Yeah. I must admit that I'm really beginning to wonder why this laptop gift was supposed to be such a better computer than my old one. Oh, wait. It *does* have a DVD drive. But, it begins to seem that I should have just bought a DVD drive, upgraded the video card and sound card, and proceeded with the hard drive space I had before(double what this one's got).

But the gift giver (my son, the long distance tech support) may actually be swinging by for a visit in a couple weeks, so maybe he can figure it out.

Meanwhile, I think I'll do another minimum install and put up with the fits and starts.

Well, your son apparently bought himself a new PC. Try nailing his feet to the floor and asking him to detail all of the reasons he did so - might be illuminating!

Your old machine has a 750MHz Pentium III and 384 MB of system RAM, and IMHO isn't really worth upgrading. I believe you'd be much better off putting your money into a new *desktop* PC with at least a Pentium 4, 1 GB of RAM, a 120 GB (minimum, bigger is better) hard drive, a DVD-RW drive, etc.

Heimdall
Semper ubi sub ubi.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Heimdall G,

Allrighty then!

Time to do my taxes and see who owes whom this year, and how much. I know where any leftovers need to go!

Is there any way for me to slip through the cracks by somehow doing an install that's between minimum and complete?

For instance, is there a way to install everything except the movie clips?
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OK, this has kinda become a case of cross-posting. I've had a running (but interrupted) discussion on the "General Discussion" board too. Over there, wstrohm has dug out the following info from the Read Me file:

" If the game is installed with the minimum installation, videos will be played directly from the DVD disc.
For smooth video playback, the transfer mode of your DVD drive must be set to DMA.
You can set the transfer mode through the "system" icon in Windows' Control Panel."

I can't find any reference to transfer mode under the System icon. Is this something I could/should try?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LynComeLately,

Q. Is there any way for me to slip through the cracks by somehow doing an install that's between minimum and complete? For instance, is there a way to install everything except the movie clips?
A. AFAIK (and unlike Myst V), there's no way to do a "partial" Revelation install. The options are either a minimum install or a full install.

Q. "You can set the transfer mode through the "system" icon in Windows' Control Panel." Is this something I could/should try?
A. You can try changing your disc drive transfer mode.
-- a. Log into Windows with full Administrator privileges, and close all open applications.
-- b. Click on Start > Control Panel.
-- c. Double-click on System, click on the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.
-- d. Double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers folder to expand it.
-- e. Double-click on Primary IDE Channel, then click on the Advanced Settings tab.
-- f. In all Transfer Mode boxes, select DMA if available (may already be selected), then click on OK.
-- g. Double-click on Secondary IDE Channel, then click on the Advanced Settings tab.
-- h. In all Transfer Mode boxes, select DMA if available (may already be selected), then click on OK.
-- i. Close back to the Desktop, and reboot.

Heimdall
Semper ubi sub ubi.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Heimdall G,

Thank you. I had no clue where to find that.

In any case, once I got there, everything was already set for "DMA if available" so no changes were made.

To find information on the inner workings of Windows, you've got at least two good sources:

-- Win XP's built-in knowledge base. Click on Start > Help and Support, then either look in the topics under the major headings, or do a search.

-- The Microsoft Support Knowledge Base. You can do an advanced Knowledge Base search for info on Win XP or anything Microsoft has ever published. Win XP is at the bottom of the Search Product: list.

With either of these sources, you may find what you want on the first try, but you'll probably need to look through more than one information/search level.

I always forget about that. Thanks for the reminder.

H_G, do you think my tech issues can have anything to do with why I'm seeing these skyscapes when I'm supposed to see the closeup of letters? (see my post in the Spoiler Discussion thread).

Yes, I do. You're probably seeing skyscapes instead of letters because of the Dell video driver you have installed. Even though it's the latest from Dell, it's very old.

Do you want to try updating your video driver? The latest driver from NVIDIA should work with your GeForce4 440 Go video chipset. Also, there's a video BIOS update available from Dell.

I'm game . . . with your help.

Although please note that to this luddite, the suggestion *seems* to contradict something earlier in this thread. On 2/14 you wrote:

quote:

"Version 6.13.10.4258" means that you have Dell's version 42.58 driver installed. Although it was released on 4/18/2003, version 42.58 is the latest video driver from Dell for your GeForce4 440 Go chipset. There are later drivers available from NVIDIA, the chipset's manufacturer, but nothing specific for your laptop.

Somehow I got the impression that I should not try to update the video drivers since I had what was essentially the latest version for this laptop. Did I misunderstand?

You're no longer a luddite, I'd say!

Here's what NVIDIA says about their drivers and video chipsets in laptops. (A GPU is a Graphics Processing Unit, the video analog of the Central Processing Unit or CPU.)

"Mobile GPU's like the GeForce Go and Quadro Go family of mobile GPU's use drivers that have been customized to support hot key functions, power management functions, lid close and suspend/resume behavior that are normally found in notebooks. The reference drivers that are provided by NVIDIA on our driver downloads page do not include these custom features. NVIDIA reference drivers are UDA compatible and will run on an NVIDIA notebook GPU but other functions like suspend/resume, display brightness, etc. are not supported."

So, you have essentially two choices. You can stay with your current Dell video driver and see the pretty skyscapes. Or, you can try installing an NVIDIA driver, which should (but isn't guaranteed to) solve the problem. Note that if the NVIDIA driver doesn't solve the problem or you find that you want the unsupported laptop-specific functions, you can always re-install the Dell driver.

Shall we proceed?

So, should I proceed, I can expect that the following will no longer function on my laptop: "hot key functions, power management functions, lid close and suspend/resume behavior." And this means, among other things, that should I actually try to use this laptop as a mobile unit (instead of leaving it plugged into the docking station), that closing the lid will *not* turn it off? And are there "hot key functions" that I will be sorry to lose?

I just want to try to I understand the ramifications of my decision, and since the laptop is new to me, I don't really know what I'm doing.

Oh, a couple other questions: you're saying that this anomaly is *not* likely to be a factor of a flaw in the game installation? Or a patch that should be reinstalled?

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(and, now that I've tackled my 1040, I'm relieved to find I don't owe the IRS, but also they don't owe me enough to plan on purchasing a new computer anytime soon)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LynComeLately,

Q. ...closing the lid will *not* turn it off?
A. I don't have an Inspiron 8200 at hand to check, but closing the lid on a laptop usually causes the machine to go into suspend mode, not to actually shut down. (Shutting down should require physically turning off the power or using the Windows Start > Turn Off Computer sequence.) Whether that's what the Inspiron does, I don't know, and I also can't say whether the machine will still do whatever it does now, with the NVIDIA driver installed.

Q. And are there "hot key functions" that I will be sorry to lose?
A. Your Inspiron has built-in "hot keys", as detailed on pp 47-48 of the Inspiron 8200 Owner's Manual, Keyboard Shortcuts, and pp 44-45, AccessDirect Buttons. Do you use these functions now? If not, you won't lose anything. Again, I can't say whether these functions will still act as they do now, with the NVIDIA driver installed.

Q. .. this anomaly isn't likely to be a factor of a flaw in the game installation? Or a patch that should be reinstalled?
A. "Likely" is open to question, but of course anything is possible. If you have the time and inclination, you can try uninstalling Revelation, then re-installing the game and the patches. May help, may not, but it's something you can do before installing a new video driver. (BTW, it's a shame that the Leaning Tower of Pisa doesn't have a clock on it. If you have the inclination, you really should have the time....)

Remember that you can always re-install the original Dell Driver (which you should download and save to your hard disk, before installing a new driver) if the NVIDIA driver doesn't work out. Also, you might ask your son what his experience was with video drivers and the Inspiron, if any. For instance, did he ever try installing an NVIDIA driver? Etc.

quote:

it's a shame that the Leaning Tower of Pisa doesn't have a clock on it. If you have the inclination, you really should have the time

*groan*

Just for "fun," I think I'll try doing an uninstall and reinstall before we proceed with new drivers. Meanwhile, I *might* be able to get in touch with my son the long-distance techie (if I can tear him away from the airplane he's building, to talk to his mom about his old computer) to discuss whether he's had experience installing an NVIDIA driver.

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I've uninstalled and reinstalled the game just to see what I get. The skyscapes still appear instead of the closeups.

I also talked to my son, who reminded me that he and I had tried installing the newest NVIDIA graphics drivers when I first got this laptop. Unfortunately, both screens immediately went dark and, after talking me through starting in safety mode, we reverted to a restore point.

That said, I've had nothing but trouble with startups on this computer since I got it, and I've finally resigned myself to multiple startup attempts virtually every time I turn it back on. So . . . I may as well proceed.

quote:

You're no longer a luddite, I'd say!

I hope you don't mean you think I can proceed on my own, without you holding my hand all the way through? 'Cause that ain't gonna happen!

But it's all an adventure anyway, and besides, on Tuesday I get a company laptop for my use for the next month, so I figure I'll be starting all over again anyway (although the thought of having to find the right wavelengths for Haven and Spire ONE MORE TIME, has me ready to scream).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: LynComeLately,

"I may as well proceed." Do you mean that you want to try installing the NVIDIA driver?

If so, please ask your son if he installed the latest video BIOS (not driver, BIOS) update from Dell.

And you've had nothing but trouble with startups? What are the troubles you've had?

Oops! Thanks for correcting my terminology.

Probably I don't need to talk with my son. I vaguely remembered doing this before, so I went over to our 5-page thread you and I had running on the Riven board, where I found this:

quote:

a long-distance amateur techie: suggesting we try installing the video driver from Dell's website, watching the screens go black [well, I guess technically, only I could see them] and then talking me through start up in safe mode so we could access the restore feature.

So, I had tried updating the video drivers, but because the screens went dark, we immediately did a restore, without ever updating the BIOS.

I can describe my startup problems. First let me say that I was advised to wait a couple weeks to install Revelation, but after having waited impatiently for this laptop (which has the DVD drive my previous computer did not), I insisted on moving ahead with installing the game immediately. I only mention this because it may have confused the issue.

Meanwhile, when I got this old Dell laptop, I also was given a docking station and a flat screen monitor. At first I had a wide-screen monitor, but because of problems with running the drivers for the wide-screen, it was traded in for another flat screen: a Princeton VL 1919. (Some of this you may remember discussing earlier in a thread on the Riven forum and then in this thread, back in February.)

So, from the beginning, I've had startup problems that apparently relate to running the outboard monitor. Sometimes when I power on, I get two dark screens, with the separate monitor bouncing around a little box that says "Frequency out of range: 83 KHz 158 Hz ; Please change the display mode to 1280 x 1024 with 60 Hz." Since it's already set to this resolution and this frequency, there doesn't seem to be anything I can do to convince the computer to accept it.

So, whether I get this message box or just two blank, dark screens, I've taken to powering off and then on again and waiting to see whether normal startup will *really* be normal. Sometimes I have to go through this sequence several times before it really is normal, other times once is enough, and less often, I will have to choose Safe Mode, and then simply restart (and then it's usually OK).

But sometimes it starts up with no problem whatsoever.

In spite of keeping track of what I do with the computer (what programs I've accessed, whether I've played Revelation, etc.) I have not been able to identify what might be the trigger for the error message.

So, that's the whole story. I suppose I'm no longer freaked out by the screens going dark, so I'm willing to try again on installing the graphics driver, hoping that I know what to do if I suddenly have no scrrens to give me information!

Let's not do anything with video drivers until the startup problems are solved. Too much fun at any one time isn't a good thing....

Have you:
-- Read through the Advanced Port Replicator User's Guide? ("Advanced Port Replicator", yeah, right. Why can't they simply call it a docking station like everybody else?!)
-- Always docked your Inspiron exactlyas per the Docking the Computer instructions on page 1-5 of the User's Guide? You should not get any Windows errors when doing so.
-- Always undocked your Inspiron exactlyas per the Undocking the Computer instructions on page 1-6 of the User's Guide? You should not get any Windows errors when doing so.

If you've done the above, after having logged into Windows with full Administrator privileges and closed all open applications:
-- a. Right-click on a blank area of the Desktop.
-- b. Click on Properties in the resulting drop-down menu, then click on Settings.
-- c. Click on the Screen resolution slider, and hold down the left mouse button.
-- d. While holding down the mouse button, move the slider to the 800 by 600 pixels position.
-- e. Release the mouse button, and click on Apply. The screen should go black for a few seconds.
-- f. Click Advanced > Monitor. You should now be looking at the monitor setting options for your Princeton VL1919, or maybe "Plug and Play Monitor".
-- g. Under Monitor settings:, set Screen refresh rate to 60 Hertz. Also check the "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display" box.
-- h. Click on Apply > OK, and verify that screen resolution is 800 by 600 pixels.
-- i. If it is, click on OK to close back to the Desktop.
-- j. Reboot, and log into Windows with full Administrator privileges.

If you don't have the "two black screens" problem on bootup, you can repeat the above procedure to reset screen resolution. Try 1024 by 768 pixels, and if that resolution works properly, you could go to a higher resolution. However, even though your monitor's "native resolution" is 1280 x 1024, I'd recommend a maximum of 1024 x 768. The monitor should scale this lower resolution so that you don't have any black bars around the screen.

Your VL1919's specifications are available here.

When the black-screens-on-bootup problem is solved, we can proceed with video driver installation.

I haven't read through the guide, but neither have I docked or undocked the computer since it was origianlly set up for me (no battery at the moment and would be too much hassle with cords).

I now have the monitor set at 1024 x 768, and the Hz set (as it had been all along) at 60.

I had forgotten about the difference in size of text and icons with the change in resolution. Since I had had Windows set for Large Print, I now seem to have giant print and some things look slightly fuzzy. Should I go back to the regular size?

I've turned the computer off and on several times with no problem, but then I haven't tried to play Revelation yet either -- shall I do that and see what we get next?

Even barring a dip back into the game, I will wait and see what I've got in the morning. I can't tell you how many times I thought the problem had resolved only to find myself apparently back to square one in the morning.
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Just FYI:
There's one other "misfire" I forgot to mention. Sometimes it will try to start up and Windows would never complete its bootup. I'd see the Windows startup screen, with the green bar crawling . . . indefintely. Then I'd have to power off and try again.

I'd recommend going back to regular-size print, then try playing Revelation.