4 Bit Color Issue

[Fayttt]

Before I start this desperate plea for help, I made a post here a couple months ago about changing my windows ME computer to XP - I just want to clarify that this isnt that computer, its my main one, the one that was already on XP.

Okay, so every now and then (And this has gone on for about 6 months, and Im just getting tired of it) whenever I start up WoW or FFXI (at least when I played FFXI) or any other DirectX-using game for that matter, my screen will turn into 800x600 resolution with a 4 bit color that is unalterable. An example of how that looks is this:

http://xs220.xs.to/xs220/07441/wtf6662.JPG

It doesn't let me change the settings at all, and sometimes I'll have to restart my computer 3 or more times before it changes back to normal. It'll shut down in said wierd state with no colors really and itll start up like that too. Maybe 30% of the time it'll start up without it. After hours of turning it on and off and trying WoW and FFXI repeatedly until it works, it eventually fixes itself. But the issue is that I'd rather not spend hours of turning my computer on and off before it works. So I ask you BG, is there any known solution to this at all? I'm desperate ; ; I have a feeling replacing my video card will fix the issues, but I don't plan on being able to get one for a while, so I need a backup solution. I've also tried reinstalling drivers (I've used the Omega? i think they're called ones too along with the default ones and almost every single driver on Nvidia's webpage that works with my card)

Oh yeah, and here are my PC specs:
6100 Nvidia Geforce PCI-BUS Video Card (came with PC, on-board one)
Emachines T3304 model
768MB RAM
Intel Sempron 3300+ processor

Edit: Oh, and for Display Settings, I usually have my PC on 1024x768 resolution with 32 bit color quality.

Please, save me BG ; ;

[Avanarius]

pictures not loading for me but I suspect that directx or the video drivers are playing tricks on you.

[Koga]

From what I could find, and assuming your playing Full Screen in both WoW and FFXI.
Most people were pointing fingers at faulty/corrupted drivers.

EDIT: this was his img.. i rehosted
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ix/wtf6662.jpg

[Fayttt]

In WoW it's fullscreen and occurs more often than it did when I played FFXI..I don't know if FFXI was really full-screen..It kinda was, I had my windower resolution set to my desktop resolution to make it simulate full-screen but it was really a window that was perfectly sized to my desktop to make it seem full-screen.

Also, I did a little fooling around in dxdiag and found out that Direct3D testing crashes my computer 9/10 times. I guess it could be faulty drivers..Maybe its because of how many I've installed and uninstalled it's keeping some of the other drivers and they're conflicting? I dunno..If there's some sort of video driver cache cleaner maybe I should try that then and then try to install the most up-to-date driver from Nvidia?

..And that's another thing, I put 6100 Radeon as my card, it's actually a 6100 Nvidia Geforce card >< Editing that now; sorry.

[Sigi]

failing video card

[Fayttt]

Figures. I've been using this piece of shit video card for like 2 years now lol. Time to start begging my gf for Christmas I guess, lulz.

[Killgannon]

Emachines T3304 model

thats another HUGE issue, emachines in general are shitty

[Fayttt]

Thats what I've heard from a few people, but from what I've heard it was their earlier models? Then they figured out what was wrong and fixed it, and now are one of the cheapest PC types and quite decent. Thats just what I heard. But, I really don't want to go out and buy an entire new PC :\ I'm not that rich lol, I'll probably just have to keep giving the one i've got more RAM and stuff.

Edit: My dad actually has an Emachines that he never had problems with, and he got his gf one that had no problems too, and his mom, and a few of his good friends - I'm the only one out of the lot of people he got one that has problems

[OctavoGilgamesh]

Thats what I've heard from a few people, but from what I've heard it was their earlier models? Then they figured out what was wrong and fixed it, and now are one of the cheapest PC types and quite decent.(

Close. Emachines was/is a piece of shit, but quality came up when they were bought by Gateway. But anyone who has worked with Gateway's before understands that even if the quality came up to Gateway's specs, it's still not as good as the rest of the industry.

[Avanarius]

Is your room as messy as your desktop?

Try this, right click and drag over everything, and hit delete. jk

What does it say in the display settings when it goes all screwy?

[Killgannon]

I dont know about it anymore, but emachines used to come with proprietary power supplies that would only have enough wattage for what they put in there, making it REALLY difficult to upgrade them. if you try to stick a new video card / more ram in them you run the possibility of frying something. If you are looking for budget line, decent quality stuff, you should go with Dell (they have budget desktops that are actually decent... and most of their laptops are pretty good too (im buying one soon))

I had an emachines before, it worked ok, but i would never buy from them again. Desktop line stuff I build my own, laptop line i typically like dells

[Avanarius]

speaking of crappy computers, my friend tells me horror stories of the refurb lenovo computers that dell gives away. He says half the time when they get them they're missing parts....and by parts, I mean things like the cpu.... >_>

[Fayttt]

Is your room as messy as your desktop?

Try this, right click and drag over everything, and hit delete. jk

What does it say in the display settings when it goes all screwy?

i'm just too lazy to delete everything, or I would :/

it says default monitor on nvidia geforce 6100, 640x480 res, 4 bit color.

[Edrick]

First I would uninstall all previous drivers (might be able to do that through Add/Remove programs) then install the latest nvidia drivers right from their website. After that, try installing the latest DirectX (9.0c or something?). If that doesn't fix the issue, try checking to make sure the "3d" an DirectX settings on your advanced settings are all set to default.

I can't remember of WoW is DirectX or OpenGL... but, might want to make openGL settings to default, too.

Reboot and see what happens. If it still doesn't work, then you're probably out of free options to fix the issue. And, yeah, avoid eMachines like the plague for gaming... I'm sure they'd be fine for other stuff, though. They used to be owned by Packard Bell *shiver*... Worst... Computers... Ever... Dell has been getting a lot better on desktops since they bought Alienware for their gaming grade systems. But, you should be able to get a fairly cheap system with good graphics capabilities. Too bad you have an on-board video card, otherwise it'd be nice to use that card again to save some money.

I hope that helps.