Blame video card for computer’s strange behavior.
Question: The screen on my new Cyrix 200 mHz MMX unit will randomly freeze during pretty well any activity, from surfing the Internet, to playing games, to moving through directories and files. When this occurs, the system will not respond to Ctrl+Alt+Del, and my only recourse is to hit the reset or power switch. The problem appears to occur primarily when the unit is running a heavy graphics or video application, but has occasionally frozen during normal file searches, as well. The unit has been returned to the vendor twice, but the problem still persists and I’ve been told to expect some “normal” hang-ups. Since I’m running an ATI Rage II video card, could I be experiencing a similar problem? – RKJ
Answer: This sounds like a complex one, but really it’s not. I see similar questions often. Queries about video cards come into my electronic mailbox in many forms like dark little pajama monsters on Christmas morning. The answers, though, are almost always the same. If there’s a problem with what you see on your monitor, especially if you’re dealing with Windows 95, chances are you need to check how up-to-date your video driver is. That or you’ve got jam all over it. Wash your sticky fingers.
Video-card errors often appear if you change your system configuration, add a new card or introduce software that doesn’t support older hardware. Even if you’re not experiencing any major video-card problems, it’s often a good idea to check every now and then to see whether your card manufacturer has updated your card’s drivers.
How do you tell what version number the driver is? Check the Display section of your Control Panel. Click the Settings tab and then click the Change Display Type button. The version number will be listed under Adapter Type.
Contact your video-card manufacturer to find out what version the latest driver is. If there’s a driver newer than the one you have, download it from their Internet website or the video adapter maker’s electronic bulletin board system. Some companies will even mail you new drivers on a floppy.
If you don’t know who made your video card adapter, you can find out in your Control Panel by double clicking the System icon. On the Device Manager tab is a list of all the installed devices on your system. Click the plus sign next to the Display Adapter entry, and the brand name and model of your video card will be revealed.
When you finally get hold of a new set of drivers, they usually come in a collection (usually for a series of video cards), either in a ZIP or EXE format. Simply extract them to a folder that you can locate later. Double-clicking ,EXE files will make them self-extract. If they are “zipped”, you’ll need a copy of WinZip. Check here for instructions.
Once the drivers are extracted, follow these steps:
- Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel and choose Display.
- Click the Settings tab, Change Display Type, and finally Change next to the adapter type.
- You’ll see a list of compatible display adapters (or video cards). All you have to do is click Have Disk and type in the location of the driver you recently obtained.
- From there, keep clicking OK until it prompts you to reboot.
UPDATE: This solved RKJ’s problem. “I downloaded the latest driver from ATI and have tested it for the last week under all the conditions I could think of, and it appears to have resolved the issue! Thanks a million for the advice!”