Video Card Trouble

[soad7812]

Recently I performed the system recovery because of problems with my
computer, and since then I haven't been able to use programs that require a
video card. Before the recovery these programs worked fine. I have been
told that I need to install a video card but I did not have to do this before
the system recovery. My guess is that I already have a video card installed
and the programs that require it can't find it or identify it. If anyone
knows a solution to this problem I would greatly appreciate the help.

 

[Malke]

Recently I performed the system recovery because of problems with my
computer, and since then I haven't been able to use programs that require
a
video card. Before the recovery these programs worked fine. I have been
told that I need to install a video card but I did not have to do this
before
the system recovery. My guess is that I already have a video card
installed
and the programs that require it can't find it or identify it. If anyone
knows a solution to this problem I would greatly appreciate the help.

You have a video card or you wouldn't see anything on your monitor. You
probably need to download/install the drivers for your video card. See
below for general drivers information:

Never get drivers from Windows Update. Get them from:

1. The device mftr.'s website; OR
2. The motherboard mftr.'s website if hardware is onboard; OR
3. The OEM's website for your specific machine if you have an OEM computer
(HP, Dell, Sony, etc.).

Read the installation instructions on the website where you get the drivers.

To find out what hardware is in your computer:

1. Read any documentation you got when you bought the computer.
2. If the computer is OEM, go to the OEM's website for your specific model
machine and look at the specs (you'll be there to get the drivers anyway)
3. Download, install and run a free system inventory program like Belarc
Advisor or System Information for Windows.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html - Belarc Advisor
http://www.gtopala.com/ - System Information for Windows

Malke

 

[Paul]

Recently I performed the system recovery because of problems with my
computer, and since then I haven't been able to use programs that require a
video card. Before the recovery these programs worked fine. I have been
told that I need to install a video card but I did not have to do this before
the system recovery. My guess is that I already have a video card installed
and the programs that require it can't find it or identify it. If anyone
knows a solution to this problem I would greatly appreciate the help.

A tool you can use, is DXDIAG. It is a program included with DirectX.
DXDIAG allows you to test that the functions are working.

Go to Start:Run and type "dxdiag" in there, without the quotes.
The Microsoft program should then load, and a rectangular window
will appear. The window has a number of tabs, some of which give
information on what is loaded.

There are a couple pictures here, showing the test buttons.
"Test Direct3D" should show a rotating cube in 3D, if
the drivers are loaded.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/str...nd-any-compatible-direct3d-devices-error.html

On my computer, the drivers I need for 3D to work are.

1) Chipset drivers. These make my AGP slot show up in
Device Manager, in the "System Devices" section.
The driver loaded for the AGP, is "AGP440.SYS".
Without it, my AGP slot would run in PCI mode.
(More recent computers have a PCI Express video slot.)

2) Microsoft DirectX. You need a version which is recent enough,
to keep the video card driver installer program happy. I have
DirectX9c on my computer. This includes the dxdiag program,
as well as plenty of drivers of various sorts.

3) The video card drivers are next. If you have an ATI video card, you
might also need Microsoft .NET installed as well. The installer will
warn you, if any dependencies are not being met.

Once all that stuff is present, you should be able to pass the
DirectDraw and Direct3D tests in dxdiag.

Next, you can try a video game, or other 3D tool, and see if
the software is happy.

With your problem description, what I'd do is download a new
driver for the video card (either from ATI or Nvidia or whatever).
Once the driver is available, you can go to Add/Remove and try
removing the old driver. Then install the new driver (reboot etc).
If it still isn't working, record all error messages you can find,
as they can be fed into search engines to find similar problems.

Paul