Question

I am getting the error message Direct3D : CreateDevice Failure

Asked by: vodkasoda

My son has taken to playing an online role-playing game, RF Online.

Unfortunately, his big brother is hogging our main PC, so I have installed it onto a spare PC which is quite old.

It's a Gateway E-3400 running WinXP with, as far as I know, an onboard graphics card. As soon as I run the game, I get the message "Direct 3D : CreateDevice Failure".

I have run DXDIAG and everything is OK (DirectX version 9c), although there are a couple of messages saying "32-bit Rendering is not supported. Modern 3D games may require it." & "Hardware Transform & Lighting is not supported. Modern 3D games may require it.".

I suspect that this is the problem, but if so, how do I resolve it, is it a question of just adding a new Graphics Card ? If so, what card can I get that will run on this PC (the M/B may be a Rev. A+ CS65-SC/SU ... I say "may be" as there is a PDF manual for this board on the Desktop !!) that won't break the bank ?!?

If this is not the problem, is there anything else that it could be ?

Thanks in advance ...

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2008-04-21 at 10:39:57ID23340358
Tags

Gateway

,

E-3400

,

Direct3D : CreateDevice Failure

Topics

DirectX Graphics & Game Programming

,

Miscellaneous Hardware

Participating Experts
1
Points
250
Comments
6

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Direct3D
    Where can I find comprehensive literature on how to interface Delphi with Direct3D? Specifically, I want to take existing Delphi/OpenGL code and translate it to Delphi/Direct3D.
  2. DirectX...
    Just a simple question: What do DirectX developers use to create their models for their game, do they create them at runtime by creating a bunch of triangles and piecing them together to make a 3D model, and then map an image around them? Or do they use another application ...
  3. directx direct3d
    i have recently upgraded from 98 to xp and my graphics card works but when i try to play games its just a black screen. ive got an hercules 3d prophet 4000xt 64mb pci and it says on the box it works with 98/me/2000/xp. i looked on directx and direct draw is ok but wen i...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: dbruntonPosted on 2008-04-22 at 00:59:02ID: 21408851

If the motherboard is what you describe it'll take an AGP 2x or 4x card.

Manual link

http://www.motherboards.org/files/manuals/28/44020032.pdf

Download SIW from http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html

Use it to determine or confirm your motherboard's actual specifications and what AGP slot specifications it really is.

Any reasonable AGP card will do.  128 Mb of memory on the card will be more than adequate to handle what he is doing and it doesn't have to be top notch.

Here's the TigerDirect video card page to give you an idea of price range (you don't have to buy from them)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?page=1&Nav=|c:318|&Sort=0&Recs=10

Probably anything under $100 will do or half that price.  Note that most of these cards are AGP x8.  You'll need to check with any retailer that the card you buy will run at AGP x4.

 

by: vodkasodaPosted on 2008-04-23 at 06:19:35ID: 21420318

dbrunton: Thank you, I've been looking for a decent bit of Software to do something like that for years !!!

OK, I have the following information, though I'm not sure if you were expecting SIW to tell me the make or model of the M/B, it does say there is an AGP slot. It also tells me that I can put in 2 memory modules, which is nice to know as I was finding some conflicting information from Gateway & the M/B manual (see page 32 of the Manual you directed me to, which contains the same information as the one I already have ... this tells me it has 4 slots !!!) ... I think I need to take a peep inside before going any further !!!

Does the information below confirm your previous comments rergarding the graphics card ?!?


Property Value
Chipset Vendor Intel Corporation
Chipset Model 815/EP/P Solano Host-Hub Interface Bridge (GMCH/MCH A2-step)
South Bridge 82801AA 8xx Chipset LPC Interface Bridge
SMBus Intel Corporation 82801AA 8xx Chipset SMBus Controller @EFA0h
Sensor Winbond W83782D @ 2Dh
 
CPU Intel Pentium III
Cpu Socket Socket 370 [J7]
Processor Upgrade ZIF Socket
 
System Slots 5 PCI, 1 AGP
 
OnBoard devices
Sound (Enabled)  AC97 Audio
 
Memory Summary
Location System board or motherboard
Maximum Capacity 1536 MBytes
Memory Slots 2
Error Correction None
Use System memory
Maximum Memory Module Size 512 MBytes
 
Warning! Accuracy of DMI data cannot be guaranteed

 

by: vodkasodaPosted on 2008-04-23 at 09:48:49ID: 21422748

OK ... looked inside & found that the Motherboard is actually a Gateway MX841 & I've resolved my Memory problem ... but the question then needs to be re-asked, considering the information above, what card can I put on this board ? I also wonder what that particular Motherboard PDF manual is doing on there !!!



 

by: dbruntonPosted on 2008-04-23 at 13:32:47ID: 21425031

Motherboard manual is here

http://support.gateway.com/s/manuals/servers/eseries/8505956.pdf

It would pay to check that the diagrams inside the manual correspond to your machine.  It is still an AGP 4x card.

 

by: vodkasodaPosted on 2008-04-25 at 11:01:03ID: 21441860

dbrunton, thanks for all your help, I will be giving you the points when we close this, as you have helped immensely ... however, I still have a very strange problem !!!

I have found an old VGA card in my collection of "PC parts and spares that may come in useful some day" ... I assume all of us "tinkerers" have them <s> ... it is a GEForce 3DFR4000 & is a VGA 4x/8x ... however, the VGA port is strangely placed on this M/B :

http://images.google.ie/imgres?imgurl=http://www.oemliquidators.com/images/catalog/CORFU1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.oemliquidators.com/search_result.asp%3Fproduct_id%3D4000773%26title%3DGATEWAY%2B/%2BNCR%2B%2B3234%2BCORFU%2B%2BMX841%2B(MX842)%2B%2BMOTHERBOARD%2B-%2B4000773&h=290&w=409&sz=108&hl=en&start=1&sig2=4ohIN8Wg8IGFmWnyr5m7wQ&um=1&tbnid=kl_MjGt2PAsIrM:&tbnh=89&tbnw=125&ei=pAwSSPzhJJuKwAH6-OCRAQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGateway%2BMX841%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26newwindow%3D1%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN

There is a covered area where the VGA card can be accessed by the Monitor cable, so I have removed that and attempted to insert the card :

http://support.gateway.com/s/MOTHERBD/GVC/Shared/2510007faq2.shtml

BUT ... the card will not fit because there is no "slot" for the bottom of the external part of the card (the long metal bit that slots in one end and screws in at the other end, does that make sense ?!?) ... are there different sorts of AGP cards ?!?

Why are things always so bloody awkward and protracted ?!?!?
 

 

by: dbruntonPosted on 2008-04-26 at 01:54:02ID: 21444941

Apologies for any delay in receiving this but my provider has marked a lot of my mail spam and I am just recovering from this mess.

You've got one of these funny not quite standard boxes that some manufacturers make every now and then.  It looks like Gateway wanted people who wanted an AGP card to buy one of their cards and not somebody elses.  Their card probably doesn't have the tongue part to push into the slot and lock at the bottom.

Everybody else makes standard cards to fit standard boxes.

If your box supports being screwed in at the top then you could trim the tongue part off your card.  But before you do that examine the card and metal plate and measure if it will fit if you trim the tongue off.  Looking at that picture makes me wonder how much room there is for a graphics card.

If your card permits it you can unscrew the metal plate off and insert the card in the graphics slot.  This will give you an idea of how well the card fits with regard to room and the video connector.

If it does give you room for the video connector then with the cover off and making sure that the graphics card doesn't short on anything connect the monitor to the AGP Card and try and start the computer up and see if it will pick up the graphics card.  

You may have to go into the BIOS and tell it to start off the AGP card if it doesn't show anything on the screen.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...