Games keep crashing

I just got my M1330 today, and did the bloatwear reformat. I tried loading SecondLife, and GTA3, and when I start both games, they end up crashing. Any idea what this could be caused by? Thanks

 

Did you install the correct graphics card drivers?

 

Are you running them at the same time?

 

No.

I am double checking my drivers

 

I reinstalled the drivers, and its still not working

 

Someone just told me that DirectX won't work with an Intel Video card, any truth to this?

 

And Microsoft Combat Flight Sim works just fine.

Anyone?

 

No.

What video card do you have? X3100?

 

Yeah..........

 

The X3100 is an integrated graphics card and not really suited for gaming. See the last post here...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=148045&page=90

For some performance tests, see
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4154

It's possible the X3100 can't handle some of the games you're trying to play.

 

I agree that this card isn't made for gaming, but the programs won't even load. The problem I am getting is the programs are crashing. One guess is that I only have 1gb of ram at the moment, and Vista takes up most of that.

Oh well, I should have spent the ****ing extra $100 for a better ****ing video card.

 

No !
You should have spent extra $100 for a better video card (8400M GS 128MB GDDR3 Dedicated w/ Modded ForceWare)

 

GTA3 runs without problems in the intel 945/950, so it "shouldn't" have problems running in the intel 965(=x3100) (haven't tried)

in the web site of Second life it also shows in the minimum requeriments the intel 945, so 965 should work too

 

Thats what I thought as well.......could it be the lack of RAM, or some other problem? I'm trying to avoid calling Dell.

 

GTA3 should run on a X3100 . . . I ran GTA3 on an x3100 for a while.

 

i don't think the ram is the problem, unless you have less than 512mb or it is damaged.
You can try reinstalling/upgrading apart from the video, the chipset intel drivers, the audio drivers. And installing the lastest direct X

also do the Diagnostic test when booting the laptop with F12. This is also useful if you call dell later, they have you do it so you save time.

you can also download 3dmark2003 or another version and run it to check if it has correct scores and it tests stability. I think the x3100 scores near 1700-1800 in 3dmark2003

If you are running programs in the background disable or exit them and try. Also try disabling Aero manually and see what happens.

This are some things i would try, hope you can fixed it easily

 

Thanks! I am downloading 3dmark now, and I will try those other things you suggested.

I just got 1652 on 3dmark

 

Just got off the phone with Dell Support, the only thing they can come up with is a lack of RAM. I got 4gb on its way from newegg, should be here in a few days, we'll give it another try then. Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

I'd send it back and re order with better graphics card.