Okay, Notebook experts! Third forum I've tried.... Been to newbs and gaming, so I HOPE you can help me.

 

First thing--- specs.

 

Inspiron 6400 notebook

ATI Mobility Radeon X1400 Vid card

OS-- Widows XP

Got it Dec/06

 

Second-- MY PROBLEM:

 

My friend got a game called Half-Life 2: Episode 1, a new game that just came out. Well, he got a package called the 'Orange box' or something like that, a promotion through Steam/Valve that allows him to send me a torrent copy to download for free. I'm new to Steam, but it is a easy gaming torrent to use. Now, my issue..... 

 

I got the game downloaded, but when I go to play... it tells me my VIDEO DRIVER is outdated and would cause problems if I continued to play. (Already experimented and had a frozen computer). It gave me a list of sites to go to, and of course I went to ATI's site. Since this is a DELL model... yeah... can;t use ATI's site.

 

I sat here for four hours trying to get answers and figure this out one day. I downloaded as much as possible from the support section of this website. However, EVERYTHING in relation to video is OUTDATED. .....Huh?

 

So.... solutions? I would really hate to see my copy of Half-life go to waste, and would hate to have to stop buying new games altogether. IF there is no real solution, then it might just come to that.

 

PLEASE, if you know how to fix this, explain it out step by step as if you were talking to someone who has never used a computer. I am kind of an eejit when it comes to getting inside of my computer and tweaking with it. :) If I have to 'go into this, delete that, uninstall this, re-install that'... make sure you explain it simple and clear so my slow brain can compute it.

 I don;t want to ruin this computer....(Still payig for it >.<)

 

I appreciate any feedback and help the masters of this forum can offer.

 

--Ze Aevo

 

And if it can;t be helped.. just tell me I'm cooked? Thanks all.