- Jun 24, 2001
- 24,195
- 857
- 126
First of all:
*This is a hardware related question even though I speak of XP and drivers because my problem -PROBABLY- is related to different hardware configurations!*
Because of OEM hardware customizations, ATI refuses to release ATI Mobility drivers themselves (Passing the buck to the OEM that built your computer). My Compaq Presario laptop, uses the ATI Mobility 128 M3 (ATI Rage 128 Pro based). At the time, it was the ONLY chipset considered capable of running Quake3 and Unreal Tournament well on a laptop (It was, "THE Gamer's Laptop Video Chip."). Out of the box, its drivers couldn't even run Unreal Tournament right (Garbled textures after a few minutes). Sure enough, the driver on every other manufacturer's site had updated but not Compaq's. I forced Dell's drivers to install despite "hardware differences" by making a few modifications to the INF file. Dell's were flawless. Compaq NEVER updated.
Then comes XP.
Compaq's official statement is that they will not be releasing an XP compatible driver because XP has built in support. They TOLD me so. What's horrible about XP's driver is not that OpenGL is just buggy or old, but rather it's TOTALLY ABSENT from the driver! What good is a capable chipset if its drivers are THAT neglected? Dell's ATI drivers were harder to get installed this time around, but I got it working at least.
Now, I have a new problem.
I'm a big fan of using the Hibernate function, but when resuming from Hibernate, OpenGL software will not run. I assume that this is because Dell hardware is configured differently and the driver only supports it with Dell hardware, but it may be just a driver bug that affects Dell systems too. Before I dive into the the driver modifications any more, I need to know if it's a hardware or software problem (This IS in the correct forum).
I need to know if it does this on Dell laptops too before I try. Does anyone here have a Dell system running WinXP (I know no M3/M4 systems shipped w/ XP) and the latest M3/M4 drivers? If so, please launch Quake3 Arena and exit. Then Hibernate and resume (NOT Sleep thanks, Hibernate is different). After that, start Quake3 again and see if it runs correctly (I get a flashing garbled screen).
Thnx!
*This is a hardware related question even though I speak of XP and drivers because my problem -PROBABLY- is related to different hardware configurations!*
Because of OEM hardware customizations, ATI refuses to release ATI Mobility drivers themselves (Passing the buck to the OEM that built your computer). My Compaq Presario laptop, uses the ATI Mobility 128 M3 (ATI Rage 128 Pro based). At the time, it was the ONLY chipset considered capable of running Quake3 and Unreal Tournament well on a laptop (It was, "THE Gamer's Laptop Video Chip."). Out of the box, its drivers couldn't even run Unreal Tournament right (Garbled textures after a few minutes). Sure enough, the driver on every other manufacturer's site had updated but not Compaq's. I forced Dell's drivers to install despite "hardware differences" by making a few modifications to the INF file. Dell's were flawless. Compaq NEVER updated.
Then comes XP.
Compaq's official statement is that they will not be releasing an XP compatible driver because XP has built in support. They TOLD me so. What's horrible about XP's driver is not that OpenGL is just buggy or old, but rather it's TOTALLY ABSENT from the driver! What good is a capable chipset if its drivers are THAT neglected? Dell's ATI drivers were harder to get installed this time around, but I got it working at least.
Now, I have a new problem.
I'm a big fan of using the Hibernate function, but when resuming from Hibernate, OpenGL software will not run. I assume that this is because Dell hardware is configured differently and the driver only supports it with Dell hardware, but it may be just a driver bug that affects Dell systems too. Before I dive into the the driver modifications any more, I need to know if it's a hardware or software problem (This IS in the correct forum).
I need to know if it does this on Dell laptops too before I try. Does anyone here have a Dell system running WinXP (I know no M3/M4 systems shipped w/ XP) and the latest M3/M4 drivers? If so, please launch Quake3 Arena and exit. Then Hibernate and resume (NOT Sleep thanks, Hibernate is different). After that, start Quake3 again and see if it runs correctly (I get a flashing garbled screen).
Thnx!
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