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Regarding my video card: What can I upgrade to?

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First post, by Computer Neophyte

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Hiya,

I'm running Windows XP Home Version
My CPU is an Intel 486 2.4 GHz
My Device Manager lists my Display Adapter as a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000

My problem:
In the last six months or so, upon booting up my PC, occasionally I receive an error massage after this whacked wire box repeatedly cycles back to booting several times and/or boots but then cycles upon loading windows (display hasn't fully loaded items in the task-bar, then the screen goes black for several seconds, then tries again to load the display and task-bar).

When I finally get through that tedium (fortunately not every time I boot up), I click on the button in the error message dialog box and then my internet browser loads and I'm at Microsoft's "Windows Error Reporting" web page.

The page says "Upgrade your Display Adapter" followed by "The problem occurred because your video card doesn't support the required version of DirectX. This version of Windows requires a video card that supports DirectX 9.0 or newer."

My question:
What would be my optimum video card for my PC?.

I get it--the point of what I need--but the actual item (Available brands, speed, version, capacity, etc) is where I'm needing an answer. Whether to look on Craigslist or here in this site I imagine is my next step.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Whacked Wire Box User

Reply 1 of 6, by leileilol

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Computer Neophyte wrote:

My CPU is an Intel 486 2.4 GHz

Surely you mean Pentium IV 2.4GHz?

My guess is that you have a game shortcut accidentally lodged in your Start>Programs>Startup folder that doesn't support your card.

Windows XP should work fine on a Geforce4, no way did it require DX9 hardware!

apsosig.png
long live PCem

Reply 3 of 6, by Computer Neophyte

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As for my "Startup" folder, there's nothing in it. The problem still persists.

As described in my initial post, the problem occurs in varying degrees: This last boot up my PC would just about complete loading the task bar and then stop and completely reboot from the start as if I had just turned on the computer. No error message came up this time. sometimes the error message comes up after repeating cycles trying to load windows, sometimes not. But it's always the same error message when it does show.

Whacked Wire Box User

Reply 4 of 6, by elfuego

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Just update the video card drivers (remove old ones completely beforehand) and (re)install newest directx and it should be fine. Windows doesnt need DX9 hardware, but it does need DX software to be installed correctly.

Reply 5 of 6, by Jorpho

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Computer Neophyte wrote:

As for my "Startup" folder, there's nothing in it. The problem still persists.

There are other places to put a shortcut that will launch on startup. The best way to be sure is to use Autoruns from http://www.sysinternals.com (but do note that it will also list a lot of Windows components you probably shouldn't mess with).

Reply 6 of 6, by swaaye

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You can also use Microsoft's msconfig utility that comes with Windows. Go to Run in the Start Menu and type "msconfig". There is a tab in this that lists all startup programs in the registry and startup folder. This program too has things that can mess up Windows so be careful, but the startup listing area is pretty safe.

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