Installing and playing games

[Dave]

I have windows xp home edition on my laptop. When I
install a game and go to play it, it will automatically
minimize into my task bar. When I click restore, it acts
like it will play, but a few seconds later, it minimizes
again. It keeps doing this. I also went into dxdiag and
clicked on display. When I click the test direct 3d
button, it starts but then it also minimizes and a screen
pops up that says "you canceled the test by pressing a
key". Any info you can give will be appreciated.

 

[Vagabond Software]

I have windows xp home edition on my laptop. When I
install a game and go to play it, it will automatically
minimize into my task bar. When I click restore, it acts
like it will play, but a few seconds later, it minimizes
again. It keeps doing this. I also went into dxdiag and
clicked on display. When I click the test direct 3d
button, it starts but then it also minimizes and a screen
pops up that says "you canceled the test by pressing a
key". Any info you can give will be appreciated.

There is not much I can offer here except that if you have a Dell Inspiron with an XGI display adapter, you may have driver confusion on your system. I would recommend going to Dell's web-site, plugging in the service tag number, and downloading the display drivers and display specifications.

If you do not have a Dell, it would help to know what kind of display adapter your system thinks you have. I believe your problem is definitely driver related. My initial gut feeling is that you are attempting to run OpenGL games with a display adapter driver that does not support OpenGL.

carl