Ask A Geek

Q:I am having trouble getting my ATI Radeon 9250 128 p graphics card working in Windows 7. My computer says that card can not run cause it is not supported by the version of DirectX I have. Is there anything I can do to get the card working with Windows 7?

A: Our friends over at Windows7News.com have a solution in their forum that cover your DirectX issue with Windows 7 and the ATI Radeon graphics card. It also covers how to install the driver for the ATI Radeon graphics card in Windows 7 for those that are unable to get the driver installed. Once the driver is installed it also covers how to make it so your computer does not crash each time you try to shut it down due to the ATI Radeon graphics card driver.

Q: I am using the 32 bit version of Windows 7. I want to use an ATI Radeon 9250 128 p graphic card. My computer says that card can not run cause it is not supported by the version of Directx I have. Is there anything I can do to get the card working with Windows 7?

Q: I just recently got a new computer (HP F761US) and would like to try to play games with it.

Since I have a PCI Express x16 slot on my motherboard, could I upgrade to a ATI/AMD Radeon 3800?

What else would I have to upgrade to run Crysis Warhead or GTA IV?

Q: I have a Gateway mx6445 laptop, which I purchased used so I do not have any original disks to it. I had to reinstall my OS, Windows XP mce. I was able to download drivers from gateway’s support site; however, now it says it needs SM Bus controller and I cannot seem to locate a usable driver. My graphics card is integrated and is ATI’s Radeon Xpress 200M. I downloaded that driver from gateway buy why wasn’t the SM Bus driver included? Please help! Where can I get this driver?

Q: I am trying to help my friend get his computer working with Direct3D games. It turns out someone installed a new graphics card on his computer recently and now these Direct3D games will not start anymore. When I run DXdiag, I get the following results.

Der blev ikke fundet nogen problemer.
Testresultater for DirectDraw: Alle test blev udført korrekt.
Testresultater for Direct3D 7: Fejl ved trinnet 8 (Opretter 3D-enhed): HRESULT = 0×80004005 (Der opstod en standardfejl)
Testresultater for Direct3D 8: Fejl ved trinnet 8 (Opretter 3D-enhed): HRESULT = 0×8876086c (fejlkode)
Testresultater for Direct3D 9: Fejl ved trinnet 8 (Opretter 3D-enhed): HRESULT = 0×8876086c (fejlkode)

Since you probably do not know Danish this is the translation.

Direct 3D is giving error codes.
0×8876086c
0×8876086c
0×80004005

The graphics card he now has in his computer is a ATI Radeon 9550 and I have downloaded the latest driver from ATI, which is 8-1_xp32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_57717.exe but it did NOT help. I can run OpenGL games but not direct3D games.

A: You will want to try to uninstall your current driver and try using Catalyst 7.8:
http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/radeonxprevious-xp.html

The latest drivers apparently don’t work correctly with the 9550. Also make sure you’re running the latest version of DirectX 9c from Microsoft.