Curse

Dawn Angelheart · Aug 10, 2008, 10:47 AM // 10:47

Hey, i downloaded a windows vista update last night. called a service pack,
im not that great with computers, but now guild wars is telling me its unable to initialize the 3D output. and i've to download a new directX and an up to date Video card. im playing Gw 3 years and ive never had this problem.
ive followed the link the Gw start up gave me. got a new directX but it hasnt led me anywhere.
if anyone could help, id like that very much.

Brianna · Aug 10, 2008, 10:55 AM // 10:55

Honestly just sounds like the drivers.. I know for a fact that some people had to re-install drivers after getting service pack 1 for Vista.

You said you've updated your graphics card drivers, right? Did you uninstall the old ones before putting in the new ones? Make sure you uninstall all old video card drivers before updating the new ones.

If you got the drivers from the Windows Update Center then maybe try uninstalling those and just install the ones from your video card manufacturer's site (ATI or Nvidia).

I'll try to think of anything else if I can, pretty much 4:00 AM here so I'm kind of dead.

Dawn Angelheart · Aug 10, 2008, 11:00 AM // 11:00

im using a computer bought less than a month ago.
i just installed the update. and now it wont work.
i got the new directX. but as for drivers.. i dont know much.
drivers for my graphics card do you mean?
im not even sure what card i have. Buh

Brianna · Aug 10, 2008, 11:22 AM // 11:22

Ok I'll help you out don't worry.

Go to your start menu, and search for ''Run'' since it seems on Vista they didn't include the run shortcut in the start menu.

Once you are in the run command box, type in "DxDiag" without quotes. It will ask you to check for certificates.. blah blah, just say yes or no, either one.

Now you will see tabs in this screen such as ''System, DirectX Files, Display'' Etc, go to the Display tab and you should find the video card information.

It will say something like:

Device:

*Name: Nvidia GeForce 8800GTS, ATI Radeon HD4850 or something along the lines of Intel. (Examples)

*Manufacturer: ATI / Nvidia / Intel (It will only mention one of the three).

*Chip Type: 8800GTS - or ATI Radeon HD4850 or something along the lines of an Intel GMA chip.

Just tell us what it says there, then we will know what video card you have and what drivers to get for it.

EDIT: Forgot to mention Intel chips, I keep forgetting about those.

jiggles · Aug 10, 2008, 11:23 AM // 11:23

what graphics card?

Beaten by a minute!

Elder III · Aug 10, 2008, 11:25 AM // 11:25

Go to My Computer - Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager - Display Adaptors

That will tell you what kind of graphics you have.
Uninstall your current driver then go to the manufacturer's site and install whatever the manufacturer has as the latest driver on their site.

It would be a good idea to do a system save/restore point before uninstalling any drivers.... just in case . Good luck.

***lol Brianna, you must type faster than I do

***

Dawn Angelheart · Aug 10, 2008, 11:29 AM // 11:29

Yeah it just Says N/A all over the display bit... i have a feeling this is a problem.. :S

Brianna · Aug 10, 2008, 11:39 AM // 11:39

Well this is what mine looks like:

Are you sure everything is N/A? Might have to resort to other means of finding out then.

And sorry Elder.

Dawn Angelheart · Aug 10, 2008, 11:48 AM // 11:48

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...ro/asasdas.jpg
theres a link i think to the screenie of what it says

Brianna · Aug 10, 2008, 11:56 AM // 11:56

Wow.. ok, post a picture of the ''System'' tab as well just in case.

I can tell by your window outlines that you don't have graphics drivers installed because your Aero is disabled (It doesn't work without graphics drivers / display drivers).

Unless you turned it off, but I'm assuming that's not the case.

EDIT: BTW Follow the advise Elder III gave and see if you can pull any graphics card information up via that.

And to add, if you can provide us with the company that made your computer, and the model version that would be great too.

Dawn Angelheart · Aug 10, 2008, 12:06 PM // 12:06

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z.../SYSTEMPIC.jpg

A Guildie over MSN suggested Elder III's way of doing things but i could not find the Display adpaters thing. so sorry if it seemed i was ignoring that. i wasnt.

Evil Genius · Aug 10, 2008, 12:16 PM // 12:16

Try downloading, then running + screenshotting, GPUZ. It is only 400kb. http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

Brianna · Aug 10, 2008, 12:16 PM // 12:16

Ahh alright.. hmm.. well this is very interesting O.o I'm running out of ideas here.

Next best thing for me to do is look up your computer model, I think the information supplied in the last pic will be enough.

Dawn Angelheart · Aug 10, 2008, 12:29 PM // 12:29

if its not.. just let me know.

Brianna · Aug 10, 2008, 01:37 PM // 13:37

Well I'll have to go to bed now, need sleep badly.

I'll see what I can pull up tomorrow, if you have any more information about your system that you may think is useful just post it and stuff.

Try Evil's method in the mean time, I don't know if it will find anything since your computer doesn't, but hey it's worth a shot at the very least.

Dawn Angelheart · Aug 10, 2008, 02:13 PM // 14:13

I tried uninstalling the update.. at a friends suggestion. and its messed my computer totally. im not about to get my internet drivers downloaded onto a portable hard disk. and reboot my entire computer. its my lost option giving how slow my computer is.

Flightmare · Aug 10, 2008, 03:21 PM // 15:21

Yeah, just uninstalling the service pack wouldn't give your old drivers back. System recovery however, sometimes does.

I don't know if it's the same in Vista as it is in XP, but can you check your device manager (right click my computer, properties, hardware, device manager) (or try devmgmt.msc in "run").
Then go to display drivers, and try to roll back the driver.

moriz · Aug 10, 2008, 08:21 PM // 20:21

i searched your computer's model, and found that it uses a geforce 8400GS. in that case, download and install this driver:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winvist...5.19_whql.html

that should fix your problem. that is, assuming you haven't completely broken your operating system

Brianna · Aug 10, 2008, 08:37 PM // 20:37

Ahh ty moriz, that saves me a lot of trouble.

Never roll back a service pack in my opinion, I did that once on XP and the results were not favorable, I would recommend that route less for Vista.

Once you get everything situated again, try to install that driver provided above.. hopefully something will come out of that.

Dawn Angelheart · Aug 11, 2008, 01:19 PM // 13:19

i done that already a guildie helped.
downloaded and tried to install that/
said it wasnt a 32bit. also done the 64bit. didnt work.
now i have a problem with my RunDll32 file. which i know is bad.
so im thinking..wipe my computer and start again?
i dont lose that much stuff really. everythings backed up.