Stuck on Directx 8.1

So here's the deal. I've been messing around with the alky project and stuff which is a DX10 port for XP. I know that it works in a limited capacity and I wanted to try it out. It worked fine for a while although forcing DX10 mode on games wouldn't work. I left it on because it was no different from DX9. Then I started to have some shader issues, etc. I uninstalled DX9 and used safe mode to successfully install DX8.1. Now I'm stuck on 8.1. I can't run any games that require Directx9! I've tried the web installer for DX9.0c and the installer completes but dxdiag still reports 8.1 and games still won't run. Please help me. :cry

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks! You need the full version of DirectX9c. This is the full Redist SDK from Microsoft, and it should fix your problems.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...9a-5b72-447d-84f9-ee6407ed1a91&DisplayLang=en

Good luck! I hope this helps!

:major
[dlb]

 

It doesn't seem to be working. I tried the redist and it completed the installation but it's still on 8.1 even after a reboot...

 

Sorry for double post but the edit button disappeared... :confused Well I meant to say that dxdiag still reported 8.1 even after a reboot. And no directx9 games will run either.

 

Hmmm.... if you have your XP disc, try a safe re-install of the OS. In the meantime, give me a little time and I'll look into this for you. After the safe re-load is finished, run dxdiag and see what's reported. If it still says v8.1, try the SDK redist again. Like I said, I'll do some more research, so if the reload works, let me know. If not, be patient and I'll do my best.

Good luck!

BTW- you do have XP SP2, don't you?

 

Yeah, I've got SP2. I've just got a stupid HP though so I don't actually have an XP disk. I do have the system recovery option, though. I don't know if reinstalling XP is really an option; I would like to avoid having to reinstall everything.

 

I'm still doing some research, so please try to be patient. I have an idea though, try installing a program that performs it's own DX updates. It may not make any difference but it can't hurt to try. Here's one http://www.majorgeeks.com/Video_Card_Stability_Test_d5404.html
There's also many DirectX tools and driver repair/removal tools here http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads28.html
Maybe try doing a full uninstall on your video drivers (run CCleaner when done on both the hard drive and registry), then re-install using the newest drivers from your video card maker's web site. Before reloading the video driver, use one of the DX tools to completely remove DX if possible, then reboot and install the video driver, reboot, and install DX.
And give me some more time to do more research

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the help. I'll try both.

 

I think it may be a registry issue. I'll try rebooting in a second but I just wanted to post this quick. Dxdiag reports this on main http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g141/yerokleoh/Dxdiagmain.jpg . But it reports this on the Direct X screen http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g141/yerokleoh/dxdiagdirectx.jpg .
So main says 8.1 but the direct x screen says the files are version 9 something and are from March...:confused Nothing changed after CCleaner and a reboot but I still have to try uninstalling things. Also, the DirectX self updating program you linked says it won't run because I don't have dx9.

 

Fixed it myself. Thanks for the help. It pointed me in the right direction.
Mods, please lock.

 

:highfive :celebrate :dancer :hyper :drink

Well, I'm glad I at least helped a little bit. Good job! How about posting some details about how you fixed it so that others who may run into the same problem can get some pointers?

 

Well basically I just found an older version of DirectX Happy Uninstall because 4.1 wouldn't start up right. My original rollback to 8.1 using another DirectX util was iffy. To get the I386 directory needed for the rollback I had to use the Acronis trial to make a back up image of my HP Recovery partition and copy the I386 directory off it. Then I could finally do the rollback. After that I used DHU again to install DirectX9 using the redist. When you have 8.1 you need to uninstall it completely before installing 9 and that's not exactly easy to do manually. But yeah, thanks for the link to DHU. It really saved my ***.

 

Thanks for posting your fix, but I honestly didn't understand most of what you said.

I seem to have the same problem: my Directx is apparently v 8.1. Directx 9c installs without any apparent errors. However, when looking at DxDiag, the system tab still shows the same version of Directx as in your screen shot, but what my Directx Files tab shows is completely different from what you had in yours.

Reading other forum/posts I successfully uninstalled Directx 8 which led to having to re-register Windows - a call to Microsoft in India, a system restore, etc. but no fix so far...

 

As you can see from the date, it's been a while since I started this thread.


1) But, basically you want to find a version of DirectX Happy Uninstall that starts up correctly on your computer. It needs to be a registered ("payed") version so you can fully use it.

2) You need a copy of the i386 directory from either an XP install disc or the recover partition of an OEM computer. I can help you more if you tell me whether you have install discs or not.

3) Now run DirectX Happy Uninstall and use the rollback to 8.1 feature. Just select the location of your i386 directory when you're prompted for it and everything will complete just fine.

4) You are now running a completely, perfectly, 100% clean copy of DirectX 8.1.

5) Download the redistributable offline installer package for DirectX 9 from Windows.com. Install it and everything should be okay.

I'm guessing your 8.1 installation was botched somehow, and this is causing your problem. If you're willing to go through what I just painstakingly typed out, it might help you.

 

Thanks for responding so fast.

In the end, it didn't work out: DHU 4.15 installed and worked properly, but everything remains the same. It was worth the try, thanks again.

 

So, I read a number of posts stating that XP SP2 updates Directx to version 8.1... I was not able to uninstall SP2 but I was able to uninstall SP3. After uninstalling SP3, DirectX updated successfully. Then re-installed SP3 and other updates.

! Anyone trying the above - remember to create a system restore point prior just in case.

 

Awesome! Glad you fixed it. Different methods for the same-ish problem I suppose. Mine was slightly different considering it was somewhat purposely inflicted. Heh. But yeah, congrats.