Video Lagging

[cauzomb]

If you don't mind, open the box and look at the brand/model videocard, there might be a driver miss-match. If you do find that it's the nvidia card listed in your display properties you may have to choose the driver manually when the detonator installer doesn' find a match. You may want to reference THIS page for little things related to troubleshooting graphics issues. And to manually install a driver that you know is the right one based on the make/model info you see on the card inside the box, check THIS out. You will need to have the driver files downloaded and extracted/installed so they are available in the list of device drivers windows provides.

[ComputerNewbie]

I opened up the box, but I really couldn't tell whether it was an NVIDIA card or not. It was quite dusty and I didn't want to fiddle with it for fear of causing any (further) damage.

Anyways, I looked at the first link that you posted and I followed the steps to re-install my driver. I THINK I did it accurately and my computer found the display adapter successfully. However, I could not install the driver updates. I keep getting the same error message.

As for the second link that you posted, I have no clue as to what to do. I'm sorry. I'm really ignorant when it comes to these kinds of things. Could you perhaps provide more specific instructions?

[ComputerNewbie]

I've been searching on Google and I came across the paging file. For some reason, my paging file was set way below the recommended amount. I made the necessary changes and my videos appear to be flowing a lot more smoothly than normal. My CPU usage isn't as high. Streaming videos and downloaded videos occassionally lag here and there, but it's a lot better after I made changes to the paging file. Thanks anyway for trying to help.

[cauzomb]

Thats cool about the swap file, I suppose you free'd up a big chunk of resources.. You may also want to look into the amout of space being used for system restore. If it's excessive, I should know a good way to reduce that and make a new smaller snapshot/restore point in a few minutes.

I suppose you will be stuck in that loop if nvidia drivers aren't getting installed onto the drive durring the nvidia setup application if it doesn't see an Nvidia card.... So you won't have any luck with the second link on manually install the driver unless you know what brand/model card you have.. If you have an antistatic wrist strap you can remove the video card, wipe the dust off "GENTLY" with your bare fingers around area's of the circuit board that don't have any components soldered or pins sticking up. These are the places most likely to have the sticker and or silk screen ID tags that should list either the brand, model number, or part number.

[cauzomb]

OK if your system is clean "no viruses/baddies" and running stable you should consider turning off system restore if the restore folder is "HUGE" over 500mb or so, you should be able to see the size of your restore folder by enableing "show hidded and system files and folder" in the folder/view properties. Right click on the restore folder "it's in C:" select properties and see just how large it is... If it's like 100mb, don't worry about it, if it's huge, turning off restore purges all the data in the _Restore system folder. You don't need to do this unless it is taking up free space that you need for the swap file.. Turn on restore after rebooting, and you may want to set a new restore point as soon as it finishes booting. THIS article explains how to manage system restore in windows xp

[ComputerNewbie]

I don't have an antistatic wrist strap. (I've never even heard of it). The "restore" folder that I found on C:/windows/system32 was only 437 kb. However, my system restore settings were quite large, so I moved the cursor and put it to 1%, which is around 200 MB. My hard drive is partitioned to C: and Z: where C: is 24 GB with 19 GB free while Z: is 50 GB with 29 GB free. My OS is installed on C: along with my other programs. I only use the Z: drive to store pictures, music, videos, etc. Should my hard drive space be a problem? Or wait, my system resources is the problem here, right? I find that when I open up my browser (and nothing else) to watch a streaming video, my CPU usage is at 100% and that's when the videos start to lag miserably.

The video card thing is just fruitless. I just can't seem to update it. It's frustrating for me.

[acruxksa]

If increasing your pagefile helped improve performance, a jump from 256Mb to 512mb of system memory would more than likely help things run much more smoothly. The problem is you end up in a situation where you have to ask yourself, How much do I want to spend to upgrade this computer?

I don't think an extra 256mb of ram would be too much, but I would definitely be careful not to go too much further unless you are doing it for sentimental or monetary reasons.

[cauzomb]

Acruxksa is right about the decission making part of that, for sentimental reasons etc.. For similar reasons I'm lapping the core of an amdk6-2/500 afx and base of an Alpha PAL 6035

[ComputerNewbie]

I agree. Upgrading my RAM to 512 MB is the way to go. How much does it approximately cost and how do I make sure I get the right kind for my system?

[cauzomb]

I agree. Upgrading my RAM to 512 MB is the way to go. How much does it approximately cost and how do I make sure I get the right kind for my system?

it could be anywhere from 25-46 dollars and it depends on the chipset of your brand/model motherboard. So, you need to know what motherboard you have, what model it is etc.. You can usually find the brand and model silk screened onto the circuit board near the pci/agp/vesa slots. You will also want to match the brand speed and latency of the current memory installed, it isn't necesarry to always match it up but it helps to eliminate possible compatability issues.