Computer resets when viewing pictures

Actually, the computer started resetting before for unknown reasons but I guessed that it did that because there could be a faulty power connection. I also noticed that it would do it when I visited a random website.

However, today I was viewing some images by way of "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer" and the computer would reset itself while I was looking at images inside a folder.

I tried doing that 3 times (looking at pictures using "WPAFV") and all 3 times the computer resets itself.

OS: Windows XP SP2
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Solano i815E
Video Adapter: Rage 128 Pro Ultra GL AGP
3D Accelerator: ATI Rage Pro AGP 4X

PS. I tried to update the drivers of the Video Adapter but I get an error message whenever I try to do it. The error message says that "the display driver is not compatible with the display adapter(s) installed in your system". Which is weird because the drivers I got are suppose to be compatible.

Any help would be hot. Thanks.

 

I found this on the net. It mentions the ATI video cards similar to mine. They seem to have issues:

^^^ Does that mean that my computer resets itself because I have XP SP2? Do I need to go back to SP1?

 

I got this application from ATI's site:

WXPR1286133279.exe

Whenever I try to install it I get the same message:

And I have Aida32 which I think is similar to Everest. What info do you need?

 

That looks like the correct driver package for your ATI card.

Check that you have the latest chipset drivers from Intel installed, that may allow Windows to 'see' your card correctly.

Failing that, go advanced in Windows Update and download the MS drivers for it, they won't have any bells and whistles but they shouldn't crash on you.

 

satrow thank you for your reply. I went to Intel's site and they have a little program that detects what chipset you have on your computer. I let it run and I got a result that said that they didn't find any Intel product on it. Which is weird since the motherboard chipset is an Intel product.

I'm going to try doing that again and see if it works this time around. Or I'll simply get the chipset drivers somehow, regardless what that program says. I'll report back what happens on that front.

I was wondering if the problem was the ATI video card. And if it would be an option to remove it and simply use the motherboard since it seems to have an integrated video card (I mean, it has a monitor port so it has to have one, right?). Maybe I could try to get drivers for the motherboard instead and remove the ones for the ATI card and also remove the card itself. Is that a good option?

I also tried disabling "automatically restart" and that doesn't help at all. I tested it by looking at some pictures (again using "Windows Picture and Fax Viewer") and the computer resets itself every time I do that. I get no error message or anything at all. It simply restarts.

 

Yup, pull the ATI card, the i815 chipset has VGA built-in, set the BIOS options to boot from onboard, not from PCI, also set the amount of RAM to use with it, likely to be 8Mb max.

 

Well, I pulled out the ATI video card and everything seemed to work ok. I can now view pictures without the PC restarting itself. I've been using it for a while and no problems so far.

However, there is a problem... the Intel i815E graphic controller seems to have trouble working with DirectX 9.0c and some programs that make use of it, will not run at all.

I tried installing DirectX 9.0c over and over again and it seems to install fine. But when I check what version of DirectX the graphic controller is using, it comes out "DirectX* Version: 8.1"

Is there any way to update directX with this graphic controller? Do I have to uninstall the previous version to install the new one? And if so, how do I do that?

Thanks in advance.

 

UPDATE:

I checked which version of DirectX my PC has by way of STAR>RUN>dxdiag and it seems that DirectX 9.0c is indeed installed.

But when I check what version of DirectX the graphic controller is using, it comes out "DirectX* Version: 8.1"

So the problem is this: I get an error when running certain programs. Some of them say: "failed to find any DirectX 9.0c compatible graphic adapters in this system".


Can someone help?

 

I don't think the i815 is DirectX 9 compatible, neither would the Rage Pro, they're just too old.

Your cheapest option, if you must use DX 9, would be to pickup a recent Ati or nVidia AGP card, even new (getting rare), you should be able to buy an entry level card for sub-$40, I think.

I just hope that by upgrading your graphics card, it doesn't put too much strain on the (presumably) aging PSU.

 

That's the problem. The video card that I need should be compatible with DirectX 9 and also have no issues working with this prehistoric PC.

How would I know what card is best for my PC? I obviously don't need a fancy card to play modern games. I simply need a card that has no issues running programs that require DirectX 9 and that won't restart my PC like crazy. That's all I ask for.

 

A quick search online brings up http://www.ebuyer.com/product/119723, I really don't know whether it would be 100% compatible with your motherboard but it is based on one of the earliest GPU's still on widespread sale that was compatible with DirectX 9.

 

Thanks satrow, the problem has been solved. I hope! :-D

I got a "new" video card (Nvidia Riva TNT2 Model 64) and all the issues I had with my pc are gone. I've been using it for a whole day doing several different tasks and no problems at all. Not a single problem. Everything works like a charm.

Well, there is one problem. Just for kicks I tried to update the drivers for the Nvidia card I installed. My PC already had drivers for the card and the installation process went through with no problems. Yet I wanted to update the card's drivers so I downloaded them from the official site.

Yet whenever I try to install them I get this error message every time:

Like I said, my PC is running fine at present. So as long as that keeps up I am ok with not having to update the drivers for the video card. Yet I would appreciate someone telling me if there is a way to install those drivers.

Anywhoo, thanks for your help!

 

nVidia haven't issued drivers that will work on a TNT64 for years now, just use what you have now and hope for the best