Re: no hardware-accelerated direct 3 d devices found

Jimmy S. voiced his/her/it's humble opinion in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.games on Sat 30 Dec 2006 12:24:37a:

Hi debbie,

Sounds like you need to update your video and chipset drivers ...

Updating video card drivers can solve most gaming issues. Here's some
simple abc's to always keep in mind. a. Shut off download
accelerators, firewalls and antivirus programs when downloading or
installing updates; b. Check for game patches:
www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_list.asp?letter=a c. Make sure you meet
the game's minimum video and system requirements.

Before you update your drivers, I recommend that you update DirectX
from: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx


Great advice there for sure. Though most of the rest can be solved by
buying a copy of MaximumPC.

Most issues have the latest ATI and NVidia driver sets. (Slightly newer
may be available on-line as there is a lag-time before the magazine hits
the shelves). Every third issue or so usually has the latest Direct X
drivers, 9.0c, if I'm not mistaken. Direct X-X is due to be released with
Vista. I'm not going there myself as I'll be off in Linux land before I'd
install Vista.

The thing I like is, is I don't have to download a ton of data on my crappy
dial-up to have the drivers I want. Plus I get a mag that keeps me
informed about the latest and greatest products and software.


Here are the steps I recommend you use to update your driver:

1. To identify the make and model of your card, right click your
Desktop, choose Properties / Settings / Advanced / Adapter.

Not needed. ATI and NVidia have driver packs that work with everything but
antiques.

2. Download the latest video driver for your card online, using
http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits/Video.html#drivers
to find the website to download from. I also have advanced
video driver and direct X troubleshooting steps on that page.

3. Save the .exe driver (or extract the zip file) to a folder
in My Documents named after the driver version number.

4. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.


I've NEVER had to use safe mode to install the NVidea drivers for my
GeForce FX 5500 OC, 256MB AGP 8X. Before installation I remove the drivers
in the add/remove control panel, do not reboot, install new Forceware
package then reboot. Carry on.

I, of course, follow your instructions to exit all AV, FW and SpyBot progs
before the previous actions. Any other progs should bee shut down first.

What I find is that most folks don't really know what is going on with
their machines to start with and are barely competent to push the on
button.

I run a 98SE/XP Pro dual-boot system and use the same procedure with both
and so far it's worked fine.


<snip>



BETA Drivers: http://download.guru3d.com/
OMEGA Drivers: http://www.omegadrivers.net



debbie Wrote:
=================
| My hard drive crashed so I had to install a new one. I put in a
| Maxtor 300gb. I have a ATI Radeon Pro 9 graphics card, have the
| newest direct x installed. I have windows XP. I installed adobe
| shockwave, macromedia flash, java runtime environment. Now several
| games I played before the crash won't run. Most say no
| hardware-accelerated direct 3 d devices found but some just plain do
| nothing. Other games will run without a problem. This is the most
| frustrating problem! Can you help me fix this mess? I did uninstall
| the drivers and reinstall per Dell's help which did nothing to better
| the situation. Debbie

Oops, sorry. A Dell computer? Backup all your software and restore it on
a real computer.


HomeBuilt since 1987.


Later......

LabRat...... |:^{)




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