Troubleshooting Vista and nVidia 7300LE problems

Vista and nVidia 7300LE problems

I bought a new computer to play the Sims 2 on back in February and the it doesn't work. I am almost 100% positive it is the graphics card. I've searched the threads but haven't found anything promising. Anyone have ideas about what to do? What I've already tried is listed in #11.

1. Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs), 2.4GHz
2. Memory: 2046MB RAM
3. Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_rtm.061101-2205)
4. Free Hard Disk Space: 175GB
5. Total Hard Disk Space: 222GB
6. DirectX Version: DirectX 10 (DxDiag Version: 6.00.6000.16386 32bit Unicode)
7. Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 LE
8. Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.5824 (English)
DDI Version: 9Ex
9. Approx. Total Memory: 617 MB
10. Sims 2 and Sims 2 University
11. The trees have red lines and have their file name written on them. When a house is clicked The application has crashed. It will now be terminated pops up. I updated the driver files today from the nVidia site and nothing has improved. I tried changing the properties compatibility settings. Nothing. I uninstalled the game and reinstalled it multiple times and nothing has changed. I ran it with and without the university Sims expansion pack and had the same problem.

 

I actually have Windows Vista. Those drivers are for XP. I gave it a shot though. It terminated the application.

 

Thanks for replying! Unfortanetly, it didn't work. I tried both versions on there. I upgraded to a nVidia 8600 GT card and a new powersupply to go with. No difference at all with the new graphics card. Suggestions?

 

do you update you motherboard drivers?
i suggest you to format your hard drive too...when you change something like graphic card you should format hard drive and install OS again..

 

Where would I look to make sure the motherboard drivers are updated? The computer is about 4-5months old. Would it need it by now?
I think that if I was going to reformat the hard drive I'd just put XP on it. Vista has done nothing good for me since i bought it. I'd rather avoid reformating if I could so I don't have to buy an old copy of XP.
Thanks for your suggestions!

 

the description of your problem it seems to be a driver problem...so first try to update all of your drivers(you already updated graphics)...start with motherboard, go to sound...i mean everything that you have in your computer..(motherboard drivers you can find them at manufacturer website of your motherboard)..and then remove sims from your computer...and dont forget to clean the registry..after that install sims2..

hope this can help you.

 

Before going to to much trouble. start sims 2 if you can and alt tab out of it then crl alt delete and bring up taskmanager goto processes and find sims 2 right lick and set affinity to cpu1.
see if that works. if it dont set it back. Also your Total memory is that video memory?

 

I recently upgraded my graphics card to the nVidia 8600 GTS with new power supply, and Sims 2 works fine, actually more than fine, it's awesome! I do have XP though, and I didn't need to reformat.

I heard that Vista has caused all sorts of problems for games, and if it was me, I would be strongly tempted to buy a copy of XP. I'm sorry I'm not very technical at all, but I was reading this article on DirectX 10 - as it's exclusive to Vista at the moment - and I wonder if there is an issue with the pc being compatible with games that use older versions of DirectX, despite the fact that it says it is compatible.

Can you play other games on your computer without problems?

 

that's not the problem...I'm using windows vista in one of my computers and I can play all the games that I have(old ones too)...so I guess that's not the problem .

nVida 8600GT has 256DDR3 video memory.

 

the new driver from nVidia definitely did not make any difference at all. I reinstalled it several times and the game with it. The patches were installed with the game each time as well.

 

I checked my drivers and they are all up to date according to the Vista scan. Dang.

 

Yes. The updates are all there. I'm double checking through Dell to make sure everything is kosher in case the Vista scan missed any updates.

 

I updated the BIOS to the newest version and the game is still not working. Any new updates that might help?

 

Ladybird, have you tried Odinmoon's suggestion? Twin cpu computers are known to have issues.

 

So several months later, I installed the latest nVidia driver (official)....no dice. Everything is updated. I tried to change the CPU usage, it says not allowed access denied. Argh!!!

 

You got to be kidding...REALLY...That would be similar to selling your car b/c the ashtray is full.
I suppose, you confuse something there.
Format the harddrive and re-install the OS is only necessary if you changed the motherboard and/or the CPU (and even then not always .
If you install a new video card you only have to make sure that the old drivers are completely gone (esp. if you switch vendors like from Nvidea to ATI and vice versa).

#1 Before you do anything else, make sure you have the actual drivers handy (either on CD or at least downloaded to your harddrive.
#2 go to "uninstall Programs" and get rid of all the programs/drivers that belong to your old video card. (esp. ATI installs a sh*tload of stuff
#3 power down and switch cards
#4 boot up. Windows should now bring the "New Hardware Found" dialog(if not, start it yourself)
Remember...Don't be alarmed by the "new" look of your Windows. there are no drivers installed yet, so you card reverts to the defaults (640x480 with 16 colors..butt-ugly)
Now have the drivers for the new card installed and reboot.

Bingo


To stay on topic...as I installed Sims2 on my VISTA rig (hardware pretty similar to your's) Vista told me that the Sims 2 are not compatible, so it send me off to an EA site do download a certain patch. and ever since the game runs just fine
-le