Small strange problem.

[ordos45]

Okay, I have a small problem and sorry to have to ask this. I can no longer play any higher end games such as:

Command and Conquer Generals

Star Trek Armada 2

Empire Earth (and Expansion pack)

Warcraft III.

Now I've run tests with AVG and there aren't any viruses, so I'm ruling that out.

Hoping you all can help, thanks for reading this.

[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

[Andrew]

What is the reason for not being able to play them? They will not start or run slow, etc.

I have same problem with GTA3, it worked perfectly and then oneday it went quite slow and sound was messed up(slow). I then formatted computer to no avail.

Well my speeder uppers that have nothing to do with "fixing" games is to do scandisk, defragment and turn off all windows special stuff like animations etc. Computer runs much smoother afterwards.

[ordos45]

Done scandisk and defragmentation. Usually it says something about not being able to run "whateveritis".exe or drivers.

[Nyarlathotep]

Done scandisk and defragmentation. Usually it says something about not being able to run "whateveritis".exe or drivers.

It might be usefull to get the exact error message..

What changed since the last time it worked ?

From the dxdiag:

1) Try updating drivers (especially the vidoe card).

2) Try using the "Windows Update" feature.

[ordos45]

Will try updating the drivers later, and try to get a screenshot. Currently I'm upgrading my Anti-Virus and Windows security patches after 1500 hits on my firewall in under 3 hours trying to exploit the newest Windows security hole.

[Nyarlathotep]

Will try updating the drivers later, and try to get a screenshot. Currently I'm upgrading my Anti-Virus and Windows security patches after 1500 hits on my firewall in under 3 hours trying to exploit the newest Windows security hole.

Yeah, already had several calls from relatives who were affected by the new virus.. I wish everyone just used update features on software :-

[gryphon]

If that is the recent Dcom worm you are refering to. . got a full mailbox myself about it. Mostly admins blaiming other admins that they didn't patch the system when they got warned about it. Although I must admit that my own network [ or the ones I set up ] usually don't recieve any patching or file updates after installation [ and compleation at that point if all work well ]. But pretty big firewalls and virusscanners are blocking most of the things which is making exploids like these possible with me. So that might make these exploids hard to get thought [ even as nothing is patched here ].

[rigel6669]

That new virus W32 blaster worm also attacked my computer today but luckely i could succesfully remove it with the symatec fix blast

[Nyarlathotep]

That reminds me.. Might be usefull to download the virus remover before you get infected..

[ordos45]

Updated NVIDIA and that didn't help. So I put together a collage of the error messages. Thanks for the help. [attachment archived by Gobalopper]

[Terror]

sidenote: Blaster virus was on your computer a longer time (it was on mine too) but did not activate until a certain date.

I have not seen your dxdiag, what version do you have? Have you downloaded the newest detonator drivers for xp yet? and the newest direct x 9.0?

Apart from that, there's not much that can cause these problems. I think it might be a direct 3d problem, as i think all of these games use direct3d. Perhaps check your graphics card properties if it has perhaps been disabled?

[Cyborg]

I guess this problem would solve itself when you download the newest graphics drivers.

I had the same problem on one of the older computers, and this solved it.

[ordos45]

sidenote: Blaster virus was on your computer a longer time (it was on mine too) but did not activate until a certain date.

I have not seen your dxdiag, what version do you have? Have you downloaded the newest detonator drivers for xp yet? and the newest direct x 9.0?

Apart from that, there's not much that can cause these problems. I think it might be a direct 3d problem, as i think all of these games use direct3d. Perhaps check your graphics card properties if it has perhaps been disabled?

9.0b I just installed it. Will repost DXDiag.[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

[ordos45]

And the new DXDiag...[attachment archived by Gobalopper]

[Nyarlathotep]

This is your problem:

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. Direct3D functionality not available. You should verify that the driver is a final version from the hardware manufacturer.

[ordos45]

Thanks, so...guess its yard sale or e-bay time for those games. Mom and Dad will never let me replace anything in the comp.

[Nyarlathotep]

Thanks, so...guess its yard sale or e-bay time for those games. Mom and Dad will never let me replace anything in the comp.

Although a hassle, try formatting your windows partition. Then re-install. Only thing you do not want to do, is upgrade to DirectX 9.x It should solve your problem.

[DukeLeto]

Have you tried these drivers? They've fixed quite a few problems in the past.