Video driver crash / grapics mess up.

[Skie]

Ok i have been playing ffxi on a Alienware.

specs:

Windows Vista Home Basic

Manufacturer: Alienware
Processor: Intel(R)Core (TM)2 CPU T5500 @ 1.66GHz 1.67 GHz
Memory(RAM): 1022 MB
System type: 32-bit Operating system
Video card: ATI Mobility Radeon X1800


Computer is 2-3 years old now. I usualy dual boxing my character and my gf's character. If i run 1 character eveything is fine. The problem is when i try to dual box 2 characters. Sometimes when i dual box the characters run fine, most of time however the screen starts going crazy and my sorundings get jumpled up into a pile of colors that start moving about speraticaly. (forgot how to take a screen shot of it, if someone could please inform me how i would glady post some pics). The main problem im having though is my Graphic card keeps crashing. In the middle of game play the screen will go black, about 1 min later it will pop up, ffxi crashed, and a note on the task bar saying the driver has crashed and recovered (erroring out pol, and yes i use windower). The problem has goten worse since i started playing sims 3 the past 2 nights. Its crashing and recovering 2-3 times a hour now while playing sims 3. I've tryed updating the driver threw Update manager (NIVIDA website says check with manufacturer for updates) but so far it hasnt helped. Anyone have any ideas (besides geting a new pc or stop playing sims3/dual boxing)?

[Skie]

ideas?

[Pikarya]

First off to start out, your hardware is lacking.

1. Processor may be a dual-core, but for intense single-core applications such as FFXI. I would highly suggest upgrading if its possible on this laptop.

2. For XP 1GB of memory might be sufficient performance-wise. But for the Vista or the Windows 7 environment. I'd highly suggest in upgrading this also to the maximum your motherboard supports.

3. Beyond all, your card is a mobility x1800. This card in reality for desktops with proper cooling is excellent for FFXI. But being a mobile GPU, overheating is going to be very common.

The problem is when i try to dual box 2 characters. Sometimes when i dual box the characters run fine, most of time however the screen starts going crazy and my sorundings get jumpled up into a pile of colors that start moving about speraticaly.

Your videocard is artifacting. This is primarily cause by overheating of the system.

Examples:

Spoiler: show

http://i42.tinypic.com/71h36a.jpg

Spoiler: show

http://i42.tinypic.com/2yoa49i.jpg

Spoiler: show

http://i42.tinypic.com/2vigqj5.jpg

(forgot how to take a screen shot of it, if someone could please inform me how i would glady post some pics).

If you want to post images, go to this site (free, no account required).

TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

And upload the image. The links you give us or copy and paste here are displayed for you after you upload the image.

I've tryed updating the driver threw Update manager (NIVIDA website says check with manufacturer for updates) but so far it hasnt helped.

I'm confused, your updating your mobile videocard (ATi) with NVIDIA drivers?

You should be downloading your updated drivers from http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html if so... NVIDIA is a completely seperate brand/company.

[Skie]

Example 1 is exactly what its doing, 2-3 not so much. I'll buy some new higher gig memory sticks when i get payed and see if that helped. I was trying to update the driver with the NIVIDA website because the error keep saying NIVIDA driver has failed to respond, and was recovered, or something along those lines. I just checked teh ATI website for updates and it says quote:

"Currenty AMD does not provide any driver support for Mobility Radeon products. All driver and technical support for Mobility Radeon products is provided by the original laptop or notebook manufacturer. The drviers that are avaible for download at ati.amd.com are for desktop products only."

I updated it threw Vista's update center but still crashing a bit, although not as bad. Also i was using a cooling pad that was 2 small. Didnt think much of it but now have the back of the pc proped up with a deck of cards and a small desktop fan blowing under, which seems to be helping a lot. Will new memory sticks help the lag in sims 3?

[Isiolia]

Since you mentioned using a cooling pad n' all you probably have, but as a reminder, could be that there's a buildup of dust/crud in the vents or fans, preventing the system from cooling as well as it ought.

Alienware has "a" driver for your card, but not one that's been updated in a while here.

You may be able to Google and find modded versions of newer drivers that will work, I don't know. It's not at all uncommon to find this with mobile graphics drivers.