Please help! Ati Rage 128 AGP, 16Mb Problems

thegmister · 05-14-2005, 05:12 PM

Thanks for taking the time to look at this

Whenever I play a game like Warcraft III or Midtown Madness 2 the screen will go blank. The system requirments for the game match.

The answer to the problem came to me just a couple hours ago. My computer can't run 640x480 resolution. I can't even start my game up without the computer freezing, so how am I supposed to change the relolution?

The problem is my video card thinks it can run 640x480, but it can't. How can I adjust it?

Thank you once more for looking at my article, and giving imput if you did.

**UncleMacro** · 05-14-2005, 05:23 PM

Your video card almost certainly can run at 640X480. On the other hand, your monitor may have problems in games at that resolution if the game tries to set a monitor refresh rate which the monitor can't handle. If you can boot in safe mode (instructions here), then your monitor and video card can run 640X480 using standard VGA settings. Try to boot in safe mode and see if everything is okay. What kind of monitor are you using? If it's an LCD panel, then they can be a bit picky about what frequencies they support and turn off if they get a frequency they don't like.

thegmister · 05-15-2005, 07:26 PM

My monitor is not a LCD. It is a CRT. O.K. so your right it isn't my video card.

**UncleMacro** · 05-16-2005, 07:03 AM

I just looked at your other thread and it looks like the only games which are working for you are 2D games and the 3D games are the ones which are giving you trouble. It's probably the wrong combinations of DirectX and video driver which is giving you problems. It would help if you could post some diagnostic info from the DXDiag program and include it in your next post. That's done as follows:
1) Click "Start"
2) Click "Run"
3) Type DXDiag
4) Click "OK"
5) Click "Save All Information" and save the file
6) Include the dxdiag.txt file you just created as an attachment in your next post

That way I can see what kind of drivers you have installed.

thegmister · 05-18-2005, 07:29 PM

DxDiag should be attatched.

**UncleMacro** · 05-19-2005, 06:43 PM

I looked at your DXDiag.txt and everything looks correct. So I don't see any driver problem and DirectX 9 seems to be installed correctly.

If a software problem makes your monitor turn off then it's usually an unsupported resolution or frequency. RefreshForce is a program which allows you to force what monitor frequency is used in games (and everywhere else) for each screen resolution. You can download it from here. You could try using it to make sure that the games aren't setting an unacceptable monitor frequency. Just pick the game resolution (like 640 X 480 or 800 X 600) and set a frequency you know you monitor supports at that resolution (like 75Hz). With RefreshForce, it's important that you be careful to use only frequencies which your monitor accepts so keep 'em low like 60Hz and 75Hz. Don't set any frequencies which are too high for your monitor because RefreshForce will just go ahead and set them even if the monitor doesn't support it. With almost all monitors, setting a frequency which is too high will just get it to shut down but some very old monitors are reputed to be damaged if you set a frequency which is too high.

If it's really a monitor refresh problem then RefreshForce should be able to get things working. Other than that, the only other think I can think to try is to reinstall Windows again and this time avoid using DirectX 9. Just try installing one of the older games which is giving you trouble which doesn't include DirectX 9 (Midtown Madness 2?) and use the DirectX which came with that game rather than installing the latest version of DirectX. There could be some compatibility problem which stems from the fact that you're running a very new version of DirectX and a very old video card.

05-14-2005, 05:12 PM	#1 (permalink)
thegmister Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP Professional	Please help! Ati Rage 128 AGP, 16Mb Problems Thanks for taking the time to look at this Whenever I play a game like Warcraft III or Midtown Madness 2 the screen will go blank. The system requirments for the game match. The answer to the problem came to me just a couple hours ago. My computer can't run 640x480 resolution. I can't even start my game up without the computer freezing, so how am I supposed to change the relolution? The problem is my video card thinks it can run 640x480, but it can't. How can I adjust it? Thank you once more for looking at my article, and giving imput if you did. Last edited by thegmister; 05-14-2005 at 05:14 PM.

05-14-2005, 05:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	Your video card almost certainly can run at 640X480. On the other hand, your monitor may have problems in games at that resolution if the game tries to set a monitor refresh rate which the monitor can't handle. If you can boot in safe mode (instructions here), then your monitor and video card can run 640X480 using standard VGA settings. Try to boot in safe mode and see if everything is okay. What kind of monitor are you using? If it's an LCD panel, then they can be a bit picky about what frequencies they support and turn off if they get a frequency they don't like.

05-15-2005, 07:26 PM	#3 (permalink)
thegmister Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 8 OS: Windows XP Professional	My monitor is not a LCD. It is a CRT. O.K. so your right it isn't my video card.

05-16-2005, 07:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	I just looked at your other thread and it looks like the only games which are working for you are 2D games and the 3D games are the ones which are giving you trouble. It's probably the wrong combinations of DirectX and video driver which is giving you problems. It would help if you could post some diagnostic info from the DXDiag program and include it in your next post. That's done as follows: 1) Click "Start" 2) Click "Run" 3) Type DXDiag 4) Click "OK" 5) Click "Save All Information" and save the file 6) Include the dxdiag.txt file you just created as an attachment in your next post That way I can see what kind of drivers you have installed.

05-19-2005, 06:43 PM	#6 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	I looked at your DXDiag.txt and everything looks correct. So I don't see any driver problem and DirectX 9 seems to be installed correctly. If a software problem makes your monitor turn off then it's usually an unsupported resolution or frequency. RefreshForce is a program which allows you to force what monitor frequency is used in games (and everywhere else) for each screen resolution. You can download it from here. You could try using it to make sure that the games aren't setting an unacceptable monitor frequency. Just pick the game resolution (like 640 X 480 or 800 X 600) and set a frequency you know you monitor supports at that resolution (like 75Hz). With RefreshForce, it's important that you be careful to use only frequencies which your monitor accepts so keep 'em low like 60Hz and 75Hz. Don't set any frequencies which are too high for your monitor because RefreshForce will just go ahead and set them even if the monitor doesn't support it. With almost all monitors, setting a frequency which is too high will just get it to shut down but some very old monitors are reputed to be damaged if you set a frequency which is too high. If it's really a monitor refresh problem then RefreshForce should be able to get things working. Other than that, the only other think I can think to try is to reinstall Windows again and this time avoid using DirectX 9. Just try installing one of the older games which is giving you trouble which doesn't include DirectX 9 (Midtown Madness 2?) and use the DirectX which came with that game rather than installing the latest version of DirectX. There could be some compatibility problem which stems from the fact that you're running a very new version of DirectX and a very old video card.