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WinME bad graphics behavior


zago27

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Hi!

I've just installed Windows ME on a Pentium III 1GHz with a GeForce4 MX440 graphics card. Just before, I had Windows 98 SE, but I didn't upgrade it, it's a clean install. I've installed also Half-Life and Quake II. These games, which ran seamlessly on Win98, are now really really slow on WinME. When I launch DXdiag.exe and I run video tests, the 3D one fails on every DX level, from 7 to 9. DirectDraw 2D tests work fine.

I downloaded the latest driver from nVidia website, which was working fine on Win98 and also Win95, and DX9.0c (August 2006) from Microsoft Download Center, and also this was working good on Win98. Previously I had a Matrox Millenium G450, but it performed really bad on OpenGL rendering (even worse than the Ati Rage 128 Pro!), so I uninstalled the driver and the video card, and then swapped it with the GF4 MX440. Now, I have potato performance on either OpenGL and DirectX, only Software rendering works fine, but a very low resolution.

Is that a WinME "feature"? Or have I did it in the wrong way?

Zago

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Which is the "latest version"? 81.98?

You may try the 77.72 first - it is quite stable, but may or may not widescreen-resolutions.

All drivers for w9x:

www.nvidia.com/object/win9x_archive.html

 

Given your description, though, there is something else that is not working. Re-installing this more stable driver may solve that problem, without knowing the root-cause, without taking too much time, so it's at least worth a try.

If that does not work, we need more info on your system.

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You might want to try one of these tools that clean up after driver uninstalls -- official uninstallers sometimes leave remnants that might potentially foul up installation of newer/older drivers or other-manufacturer's drivers.

* Driver Cleaner PE (freeware), last v1.5 b14:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/driver_cleaner_professional.html

* Nasty File Remover (freeware), last v0.7.2:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/nasty_file_remover.html

Be sure to read usage documentation before you run them, and as always, ymmv.

- Doug B.

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1 hour ago, ~♥Aiko♥Chan♥~ said:

Try disabling system restore, I've heard Windows ME runs faster without it.

I didn't notice any slow down, compared to 98 or 2000. I'll do it anyway, I know it is very unreliable.

10 hours ago, DougB said:

You might want to try one of these tools that clean up after driver uninstalls -- official uninstallers sometimes leave remnants that might potentially foul up installation of newer/older drivers or other-manufacturer's drivers.

* Driver Cleaner PE (freeware), last v1.5 b14:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/driver_cleaner_professional.html

* Nasty File Remover (freeware), last v0.7.2:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/nasty_file_remover.html

Be sure to read usage documentation before you run them, and as always, ymmv.

- Doug B.

Actually, just before you wrote the post, I did a clean install. Nothing changed at all, it seems like it doesn't like this card. I can't use a machine without 3D acceleration, so I think I'm downgrading to Win98SE, which is always working fine.

Well, I think that I just confirmed another "feature" brought by Windows Mistake Edition...

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