Can't run SL! Please help!

[Rosey Shim]

Good evening.

I will start by mentioning that this problem is very annoying. I am a very active SL user and not being able to play the game is a real pain :(

My main problem is that the viewer won't run. A small window pops up giving me an error message about the fact that my ''..graphics card are outdated, did not install properly....etc''. This happend since I used SpeedUpMyPC which actually (after ''fixing the errors'') changed my resolution, uninstalled my graphics card and changed my monitor type.

I have to mention that I have a NVIDIA GEFORCE FX 5500 GPU, however, my computer doesn't recognize it anymore. It's like it's ''unplugged''. Another thing to mention is that I don't have the drivers installation CD and whenever I try to use the NVIDIA site to download specific drivers (I think I've tried over 10 versions by now), they tell me at somepoint that the drivers are not compatible with my hardware. Another ''interesting'' thing is that I can't change my monitor type. It's set as ''Default Monitor'' and the ''CHANGE'' button is greyed out. Also, in Display Manager, there is no monitor category, so no matter what I try, I can't change it.

Here are some info about my PC (not sure if they're all required, but I try to give as many info as possible):

System:

Microsoft Windows XP

Professional

Version 2002

Service Pack 2

 

Computer:

AMD Sempron(tm) 2200+ 1.51 GHz

 

 

What else information needed, please ask and I'll provide.

 

Sincerely,

Rosey

 

 

 

 

 

Later reply 1:

Honestly, I was satisfied with my graphics card while it worked. Maybe it wasn't fast and the graphics weren't of a very high quality, but I could at least experience the minimal performance. I mean, between playing and not playing, there's a difference. However, I am not able to buy a new one, not any sooner :(

About the service pack - I have the ''Service Pack 2'' installed. I also uninstalled SpeedUpMyPC as soon as I thought I won't need it anymore. I tried the restore points (windows' itself and also the Speed's - none of them brought me to a good point, the bad changes weren't removed). Oh and, not even running the 1.23 version won't work - I receive the same error.

 

 

 

Later reply 2:

Alright, I tried installing Driver Sweeper. I ran the scan and then I wanted to fix the errors. All of them worked instead of one coming from Nvidia, about the display (it was a directory). If I try cleaning that one, too, the program would freeze and will refuse to respond. And about the version of drivers, it says, again, that it is not compatible with my hardware (the one Peggy suggested).

 

[LoveAngeL Lyre]

Hello Rosey. I am surprised that you can even run SL with a geforce FX 5500 which is ancient (released 2005 or 2006 if i am right). Definitely you need a better graphics card to run the application. Maybe give a try to run the old viewer 1.23 I can't suggest something else.

[Irene Muni]

What about uninstall SpeedUpMyPC and revert your PC to a previous restore point?

BTW, are you running Windows XP without Service Pack 3?

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Use Window's system restore.  Restore back to sometime before you did the speed up my computer.  After you've done that go to here:

http://www.nviobject/winxp_175.19_whql.htmldia.com/

Download and save to your hard drive the driver..........it's the latest driver for your video card and has a release date mid 2009.  That means that nVidia no longer writes drivers specifically for the card but gives you the last driver they did write.  More recent drivers may work but that's going to be hit or miss (maybe, maybe not).

 

Next go here:

 

http://download.cnet.com/Driver-Sweeper/3000-2094_4-75219868.html?tag=mncol;2

 

This is one case where I believe it's necessary to use a third party driver removal tool (normally a simply uninstall works fine) since you allowed a program to set up your computer for what that program defined as a setup for performance......software does not think, it only does anything by what the programmer told it to do under some set of circumstances and that programmer only has generic choices to make (those choices are very often less than optimal and sometimes quite wrong).  Registry changes were probably made during that "speed up" processes and those must be removed.  A system restore might not remove those changes.  Driver Sweeper has a pretty good reputation and it's the best free one I could find for you.  Follow the instructions precisely.  You'll need to know what driver Windows has installed for your video to uninstall it.......if you don't know then find it in the Device Manager.  That's the first step in using Driver Sweeper.

 

Once you've done the driver removal start your computer (you'll probably be prompted to do so anyway but in case you aren't go ahead and restart anyway).  When your system comes back up Windows will see your GPU without a driver and ask you to allow it to search for and install one..........just close the dialog (don't let Windows do a thing).  Go the driver you saved to your hard drive and install it.  You'll be required to restart to finish the installation and when you come back up you should be on the driver you just installed.

 

The fact that Windows only sees your monitor as a generic monitor is not really a big thing.  Windows not knowing what the monitor is could be  because of the GPU not having a driver that recognizes your monitor or that drivers came with your monitor and without them installed Windows can't determine what type or brand it is.  You'll probably have to set the resolution manually instead of the GPU setting the native resolution (that's most important if you have an LCD or LED monitor.........for CRT's, probably 1280 by 1024 is good).

 

 

 

[Lindal Kidd]

It sounds as though your "speed up" program disabled your graphics card in favor of the motherboard's on-board graphics.

Reboot your PC.  When the BIOS starts up, before Windows starts, hit DEL to enter the BIOS setup screen.  Browse through the screens there...there should be an option in there to disable the onboard graphics.

When you save your changes and the computer starts up, Windows will (most likely) detect your graphics card and present you with a series of screens to install the driver for it.  Once those complete, you may want to go to the NVIDIA website and make sure you have the latest drivers for it installed.