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Poor Graphics following HD reinstall on Inspiron 6400
My system is a 2 year old Inspiron 6400. Following harddrive death, I installed a new HD, attempting to use the Dell installation and utility/driver discs that came with the machine. The XP loaded up but getting the system up and running using the utility/driver disc was near useless. Eventually got online with several bit of hardware detected but not loaded as the drivers seemed impossible to load until various windows updates had taken place and then i managed to go to the Dell site and select drivers. It was a bit hit and miss and installed in no particular order. But eventually all the hardware seemed in place and running.
To cut a long story short, two problems seem to mean my system is not as fine as it once was. The first is minor as it occurs infrequently and could be down to my ISP: the wireless internet connection seems glitchy. Connected then disconnected for a few seconds before it begins to allow pages to load again. The machine is running on an integrated NIC card. Initially I could only connect via ethernet but the windows update eventually meant the wireless kicked into life.
The second problem is more of an issue for me. The graphics just aren't what they were. I have a 246 ATI Mobility Radeon X1400, and downloaded the required drivers from the site, despite the fact the disc had been trying to install an Intel driver, which wouldn't take. The video card established itself but seems very poor, wrt resolution. Pics look pixilated, as do large fonts. A quick call to Dell had me go to the ATI site to upgrade the driver but it wouldn't let me, pointing me to the ATI Catalyst™ Mobility 8.11 Display Driver for Windows XP Professional/Home Edition, as an upgrade, and then telling me that my system won't support it.
I am not that technical and know I must be missing out on something. Dell have insisted that the only graphics driver I need from their site is one that I have, and as I have the BIOS driver they recommended already installed, that that was basically it from them, unless I wanted to pay for their technical assistance.
What did I do? Did I install bits in the wrong order???? What should I do now????
TheRealFireblad
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November 28th, 2008 19:00
Welcome to the forums :emotion-5:
I assume it's XP you're using? And it's these drivers (dated 13th July 2006) you're having problems with?
The reason you're getting the error message, suggesting your system won't support the Catalyst Mobility 8.11 drivers, is because Dell aren't on the supported manufacturer's list:
Notebook Manufacturers and System Integrators Supported:
There's an older drivers package (v6.9) available here which you can try, to see if it makes any difference?
I'd suggest uninstalling the current drivers first though - for which you might want to use the official ATI Catalyst Uninstaller, rather than doing it through Control Panel?
If you want to be extra sure of getting rid of every last remnant of them... use Driver Cleaner as well :emotion-2:
You may be prompted to anyway, but just in case you're not, reboot the system after you've uninstalled them, and install the new ones once your system has completed rebooting.
If those drivers help... maybe these tweaked Omega Catalyst Drivers will?
They used to be very popular back in the day... with good reason :emotion-11:
They're version 7.12, so they're newer than than the (v6.9) drivers I've linked to above.
Hopefully one or more of those will get you up and running properly?