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Windows 95/98/ME Video Troubleshooting
This document is intended to help you with problems that can occur with most of our products in Windows 95/98/ME. Please also try any available troubleshooting tips for the specific product you are having trouble with.
"I don't know what kind of video card I have. How do I find out?"
Almost all versions of Windows (except 95, and chances are if you have installed DirectX at any point, you have it there too) come with a program called DXDIAG that puts critical system information like this directly at your fingertips. We can use this information to find out what video card you have, and how much video memory it has available to it. Here's how:
- Click Start > Run.
- In the Open box, type "DXDIAG". Click OK or hit Enter.
- The DirectX Diagnostic Tool should launch. Once it finishes loading, click the Display tab. (If you have more than one of these, start with Display 1.)
- In the upper-left-hand corner there will be a box titled "Device". At the top of that box is a line that starts with "Name". This is the name of your video card.
- The next line reads "Manufacturer". This is the company who makes this card.
- The fifth line from the top reads "Approx. Total Memory". This is how many megabytes of memory your video card has. (Note that this is separate from how much memory your whole computer has.)
- In the upper-right-hand corner there is a box titled "Driver". The second line from the top, which reads "Version", is the version number of the current video driver you have installed
- Be sure to write down all of this information in case you do need to speak to one of our technicians, because you can be certain they will ask you for it.
- Repeat steps 4 through 8 with any other Display tabs you might have on your DXDIAG window. Once you have done this, click the Exit button in the lower-right-hand corner to close DXDIAG.
The video display shows incorrect colors or textures, black boxes on the screen, or other oddities.
Most of the games we support use Microsoft's DirectX for all video and graphics.
Make sure that you have installed the version of DirectX supplied on the CD, or the latest version available from Microsoft.
If DirectX is not required for your application or if the above solution doesn't fix the problem, you may need to update your video card drivers to the latest versions available from the manufacturer.
To learn more about DirectX such as how to install it from your CD, obtain the latest version, or fix problems that can occur in any DirectX application, please see our DirectX Frequently Asked Questions.
To learn how to update your video card drivers, check out our How to Update Your Drivers FAQ.
My game is running in a small window. How can I make it play in the entire screen?
Most games will allow you to toggle full screen and windowed modes by holding down the <ALT> key on your keyboard and pressing <Enter>.
When I try to run my game, all I see is a black screen.
There are several methods that you can try to fix this problem:
Shut down any other applications that you may have running on your system such as screen savers, virus scanners, etc. For details, see our Windows 95/98/ME General Troubleshooting FAQ.
You may need to adjust your video hardware acceleration. For details, see the section below labeled “How can I change my Video Hardware Acceleration Settings?”
Try resetting your computer's video display settings to one of the following Resolution/Color Depth combonations:
- 640x480 with 256 colors.
- 640x480 with 16-bit color.
- 800x600 with 16-bit color.
- 1024x768 with 16-bit color.
The more modern the game you have purchased, the higher the screen resolution and color depth should be set.
For details, For details, see the section below labeled “How can I switch to the correct video mode?”
Update your video card drivers. See the section below on “How can I update my video card drivers?” or check out our How to Update Your Drivers FAQ.
How can I change my Video Hardware Acceleration Settings?
NOTE: If you are running a game that requires 3D Hardware acceleration or a 3D accelerated video card, reducing your hardware acceleration level is not advised.
Windows video hardware acceleration may need to be adjusted if the game you are playing uses some other form of acceleration, such as DirectX.
To adjust hardware acceleration:
- Right-click on the “My Computer” icon on your desktop
- Click on the “Performance” tab
- Click on “Graphics”
- Move the slider bar one notch to the left or right
- Click on OK
- Click on OK once more to exit the system properties panel.
Now try your game. If you still have problems, repeat this process until the game works, or you have tried all the Video Acceleration settings.
If you have tried all the Video Acceleration settings, and the game still won't run, you may need to turn off DirectX acceleration instead. For details, see our DirectX Frequently Asked Questions.
How can I switch to the correct video mode?
You can modify your display settings under the Windows 95/98/ME Display control panel. To get there:
- Click on the Windows 95/98/ME Start button, then on Settings, then on Control Panel.
- Double-click on the Display icon.
- Click on the Settings tab.
- At the left of the Settings window is the color palette option. Set this to the correct setting for your game.
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
- Select the correct screen resolution on the right side of the settings window.
On newer versions of Windows 95/98/ME, there is no option for screen resolution. Instead, just set the desktop to the correct size and your screen resolution will automatically change.
If your display does not look right after you switch resolutions, don't panic. Leave your computer alone for approximately 15 seconds, and windows will automatically restore your previous settings.
If you cannot switch over to the correct video mode, you may need to re-install the video drivers for your card, or obtain updated drivers. To learn how, please see the section below, or check out our How to Update Your Drivers FAQ.
How do I update my video card drivers?
Most computer and video card companies keep the latest versions of their hardware drivers on their web sites for download. If you do not have Internet access, you can usually request drivers by telephone. For more information, including a list of major video card manufacturers, check out our How to Update Your Drivers FAQ.
If your game uses DirectX, the DirectX installation process will try to determine what hardware is present in your machine, and install the necessary drivers for your hardware. If the DirectX installer comes across a device it does not recognize, it will recommend that you keep your existing driver installed. If you choose not to do this, a generic DirectX driver will be installed. Either way, the game may not function correctly.
If this is the case, contact your computer company or the manufacturer of the device in question for an updated driver that is compatible with the version of DirectX included with your game. For more information on DirectX, please see our DirectX FAQ.
The graphics seem to be drawing very slowly, or the display is choppy.
Check the system requirements for the game that you are playing. If your system does not meet the minimum requirements, it may not be able to play the game at normal speed, resulting in choppiness and skipping.
Next, inspect the underside of the game CD for scratches, smudges, etc. These may cause your CD-ROM drive to have trouble reading the CD. Then, check to see that your CD-ROM drive is optimized in the Windows 95/98/ME control panel.
Also, be sure to close down all other applications when running the game. Other applications may take away valuable system resources that the game needs to run smoothly. To be sure you have shut down ALL of your applications, follow these steps:
- Find your Windows 95/98/ME taskbar. This is the gray bar where your START button is located.
- For every button on the taskbar except for the start button, right-click once and then left-click on “Close”.
- Do the same for each of the icons on the opposite side of the taskbar. If there is no option to Close or Exit the application, don't worry, we'll deal with that in a moment.
- Once you have closed down all of the applications that you can using this method, press <control> <alt> <delete> (only once!) to bring up the Windows 95/98/ME task manager. You will see a list of programs that are still running.
- The only 2 programs that need to be there are Explorer and Systray. For everything else, click once to highlight the program you wish to close, and then click on “End Task”. The task manager will close too, so you will need to press <control> <alt> <delete> again if you need to terminate any other programs.
- Once you have closed down all of the applications on your system except Explorer and Systray, try running your game again.
How can I optimize my system for my CD-ROM drive?
Windows 95/98/ME needs to know certain information about the speed of your CD-ROM drive and the amount of memory you wish to devote to it for peak performance.
To adjust these settings:
- Click on Start, then on Settings, then on Control Panel.
- Double click on the System icon.
- Select the Performance tab, then click on the File system button, and finally select the CD-ROM tab.
The first setting you need to look at is “Supplemental cache size”. If your computer has 8 megabytes of memory or less, this setting should be towards the left side of the slider bar. If your computer has 16 megabytes of memory or more, it should be all the way to the right.
Next, change the “Optimize Access Pattern” setting to match your CD-ROM drive. If you have a 4 speed CD-ROM or faster, use the “Quad Speed or higher” setting.
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