Hi snakevin,
Here are a few ways to identify which video card you have
installed on your computer.
1. Click Start / Run / type: dxdiag
Click the Display Tab
Look under Device for the name and manufacturer
2. Click Start / (Settings) Control Panel
Click Display
Click the Settings Tab
Click the Advanced... button
Click the Adapter Tab
3. Click Start / Run / type: msinfo32
Click on the + Components
Click on Display to see the name on the right
4. Use Belarc to see indentify your Video, Chipset and Motherboard:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download1385.html
5. Get the information from the manufactures website (or store)
6. Check your owners manual or bill of sale for that laptop.
--
Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
Jimmy S.
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Visit my MSN Games and Windows Gaming Help Site:
www.msce.mvps.org
MS Games Help and Support Center:
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________
snakevin Wrote:
=================
| hey, yet another roadblock....when trying to identify the make and model of
| my card, the manufacturer and location both say "unknown." I am unsure of
| any other way to obtain this info. Any ideas? Thanks again, Kevin
|
| "Jimmy S." wrote:
|
|| Hi snakevin,
||
|| Visit the HP/Compaq site to update your video and system 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
||
|| 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.
||
|| 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.
||
|| 5. Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware
|| Device Manager / expand +Display Adapters / right click on
|| the adapter, pick "Uninstall", and click No if asked to reboot.
||
|| 6. Use Control Panel / Add-Remove programs to uninstall the
|| previous driver (exe)software which may have been installed.
||
|| 7. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
|| about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.
||
|| 8. If the driver is NOT a (.exe)program file, GO TO step 11.
||
|| 9. When Windows prompts you to install the video adapter, click
|| "Cancel" and Double click the driver program to begin installation.
|| * Even if not prompted, doubleclick the driver and install it.
||
|| 10. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
|| choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 800x600 or higher Resolution.
|| That's it! Scroll down to the Troubleshooter if you have problems.
||
|| 11. When Windows prompts you to install the video adapter, click
|| "Install from a list or specific location", click the "Browse" button,
|| browse to the My documents folder where you saved the driver,
|| and finally click on one of the driver files to begin installation.
||
|| ** If you are not prompted, or if the driver was updated automatically:
|| Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware Device Manager
|| expand +Display Adapters / right click on the adapter, pick "Update Driver"
|| to start the Update Wizard, choose the "Install from a list..." option:
|| Browse to My Documents\ folder with the driver in it
|| Click OK and click Next to begin the update.
||
|| 12. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
|| choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 800x600 or higher Resolution.
|| That's it! Try the advice in the Troubleshooter if you have problems.
||
|| TROUBLESHOOTING:
||
|| Test your drivers using DXDiag: Click Start / Run / type: DXDIAG
|| Click the "Test" buttons in the Display, Sound, Music & Network Tabs;
|| If any of the Display options are Disabled and you cannot Enable them,
|| your most likely solution would be to update your Chipset Drivers as per
|| my website:
http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits/Video.html#v11
||
|| Your program might not support dual monitors, or "dual head" video cards
|| You can disable the extra video output in your display properties control
|| panel. Click Start>Settings>Control Panel>Display>Settings>Advanced.
||
|| Along with your Video card, Sound Cards, Motherboard Chipsets,
|| and Video Monitors may also require updated drivers. Even your
|| motherboard's BIOS may need to be updated for compatibility with
|| your Video card. These steps are listed at:
http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk
||
|| Perhaps the old Video drivers did not completely uninstall. If that's the
|| case, use these utility to completely uninstall the drivers and go to step
|| 7:
|| nvidia:
http://content.guru3d.com/index.php?page=detonatorrip&menu=0
|| or for all cards including nvidia use:
http://www.driverheaven.net/cleaner/
||
|| The latest video drivers sometime don't work with a particular game.
|| (Check the Video suggestions in the readme.txt file in your game folder/CD)
|| If there's no suggestions, try an older (WHQL) driver, and/or if you still
|| experience problems try a Beta driver, or even an Omega driver instead:
||
|| BETA Drivers:
http://download.guru3d.com/
|| OMEGA Drivers:
http://www.omegadrivers.net
||
|| There you have it, if you have any questions feel free to post them!
||
|| Cheers, Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User
|| Jimmy S.
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
||
|| Visit my MSN Zone.com and Gaming Help Site:
http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits
|| MS Games Help and Support Center:
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
|| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
|| _________________________________________________________
||
||
||
|| snakevin Wrote:
|| =================
||| Hey, I tried fn+t and have not had any success yet. I also looked through
||| the manual and found nothing to help me out. When I tried to enter full
||| screen mode in one of the game that I was able to before I get the message:
||| "Direct Draw: Error setting display mode." Any ideas? Thanks, Kevin
|||
||| "Jimmy S." wrote:
|||
|||| Hi snakevin,
||||
|||| Try Fn+T on your Compaq laptop!
||||
|||| --
|||| Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
|||| Jimmy S.
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
||||
|||| Visit my MSN Games and Windows Gaming Help Site:
www.msce.mvps.org
|||| MS Games Help and Support Center:
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
|||| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
|||| _________________________________________________________
||||
|||| snakevin Wrote:
|||| =================
||||| Hey, I have a compaq laptop. Just curious if I should go into BIOS [and if
||||| so what to look for] or when I should try the fn+t. Thanks for the help,
||||| Kevin
|||||
||||| "Jimmy S." wrote:
|||||
|||||| Hi snakevin,
||||||
|||||| Is your computer a laptop model?
||||||
|||||| Check your manual and see if they list instructions there as to
|||||| which BIOS setting or keyboard Fn key you can use to setup
|||||| "Fit to Screen" video mode. That's a common laptop feature.
||||||
|||||| Examples:
|||||| Fn+T works for some HP / Compaq's
|||||| Fn+F7 works for some DELL's
||||||
|||||| --
|||||| Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
|||||| Jimmy S.
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
||||||
|||||| Visit my MSN Games and Windows Gaming Help Site:
www.msce.mvps.org
|||||| MS Games Help and Support Center:
http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
|||||| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
|||||| _________________________________________________________
||||||
||||||
|||||| snakevin Wrote:
|||||| =================
||||||| Recently I had to upgrade my operating system and games that I had previously
||||||| run which used to show up in full screen now only show up in a screen about
||||||| half the size of full screen. I have tinkered with all of the game options
||||||| and since it happens to all of them now, I am assuming I have a setting on my
||||||| computer that is restricting the size now. Any ideas? Thanks, Kevin
