about as much as I can offer.

It's probably hopeless without the Windows installation diskettes - it's also somewhat improbable that a 486 would have a mono display

fwiw: SAW

Computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weigh 1 1/2 tons.

- Popular Mechanics, 1949

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its running on windows 3.1 dos version 6.22 if that helps

Not really.

You'll need to ID the video adapter and find the appropriate Win3xx driver *as well as* the Win31 installation disks in order to install.

I'm not sure what you folks without the actual disks expect(?)

"wont show any colors"

What do you mean by that? Unless it is a monochrome or else greyscale VGA, the Windows default is 16 colours. Higher resolutions/greater colour depth depends on how much video ram is on the adapter, and having the correct driver. Minimum VRAM for 256 colours is 512K

Computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weigh 1 1/2 tons.

- Popular Mechanics, 1949

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i have enough ram...is there a store that still sells windows 3.1 diskettes?

i tried going through windows setup and changing it to super vga 256 colors but i accidentaly used the disks for windows 3.11, it didnt work so i changed it back to black and white but now when my computer starts up it shows the windows 3.11 startup screen in spanish instead of the 3.1 startup screen. is there any way to change it back

The Compaq Contura Aero 4/25 (if that's what you have) is, as far as I know, a monochrome display computer. I happer to own a Contura Aero 4/33c (c meaning "color"), which is the color model. However, even the color Contura Aero does not support SVGA - only VGA, 480x640, 16 colors. Under these circumstances, I believe it's useless to search for a color SVGA display - very simply, the system doesn't support it!

BTW, the best link for the Contura Aero is Uli Hansen's page - http://ulihansen.kicks-ass.net/aero/index.htm

You will learn many things regarding this great machine!

"i have enough ram"

Don't confuse system RAM (memory) with video ram - two separate things (older machines didn't 'share' like some modern ones do)

Overall, your posts are quite confusing - it sounds like you have messed things up pretty badly and may need to reinstall - which would be quite a trick considering that you claim not to have the disks

If you have mono or greyscale hardware, then as suggested, nothing's going to give you colour (ever) with that setup

Computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weigh 1 1/2 tons.

- Popular Mechanics, 1949

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then why in the windows setup does it say it supports super vga 800x600 256 colors

This going nowhere fast.

you don't have the setup disks, you won't clarify much of anything asked and it sounds like you've partially installed a different version of Windows.

As suggested, probably time to start over

good luck & have fun

Computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weigh 1 1/2 tons.

- Popular Mechanics, 1949

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T: it is possible you are right and wrong,
I used to have a DELL 386 Laptop whcih
would only show BW640x480 max on the
screen. If one attached a 14" Monitor lo
and behold 256 color 640x480 if not better!

I know this seems illogical but 15years ago
Color Screens were not the norm on laptops
and were had at a premium, but for
the manufacturer it is cheper to source only
one VGA Chipset.

ok i found the 3.1 diskettes so im just gonna reformat the drive and reinstall it...unless someone tells me to do otherwise

Well, just to mention that Win31 is not an operating system, it runs on DOS, so there is no pressing need to erase what is likely a working OS in order to reinstall Windows. If you do format, you would be obliged to reinstall the DOS before proceeding with Win31 again.

All you really need to do is to remove the Windows folder with deltree (if available)

deltree /y c:\windows

.. to eradicate the windows folders and subfolders, leaving the DOS intact

Computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weigh 1 1/2 tons.

- Popular Mechanics, 1949

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thanks plainandsimple it was just the monitor.

Good grief - - that was only mentioned *repeatedly* to you

A mind is a terrible thing to waste

Computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and perhaps only weigh 1 1/2 tons.

- Popular Mechanics, 1949

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