Video card issue (i think)

[Frost]

I am trying to play The Sims 2 with the Open for Business expansion on my desktop computer. It's an HP Pavilion 513n; 1.80GHz Celeron CPU, with 768 MB of RAM. Now, my video card is a Radeon 7000.

I realize that this video card is like, just below spec but the strange thing is it had worked fine for me before.

When I first got the video card, I was getting crashes while playing the Sims and somehow the problem worked itself out. I honestly don't know how. Since then, I've had to reformat my computer, re-install the card and drivers...now Sims 2+expansion is crashing relentlessly. Sometimes it'll go an hour without crashing, if I'm lucky, but sometimes it'll be 15 minutes between crashes. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any sort of pattern to the crashes. It really has nothing to do with what I'm doing at the time (not that i've noticed anyway).

So, I'm really, really hoping that somebody could maybe help me out because I'm very frustrated. :) Also, I don't have the cash right now for a new video card or else I would have gotten one already.

Oh, and it has something to do with the video card not responding. Sometimes, the ATI driver will reset the VPU when it stops responding, and things will be okay for a few minutes, but rarely.

Thanks in advanced. :(

[ManagerJosh]

When you reinstalled the drivers, did you reinstall them from your CD HP provided or did you get a new set of drivers from the HP/ATI website?

[Frost]

I got it from the ATI website. Today my friend found me the newest version but still no dice.

After I posted here, I did some more searching and came up with a possible solution. Someone had the (seemingly) same issue I was having and they installed an older version of the Driver (4.8) and it worked for them. I did so and it's been great so far. Kind of strange how that works though.

If it turns out I'm just lucky at the moment, I'll come bump the topic again. But thank you very much for replying. I appreciate it. :)

Edit: Nevermind. It just half crashed on me. Gave me a chance to save this time, but the picture was frozen and all. BUT it did take longer than normal to crash, so i'm really not sure what to think/say.

[Cabinet]

Sims 2 requires ATI Radeon 7200 or higher with T&L capable chipsets. If you don't have this, then you need a CPU speed with at least 2Ghz.

I'm amazed you were able to play at all. Also, try saving more frequently. The data won't be as huge. (This can happen with the right specs, too.)

[Frost]

Yeah I know that the requirement is a 7200, which is why it's pretty odd that at one time I could play without any problems at all. I asked a tech nerd buddy of mine and he said that's because 7000 and 7200 are basically the same thing, but I'm not sure how right he actually is.

The 7000 supports directx 7 and 8...and the sims is directx9(which I have)...so I am not sure how it's even running, either...but I won't jinx it. :)

Thanks for the replies.