Games run slow agter driver update

by lmorgan101 Jun 24, 2007 11:59AM PDT

I do not know much about computers so I am sure there is a simple answer, hopefully.

I updated the driver because a certain game of my sons would not play. Now it does but others don't.

The driver is - Nvidia Geforce4 MX 420.

Games that wont play are - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. I am sure there are more but have not tried them all.

What happens is the game runs so slow you can't even tell it is moving, literally!

My Computer - Compaq Presario 6000 - Windows XP 1 GB RAM 80 GB hard drive. Not sure what other info is helpful.

I did get a new monitor since the Harry Potter games were last played. It is a ViewSonic 20 inch LCD Display - VX2035WM.

I am not sure if the monitor is at fault or the updated driver. I have played around with the settings I thought would make a difference ane the only thing that came close to working was when I got into the the game option and under video option chose Software Renderer instead of Direct 3D Renderer. It would work then but the graphics were just awful the resoluton goes to 512x384. I also tried lowering hardware acceleration but that made the graphics awful too.

I hope someone out there has an answer for me.

Discussion is locked

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When did they produce that MX 420?

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Jun 24, 2007 12:04PM PDT

It sounds like a 5+ year old card. But try this.

Run DXSETUP and let it do it's thing. Retest. And some of those render options cause games to fall back to all software rendering...

Bob

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I am in over my head...

by lmorgan101 Jun 24, 2007 1:08PM PDT

How do I run dxsetup? And my computer is about 5 years old.

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(NT) Hint, click Start, Run...

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Jun 24, 2007 11:45PM PDT

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(NT) Cute...I already tried that, it doesn't work.

by lmorgan101 Jun 25, 2007 2:33AM PDT

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Then download DIrectX and install it again.

by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Jun 25, 2007 4:44AM PDT

As you trying the start, run, you have to tell us or I may respond with something you already tried.

Bob

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Did you get the right ones?

by jackson dougless Jun 24, 2007 12:42PM PDT

A couple of months ago, nVidia split their drivers into the "legacy" and "normal" distributions. Basically, anything older than the GeForceFX line of cards got put into the legacy drivers, and about the only thing they're going to do is compatibility work on it.

So if you installed the non-legacy drivers, then you're going to run into a bit of a problem, very much like you describe. The installer should have crapped out with an error message, but looks like maybe you just got lucky.

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What do I do?

by lmorgan101 Jun 24, 2007 1:13PM PDT

Their website, Nvidia, was very confusing to me when I updated about a month ago. Like I said, I am a mom just trying to get my kids games to work. Is it too late or can I get the legacy driver and how do I know what I am even doing?

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Reloads

by Willy Jun 25, 2007 6:19AM PDT

If you have the XP restore option enabled, use it to return to a day before the past driver update. This is a quick fix, please tell results.

As for the Nvida website, be sure to look under your video card model and get the latest available plus verify it is better than the current one now(old one). You can replace the video card with a new one as yet another path to better video capabilities and not have the issue with the legacy side and be current with newer driver updates for the new card. If you have the original video drivers, uninstall video drivers and then reload the old ones. Sorry, but for older systems, it does become a PITA at times as you see why.

tada -----Willy

Games run slow agter driver update

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