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Need help with older Intel MOBO graphics adapters (82845/G/G*)
Need help with older Intel MOBO graphics adapters (82845/G/G*)
- I've been installing (testing) the Win7 beta and RC on older HP business machines with some decent results (I'm running the Win7 64-bit RC on a Athlon64 3500 w/ 4GB RAM and like the speed, stability*).
I chose this particular model (510USDT: 2Ghz P4, 2GB RAM, newer 200GB PATA HDD) for being as Atom-like as I have. When I've run into an issue with drivers for a device I've had some luck using Vista drivers. I have had no luck in finding a driver that will give the hardware acceleration needed for even a decent game of Freecell. Basic functionality is no problem. Any suggestions/hacks/work-arounds would be greatly appreciated.
* I'm dual booting with XP on this box for comparison and I've noticed one issue. I'm using a GeForce 8400GS as a relatively inexpensive solution for DirectX10 requirements. Hulu video looks great in XP but is a litle choppy with Win7.- Moved byRonnie VernonMVP, ModeratorSaturday, June 13, 2009 8:03 PMFocus (From:Windows 7 Miscellaneous)
Answers
- I am dual booting XP and Win7 on this machine so I didn't have access to a Vista driver for it already installed. All my attempts to install a driver from the Intel and HP sites ran up against either the driver install app detecting that the hardware wasn't there or that Vista wasn't the operating system. I was beating my head up against this for a while but finally came up with a hack that seems to be working (albeit not a WDDM driver- the hardware just doesn't support it). In all modesty, I'd have to say the community deserves a pat on the back for coming up with a solution that squeezes this kind of performance out of seven years old equipment. And it says alot for the OS.
I downloaded and saved the stock 845 graphics driver from the HP site. Right-clicked it to "Troubleshoot compatibility" and then ran it in "XP mode". When I rebooted, the display flashed a bunch of colors and seemed to stall for a long time but then the desktop came up and it was running. I rebooted again (and it seems like it takes a hair longer now) but the desktop came up without a glitch. Device Manager shows the HP driver as being installed. The "sleep" function now works (I have to use the power button to wake it though the mouse wakes it when I'm booting in XP- I'll work on this) and the hardware acceleration is enough that I can play Freecell and Chess Titans without the pop-up telling me that hardware acceleration is turned off. In the performance/visual effects settings I've switched from adjust for best performance to best appearance and it doesn't seem like it took a big hit (though I've always ran XP and Vista adjusted for best performance and will probably switch this back, too). I'd be hard pressed to ask for more and am pretty happy with the results.
Again, thanks to all and I will do my best to keep up on the forums to lend whatever help I can.
Penheaded (hhhhahd on twitter and at gmail)
Update: I'm still at 1.0 for the Windows Experience Index because of 3D graphics but for whatever it is worth the Aero index went from 1.0 to 1.9!- Marked As Answer byPenheaded Monday, June 15, 2009 5:45 PM
All Replies
Upgrading to a new, dedicated video card will solve your issue.
http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/yochay/Windows-7-Graphics-Architecture-Overview-Part-1/
Carey Frisch- Hello penheaded,
Have you tried running just the default WDDM driver that installs with Windows 7 RC?
-Scott Upgrading to a new, dedicated video card will solve your issue.
http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/yochay/Windows-7-Graphics-Architecture-Overview-Part-1/
Carey Frisch
The D510 Ultra Small Desk Top (USDT) has no internal expansion slots. An external graphics adapter seems like a rather expensive solution.Hello penheaded,
Have you tried running just the default WDDM driver that installs with Windows 7 RC?
-Scott
The Win7 RC loaded a VGA driver that is not labeled as WDDM. Is there any way to utilize the graphics from XP mode? Doessn't Win7 use another graphics format besides WDDM?- Penheaded,
What model is your onboard GPU?
-Alex - I'd like to thank everyone that has tried to help but so far there has been no luck.
The only identification I have for the video chipset on the MOBO is the one given in the header on this thread- 82845GL.
The MOBO chipset itself is identified by cpuz as an Intel i845GL Rev. A1.
I should state that my attempts to update the driver all return the message that the best driver (Standard VGA) is already loaded. Device manager lists no problem devices. Thanks to Flash, Hulu plays adequately: But I can't play a game of Freecell. Penheaded -
Windows 7 (and Vista) has a different driver model than XP. XP uses kernal mode drivers while Vista and Win 7 use user mode drivers. The difference, the kernal mode drivers are embedded in the deepest layer of the OS while User Mode drivers are on the same layer as applications. If a Kernal mode driver blows up, it takes the whole OS with it in a BSOD. If a User Mode driver goes kaput, it's usually not that drastic - Windows simply restarts the driver, logs the error and you go about your business.
This was also done to enhance security. Since the kernal is better protected and insulated from everything that doesn't belong there, Windows is better protected from malware.
You mentioned you've got an i845 chipset.... That one IS fairly old. And if memory serves - you're not likely to get it to work with Aero even if there was a driver available. That chipset doesn't have the horsepower to do it. You'd have to go with an Intel 945 or later chipset to do that.- penheaded, there is a driver but it seems to be hit or miss, some say it works fine, some it doesn't work at all. basically you install the 82852 driver from vista
read here
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprohardware/thread/2e4631f4-2c26-4837-9a5d-7827bb8daaeb - Thanks, Shakey.
I'm gonna give this a whirl and get back with the results tomorrow.
I thought something like this might work. - No problem, it is not a WDDM driver though, there isn't any for the 82845, but it does seem to work better than that default driver, as long as it works, like I said it either works or it doesn't
good luck,
shakey - I am dual booting XP and Win7 on this machine so I didn't have access to a Vista driver for it already installed. All my attempts to install a driver from the Intel and HP sites ran up against either the driver install app detecting that the hardware wasn't there or that Vista wasn't the operating system. I was beating my head up against this for a while but finally came up with a hack that seems to be working (albeit not a WDDM driver- the hardware just doesn't support it). In all modesty, I'd have to say the community deserves a pat on the back for coming up with a solution that squeezes this kind of performance out of seven years old equipment. And it says alot for the OS.
I downloaded and saved the stock 845 graphics driver from the HP site. Right-clicked it to "Troubleshoot compatibility" and then ran it in "XP mode". When I rebooted, the display flashed a bunch of colors and seemed to stall for a long time but then the desktop came up and it was running. I rebooted again (and it seems like it takes a hair longer now) but the desktop came up without a glitch. Device Manager shows the HP driver as being installed. The "sleep" function now works (I have to use the power button to wake it though the mouse wakes it when I'm booting in XP- I'll work on this) and the hardware acceleration is enough that I can play Freecell and Chess Titans without the pop-up telling me that hardware acceleration is turned off. In the performance/visual effects settings I've switched from adjust for best performance to best appearance and it doesn't seem like it took a big hit (though I've always ran XP and Vista adjusted for best performance and will probably switch this back, too). I'd be hard pressed to ask for more and am pretty happy with the results.
Again, thanks to all and I will do my best to keep up on the forums to lend whatever help I can.
Penheaded (hhhhahd on twitter and at gmail)
Update: I'm still at 1.0 for the Windows Experience Index because of 3D graphics but for whatever it is worth the Aero index went from 1.0 to 1.9!- Marked As Answer byPenheaded Monday, June 15, 2009 5:45 PM
