Question about video and DirectX

[Pflueger]

(Several days ago I posted this on one of the DirectX newsgroups, but out of
all the posts on those MS newsgroups the only post that got any responses
was one that complained about no one ever responding -- they called him a
troll! Weird.)

I recently got DSL and it provides ESPN video. I get it fine on my newer
laptop
but cannot get more than a blurry image on my PC ( late '90s HP Pavillion
with XP SP2) so I called ESPN Helpline -- was told I needed to contact HP
about getting DirectX 7 or 9.

Today I checked "dxdiag" and it said I needed to update something (I am
posting a few lines below). From Google I got the MS DirectX page and tried
to update from there, resulting in an error stating I need to see
DXError.log or DirectX.log in my Windows folder, neither of which exists.

That is about as far as I can go I guess until I understand how to go about
getting what I need from HP, i.e. is it a download, or...? I don't know
beans about DirectX but can follow instructions very well. Thanks. pflu

DxDiag Notes:
------------
DirectX Files Tab: The file qasf.dll is an old version, which could cause
problems. You should reinstall DirectX to get the latest version.
Display Tab 1: Hardware-accelerated Direct3D 9 is not available
because the display driver does not support it. You may be able to get a
newer driver from the hardware manufacturer.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

 

[Rich Barry]

Try here for the latest S3 Graphic Driver. Once updated DirectX may be
updated also.
http://www.s3graphics.com/en/drivers/legacy_software_archive.aspx

 

[Pflueger]

Thanks. I went to that website and updated the S3 Prosavage drivers, then I
downloaded and installed DirectX 9 as ESPN requires -- but the video is
still a multi-colored blur. I put the DirectX 9 in C/Program Files --is that
what I am supposed to do?

pflu

 

[Pflueger]

Also -- in the Download folder there are some directxwebsetup.exe files.
They are DX 9 files -- am I supposed to run them?

pflu

 

[Rich Barry]

Do you have SP2 or SP3 installed? DX9 was part of the SP2 package.
There has been no other updates for DX on WinXP since
at least six years ago. For Vista and Win7, there is DX10 and 11. When you
downloaded DX9 from MS site it should have come
with an installer. The installer places the appropriate files in the
designated folders. You should not move DX9 into program files
unless that was indicated in the install. I think your system is too old
to handle today's media and graphics.