'cannot display this video mode'

Question

I have been troubleshooting this one for days. I have a Dimension 3000 and everytime my kids install a new game, the screen goes black and displays the words 'cannot display this video mode' . I have tried changing the pixels- resolution, adjusting the properties of the games- nothing works. More than once I have had to 'system restore' my computer because the computer completely froze up with those words staring me in the face. My computer is only 2 years old. Other games work- but they are older games. Some new games will function but most new downloads just lock up the screen.Could the video card be defective? I cannot get a response from Dell.

agsco · Answer

please give more details , vga card/driver ,cpu, OS, ram size, name of games.if it happens with most new games it it's probably something about your pc is not good enough.

BWE44 · Answer

I am not sure of all the questions you are asking but I have some info. I have a Dimension 3000 Intel Celeron D Processor 320 (2.40 GHz) and 256 K cache. 512 MB DDR SDRAM at 400 MHz. 15 inch E153FPb flat panel . Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics 2. 80GB 7200 RPM Ultra ATA hard drive and no help from Dell because it's out of warrenty

agsco · Answer

I suspect it's your onboard graphics chip, they are not meant for games, you only have pci slots, no agp, so you cannot buy a good graphics card and upgrade (typical Dell I'm afraid). You could try allocating more memmory to the graphics bus, you will have to go to your bios setup at startup and change this. It is probably set to 32mb so try upping it to 128mb and see what happens. Sorry but your PC is not really suitible for modern games.Without an AGP bus you are hindered from any high quality graphics upgrade. You could try searching for the best PCI vga card available, either of these will do ,'Geforce FX5500/256mb/PCI VGA' or 'Radeon9250/256mb/PCI VGA' but will cost about $80 US each.Very easy to install, just make sure you move your monitor cable to the new card when fitted and change the default vga card in the bios to addin from onboard.

chulett · Answer

As noted, you don't have a graphics card, you have an integrated graphics chip built into your motherboard. Be curious what 'new games' lock the machine up so we can figure out exactly what it doesn't like. In the meantime...   My wife's machine has integrated video as well and it seems to help if you stay current with the Intel drivers for it. Right-click in the 'Extreme Grahpics' icon in your System Tray (bottom right-hand corner) and select 'Graphics Options / Graphics Properties' and tell us what is says in the title bar of the box that comes up. Either that or switch to the Information tab and click the Drivers button. This will tell you what you have and then you can download the latest version from Intel's site and see if that helps. If you need help with that, post what information you can glean from those screens and we'll point you in the right direction.   Long term solution is to either by a new video card (limited to what will work in that system) or buy a new computer that can run the latest and greatest.... or at least as late and as great as you are interested in. :smileywink:

BWE44 · Answer

Thank you for all the responses so far. I am working on your suggestions. I found the BIOS restart mode but did not find any tabs for "graphics bus"; but I did find a tab called 'memory information' with a drop down screen that had an option called: "AGP Aperture 128 MB". I was not able to alter this in any way. Is this even the same thing as a 'graphics bus' ?

The computer is not connected to the internet so downloading upgrades is not an option. The most recent game that locked up the screen is titled Railroad Tycoon 3 by Pop Top Software. I think I even tried downloading a chess game once and it would have no part of that. I am beginning to understand that I bought a pretty basic computer- live and learn I guess. I cannot find an 'Extreme Graphics Icon' in the lower right. Need some help finding that one. I did manage to find: startup--> F8--> (safe mode) an option to 'Enable VGA mode'- any clue what this means? Thank you again for the help.

Monitors

"cannot display this video mode"

Was this post helpful?