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I have a brand new computer by Dell. Assumed I had gotten it made for gaming, went and bought Half-Life2 and can't play it. I first get this message: (The instruction at 0x2406dd69 referenced memory at 0x0106facc. The memory could not be read). I click ok then try to run STEAM and get an error message telling me I need to update my drivers. My questions are: do I need to update my drivers? shouldn't they be updated already being that the computer is less than a week old? if I do need to update my drivers, how do I go about doing that? i can't even seem to figure out what video card I have...
Thank-you for any help you can give me... I'm ready to throw the game out the window. btw..I have been playing Sims2 and Call of Duty with absolutely no problems.Thanks.
lyneee

well yes, the PC might be less than a week old to u but when was the lasttime DELL updated the comp?
What Graphics card are you using, please more specs eg, cpu, motherboard,
cant fit my system in

To find out what video card you have, do this.
Right click "My Computer"
Then choose "Properties"
Then the "Hardware" tab
Then the "Device manager" button
Then click the "+" sign by the listing "Display Adapters"
You may want to upgrade your RAM to 1 gig.
You'll run your games better.You will also want to consider using the drivers for your video card located at this site:
www.omegadrivers.netHope this helps.

Intel82865g Graphics Controller
Does that sound like a video card?
If so how do I update the drivers?
lyneee

Yes. That's your video card. It's built into your Motherboard and uses onboard RAM for memory.
Everything you could ever want to know about it can be found here.

And that is what is causing your computer problems with HL2, the GFX is not probably supported by Hl3 therefor will cause errors.
You will have to purchase a GFx card.. look here for info,www.cclonline.com
cant fit my system in

Now my next question will be. How expensive and how difficult is it to replace a video card? Is it something I could do myself or would I need it done professionally?
lyneee

You can do it yourself. First. Open it up and see if you have an AGP slot on your motherboard. It's a slot that is "Brown" in color.
Then go shopping.
www.newegg.com

Thank-you for all your help.
I do not have a AGP slot in the motherboard. Just talked to Dell and they tell me I need to buy something called a PCI graphic card that plugs into the motherboard. Does this sound right? I don't always trust those Dell tech people. He says they run about $140.oo. Also that it should be something that a computer illiterate like myself should be able to do.
What do ya think?
Thanks again,
lyneee

Yea. You could do it yourself. It's goes in the same way an AGP card does. However. PCI video cards SUCK!
AGP has a bus speed of 1/2 the FSB of your Processor. Assuming you have a P4 with a FSB of 400mhz, would put your AGP bus at 200mhz.
PCI bus speed is 33mhz. That's it. If you increase or decrease it by more than a couple mhz then you get into data corruption problems.
33mhz wouldn't be so bad if the bus wasn't already loaded down. The HDD data is transfered on that bus, You network card is on that bus, your soundcard is on that bus, your USB is on that bus, etc...etc...etc...
An AGP bus shares it's bandwidth with NOTHING! So the whole 200mhz is dedicated to nothing but video.Still. If you buy a really super dooper PCI video card. You MAY, and that's a big MAY realize some improvement.
If it were me. I would Increase my RAM to 1 gig. and get the fastest RAM the motherboard will support. Hopefully PC 3200 at 400mhz. Then I would go into the BIOS and set my video aperature size to 256mb if it allows. That way 256mb of you 1gig of RAM will help support the onboard video card that you already have.
It may be a sucky onboard video card, but it does have one distinct advantage over the PCI video card. And that is, it has it's on AGP bus that is running at half of the FSB of your Processor and it's the only thing on that bus. Your PCI add on card is not gonna have that. It is still gonna have 33mhz and it's gonna have to share.

On a side note.
I do happen to have a Dell motherboard laying around with a 4x AGP slot. I know it will support a P4 with a 400 FSB. I just took it out of a Dell Dimension 4200 a couple of weeks ago. The Motherboard is two years old. It should work in your system, provided that the Case power button and Power LED and HDD LED hook up the same. It' real hit ot miss with Dell.
If you want to talk further about it. Email me. Just click on my name for my email addy.

Is this computer u have new? Cos if it is what the hell r dell selling PC's with no fking AGP port?
cant fit my system in

Does any of this sound at least 1/2 way decent for gaming?:
Features: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 GPU, Digital Vibrance Control 3.0, DirectX 9.0 with Vertex Shader 2.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0 and Z – correct bump mapping
Device Type: Graphics Card
Interface Type: AGP/PCI
Min Hard Drive Space: 10 MB (50 MB for full installation)
Min Operating System: Windows® 95 OSR2 / 98 or higher / ME / 2000 / XP / NT 4.0 with service pack 5 or 6
Min Processor Type: Intel Pentium III / AMD Duron or Athlon class processor or higher
Min RAM Size: 128 MB
Port(s) Total ( Free ) / Connector Type: VGA / S-Video Connectors
Software included: NVIDIA NVDVD 2.0 Multimedia Software, NVIDIA GeForce FX and GeForce4 Demos
API Supported: DirectX and OpenGL for Windows®
RAMDAC Clock Speed: 350 MHz (Dual)
RAM Installed ( Max ): 256 MB DDR
Compatibility: PC
Incorporating the NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX 5200 GPU, the Asylum GeForce FX 5200 Graphics Card from BFG delivers excellent 3D graphics performance. It features 256 MB DDR onboard memory, 350 MHz Dual RAMDAC and 280 MHz Core Clock for an unforgettable and true-to-life gaming experience. With API support for DirectX® 9.0 and OpenGL, this graphics card ensures compatibility with games and graphics applications.
lyneee

Yes lister... it is new!! It's not even a month old yet.. And I am asking myself the same question right now!! I assumed I wouldn't have a gaming problem with a Dell.. like they say... LIVE & LEARN!!
lyneee

In the list u provided above u state..
Interface Type: AGP/PCI
So does ur motherboard support AGP, maybe it does and in ur BIOS settings u have ur gFX card set to run @ PCI rather than AGP.Do u know how to get into ur bios and change things?
cant fit my system in

OMgoodness... get into my bios and change things?? I'm still trying to figure out what the heck a video card is..;-)
Seriously though to answer your question, I contacted Dell and they went by my customer number and the computer I had just ordered from them. They said it is an intrigated video card and I would have to get a PCI card vs a AGP card and that was the one they recommened I get.lyneee

my advice as its less than a week old. ring dell tell them you were misinformed you wante dhelpful advice this system is clearly not a gaming machine like you wanted refuse to pay for any pci graphics cards and tell them you want a refund spend your money on a better system or get a local shop to build one
Athlon xp 2000+ @1.7
pc 2100 256mb ram
radeon 8500
win xp home oem
several other things
new pc on way

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