Video Card Problem

[aiglon]

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and got everything they wanted :) Santa brought my son a copy of Sims 2 - and a load of problems :( :( Hope someone might be able to offer a bit of advice.

The system requirements state that a T&L video card is preferable but that (amongst others) an Intel Extreme Graphics 82865 card will suffice, provided the processor is at least 2.0GHz. My boy's computer has an Intel 82865G card and the processor is 2.8GHz so that should be OK?

However, the game will not start. The opening sequences run, then various error messages appear:

"The IALMRNT5 display driver has stopped working. Reboot the system to restore full display functionality. The next time you reboot, the machine dialog will be displayed giving you a chance to upload data about this failure to Microsoft."

and:

"The graphics adaptor in this sytem experienced an internal error. Please contact your graphics adapter manufacturer for technical support. The application will now terminate."

Anyone got any ideas, please?

Aiglon

[E-Liam]

Hi Aiglon,

The first thing to do would be to check that you have the latest display drivers (http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/filter_results.asp?strOSs=45&strTypes=DRV%2CARC&ProductID=865&OSFullName=Windows*+XP+Home+Edition&submit=Go%21) installed.

I got that info from here (http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,10058472) and there's a bit more reading that you may find useful.

Cheers

Liam

[spannersatcx]

There's also a patch available for Sims 2 (http://thesims2.ea.com/update/) not sure if it will help. Also have a look at the tech support site and maybe ask the question of them I've used them before and they can be helpful.

[Massey Man]

Does the PC work with other games?

I had a similar problem with my old PC, turned out id let windows find the driver when i first got the PC, and it had picked one that seemed fine but infact was not when you got it to do something a bit difficult.

I still had the CD for my graphics card and i installed the driver from there manually and it was fine..

The driver will probably be on the website of your graphics card, even if you have the right one it may be corrupt or something, try reinstalling it anyway.

[Koyo]

Sorry friend but on board graphic cards never worked well with games. They only good for 2D work but not 3D, no matter what spec says. If you want the best graphics for your games, buy an add-on graphics card like ATI 9800, X series or Nvidia 6700.

[aiglon]

Thanks for all the tips. I downloaded the latest driver from the Dell site - interestingly, there is a newer driver available on the Intel site but thought it best to stick with Dell's version. With that driver installed, things are now working - well, sort of. The game loads and can be played but a bit slow and jerky at times :}

Spannersatcx, I will try the Sims patch next and see if that makes any difference.

Koyo, point taken but before I'm not sure how into games my son is going to be. If necessary, I can upgrade later.

Thanks all :ok:

Aiglon