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Dimension 8400 with Radeon X800 SE-Major Problems
I can't play anything on this computer I just spent a lot of money on. I try Neverwinter Nights, which runs fine on my parents' much older computer as opposed to the new expensive one I just bought from Dell, when I try to save the game the game crashed and my computer just restarts on its own. If I don't save it will eventually freeze and I have to turn off my computer manually. Star Wars:Kotor, the game freezes and crashes to a blue screen before the game even starts. I tried all of the possible solutions on this board and it has gotten me nowhere. Did I just waste my money on a piece of junk computer? I've been on the customer service line being bounced around by people who don't know what they are doing for over 3 hours now. I got the computer 4 days ago and haven't installed anything but the games and the drivers and things listed here. I should have just spent a little more and bought myself an alienware computer. Can anyone help?
lotustuned
52 Posts
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August 6th, 2004 03:00
One possible solution that you might try is turning hyper-threading off, you do it through the bios, it tells you how to in the manual somewhere. Some games don't support hyper-threading and it screws em up a bit. Another solution that i'm guessing you've probably tried is updating the drivers on your chipset (go to downloads for the 8400 in this site), and generally updating drivers for you gfx card etc. Try e-mailing tech support from dell, you never know they may beable to help you out, and possibly have a search on the boards if you haven't someone may have had the same problem and got it fixed and then posted the solution on the boards somewhere. That's about all i can think of now.
Hope it helps, btw if those suggestions still don't fix the problem post a reply saying they don't work and there may be someone who catches the post that has missed it now.
lucarelj
27 Posts
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August 6th, 2004 09:00
tigerwolf7
3.9K Posts
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August 6th, 2004 20:00
Did you get the newest drivers from ATi's site? I just got a Dimension 8400 with an x300 yesterday. I uninstalled the ATi control panel, then the ATi drivers, rebooted, then ran the catalyst uninstaller program ATi has on their site, rebooted, and finally I installed the full driver package (Catalyst 4.7 off ATi's site). Everything I've run on it so far runs fine (the card isn't super fast, it's basically a Radeon 9600 NP, but everything should run on it fine).
Also try running Windows update, make sure you've got the newest version of Direct X, that sort of thing.
Dell's the least gimicky, most standard when it comes to big hardware manufacters, so I really doubt another brand would do better. It's always possible there's some hardware problem with yours, but make sure your drivers are up to date before worring about that.
Message Edited by tigerwolf7 on 08-06-2004 04:43 PM
jwark
267 Posts
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August 7th, 2004 04:00
dude, those are known problems. I bet swkotor crashes randomly when loading new areas. And neverwinter nights probably does all kinds of wierd crashes.
That stuff is all over bioware's website. It's an issue with the ati drivers and those games. I have had the exact same problem with both of those games with a radeon 9600 card. I have had extensive conversations with atari and lucas arts support. Basically, it's happening to everyone with a 9600 card and they're also telling other people that it won't work with a 800xt either. It pretty much happens with all radeons but 9600 and 800 xt are the worst, according to what I've read on bioware's forums.
scoobydooby
495 Posts
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August 7th, 2004 05:00
tigerwolf7
3.9K Posts
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August 7th, 2004 06:00
He's saying it's a problem with ATI's drivers, not Dell. I just checked on Bioware's forums, and sure enough, there's a ton of threads of people with ATi cards having poor performance and crashes. If you're going to get rid of something, get rid of the ATi card, not the Dell system. (I'm not worrying about it, because I'm just using my x300 until someone releases a PCIe Geforce 6800 card).
I didn't spend much time looking through potential solutions, but it looks like some people are having success installing older versions of the drivers. Hopefully ATi will fix these problems.
I'm glad to know about these issues though, as it reinforces my decision to go with Nvidia again.
Message Edited by tigerwolf7 on 08-07-2004 02:33 AM
CatoftheNight
523 Posts
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August 7th, 2004 07:00
If you want an Ultimate Gaming Machine, building one yourself would make it the fastest. It's alotta work, and warranties are a bind to look after if something goes wrong, so it's resonable to want to buy a Dell. But I'd recommend staying away from PCI-Express right now. It's gonna have alotta bugs that need to be worked out.
On top of that, Dell is retarded for choosing ATI for their ultimate gaming machine. Nvidia's 6800's are ALOT better performers, for less. http://www2.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjQy
scoobydooby
495 Posts
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August 7th, 2004 07:00
"He's saying it's a problem with ATI's drivers, not Dell..."
- but Dell chose the ATI card to build their "ultimate" gaming machine.
It is Dell's responsibilty to choose parts that work.
"get rid of the ATi card, not the Dell system..."
I don't think the NVidea equivalent to the X800XT card is compatible with the Dell - I'm not sure it will fit; and a larger power supply would have to be installed.
And finally I don't feel like spending another $1000.
My XPS gen 3 is coming; and maybe it won't have any of the problems described in these threads.
But if there are problems which Dell can't definitively fix before my 30 days are up (ie before Sept 3; my XPS shipped on Aug 3) - the computer is going back to Dell.
I did not agree to give Dell $5200 to build me a word processor; I agreed that Dell for that amount of money build me as advertised the "ultimate performance" "perfect for demanding multi-media such as intense gaming" computer - which to me means the computer should work with current games.
Message Edited by scoobydooby on 08-07-2004 04:28 AM
lucarelj
27 Posts
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August 7th, 2004 14:00
jjbuckaroo
271 Posts
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August 7th, 2004 15:00
Well, bioware assured me that they were STILL working on the bugs with ATI for swkotor. I haven't heard or seen any issues with farcy, like what is posted here. But I doubt they will ever fix neverwinter nights since their response I received from that game was not very assuring. They told me there was no fix yet and basically that it was all ATI's fault.
As far as blaming Dell, I can't see that. Neverwinter nights and Swkotor claim it will work on radeon cards. They shouldn't be blaming ATI anyway. I'd say you should head over to bioware's forums and post complaints. They're the ones who can do something about it.
lucarelj
27 Posts
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August 7th, 2004 15:00
The reason I would blame Dell is that they offer no alternatives to an product that obviously has many issues. The fact that they have to send me a totally new tower a week after I got this one and when I ask if another card can be subsitituted because this one has problems and that I would pay for any price difference in another card they told me that the X800 SE was my only option and that there were no other cards for me to choose from. I do not blame Dell for the card not working, I blame Dell for offering no alternatives.
jwark
267 Posts
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August 7th, 2004 21:00
That's because you must have had the system for awhile before saying anything. You get a certain amount of days to register complaints like that. An incompatibility with a piece of software is not going to get your money back if you don't say something about it until you've already broken the system in.
They're not going to be able to return functioning hardware to the manufacturer and can no longer sell it as new. That's the way all businesses work.
lucarelj
27 Posts
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August 8th, 2004 03:00
jwark
267 Posts
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August 8th, 2004 05:00
lucarelj
27 Posts
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August 8th, 2004 13:00