This is about the new nVidia drivers.

The first time I tried HL2, a warning popped saying that I needed to update my graphics drivers. I ignored it and the game ran perfectly fine, except for the fact that it was really choppy and slow (my systems specs are down at the bottom). The next day I decided to install the new drivers, I installed and restarted the computer. Then I tried to run HL2 again. This time it said "could not set display mode" and said my card is not DirectX 7.0 compatible.
So I naturally figured that running the game without the new drives may of damaged something, so I tried the samething on my brother's computer, which was alot newer and better than mine. I downloaded the game, installed the proper drivers, restarted, then started HL2. The same error message came up, and his card was a Geforce FX 5200. So maybe his card was also old. So I tried a even newer computer- the new school computer that just came in. They are far better than the two I've tried it on, GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, they also have the same problem.

So I think the problem is the new drivers.

Is there a way to 'downgrade' the new drivers to the old ones that worked?

Dell Dimension 4500
Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz
Windows XP Home, SP1
512 mb PC2700
nVidia Geforce MX 420 64 Mb
80Gb Hard Drive
24x4x48x CD-RW
8x DVD-ROM

You have an old, outdated card, & frankly, it wasn't a good card even when it was brand new. I wouldn't expect it to run HL2 very well at all, no matter what drivers you use.

Sometimes older cards don't work well with new drivers though. Uninstall the new ones & try version 56.72...& follow the installation hints:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_archive.html

http://www.nvidia.com/object/driver_installation_hints.html

ASUS A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 1800+
8.5 x 200MHz
1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

did you buy or "download" the game, thus could lie the problem....

Also, lol your running games on a school computer, you could get in trouble for that. sounds to me like the wrong drivers were installed if the display cant even be initialized. Lastly why would the game look for DX 7 when it needs DX 9. Make sure your DX is up to date, even if your cards only support DX 8, check the minimum specs to make sure the rest of the systems are up to snuf. Not to mention look at the read-me file included with the game or the website they usually have troubleshooting help.

Doug

Windows Xp Home
Celeron 2.8 Ghz
768mb Ram
Geforce 5700LE PCI Card 128MB 128 bit

Actually, HL2 was very well programed and doesn't need DX9 or even DX8. And can run on DX7 or better. But yeah, I pretty much used to have that kind of comp, you need a new grfx card. That card was pretty much good for getting off of the on board.

Ignore them, Kwonpan.

I updated by gfx card months ago to play HL2 as is was meant to be. All was fine, and I happily played through one of the most glorious games ever.

I recently upgraded to the latest nVidia gfx drivers, and now I get the same error message and the game won't run at all!

I've also found a similar problem with Lego:Star Wars

I suggest you try using the windows "roll back drivers" option from your device manager - preferably with fingers crossed. Failing that - just have to wait for the next nVidia "update" and hope they test it popoerly this time.

I also get the same error message with version 77.77 drivers. I hope nVidia is working on this. I'm going to contact them about it.

all sorts of nvidia driver issues can be caused by the drivers not being completely deinstalled when you of course first deinstall them before you install a new one. the nvidia drivers are known to leave traces. if this is the cause of this problem , you have to completely deinstall the driver with a program like drivercleaner :http://www.drivercleaner.net/

nesvadba