When running a game called Eracer(car racing) from Rage softwareI get
a signal"c:\cvs\3dream.win\hvddoo\d3d\d3dblt.c(96): fatal error:
d3dbltinitsurface() ? failed to create temporary surface: DirectX
error code: -2147024809" when I am closing down the game.When playing
the game the movement is stop & go.To explain this further if in the
game you are driving a car the action goes normally for about 3
seconds.Then there is a slight stop and the game continues for another
3 seconds etc.It seems to be loading in non continuous chunks and
makes the game virtually impossible to play.I have since found that
the problem is similar in other games(e.g. Microsoft Age of Empires)
and AVI files although I do not get the error code.I first thought
that it might be insufficient memory & upgraded from 128 MB to 512
MB.This did not help.I then upgraded the graphics card from 64MB DDR
NVIDIA GeForce2 to 128MB NVIDIA GeForce2 FX 5200.Again no
improvement.My overall system is a Dell Dimension 8100-Pentium 3@ 1
GHZ-80 GB hard drive.I would welcome any suggestions regarding this
problem.

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 15 Jan 2005 09:28 PST

Hi,

From the quick description of your configuration, the bottleneck in
any recent games would be the CPU.
However, from what I can tell Eracer is pretty old and Age of Empires
is ancient, and runs fine on much slower machines.

It sounds as if you have something running in the background or
there's some other reason for the slowness of your computer.

What OS are you running?

If you open up the task manager, what processes do you see?

Thanks.
endo

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Clarification of Question by lowryt-ga on 16 Jan 2005 04:36 PST

Hello Endo,
     The OS is WIN98.I am not sure how to access the task manager &
the processes.I have gone into msconfig and removed all non essential
start up items such as Norton antivirus and Onspeed(compression agent
for downloading using standard modem) and started using only the
standard essential items.This does not make any difference.
   Eracer was preinstalled when I bought the PC in Oct 2000 and I
installed Age of Empires soon afterwards.Both have worked fine until
recently when the problem I outlined took hold.There is an opening AVI
sequence in AOE which plays when the disc is installed.This is "stop
and go".However if I open Windows Media Player & run the AVI file from
the disc there is no problem.This leads me to believe that the problem
may not lie with the processor or the proceeses running in the
background but rather some element is missing in running graphics
etc.This leads me back to the 3Dream signal.Is this a standard Windows
file or one unique to certain games.For example would it be needed to
run AOE.Thanks for your help.

Regards

Tommy

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 17 Jan 2005 20:18 PST

Hi,

What version of DirectX are you using? You can find out by running
"dxdiag" from the execute tool or the command line.

Have you tried installing the latest version (9.0c)?

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0A9B6820-BFBB-4799-9908-D418CDEAC197&displaylang=en

You might also want to try the latest Nvidia drivers for your graphics card:

http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

Thanks.
endo

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Clarification of Question by lowryt-ga on 18 Jan 2005 10:50 PST

Hello Endo,
           Thanks for the suggestions.I installed version 9.0c of
DirectX about 3 weeks ago.No improvement.I installed the current
graphics card last week to upgrade from a 64MB one in the hope that
this might have been the cause of the problem.Again no improvement.
 A couple of other points.When playing MP3 files the sound is slightly
distorted.More obvious with a slow music track(as opposed to
singing).I would normally put this down to compressed files.However I
also have a combined CD/CD ROM/DVD player.I seldom use this as I use
regular hi-fi.I have now checked this out.Playing a CD gives the same
distortion as playing an MP3.Playing a DVD shows the same problem as
with game playing i.e.slight stop/hesitation in the picture after
every 5 seconds or so.If we accept that it is not shortage of memory
or too many processes can there be a problem with a processor i.e. can
it be damaged in some way and continue to operate giving these
results.
 I have again checked the startup processes.In msconfig there are 6
items that load at startup.Apart from Nortons antivirus(which I
installed long before these problems arose)the others are standard
Windows startup items.There are now 12 startup items in the programs
section of startup.At one time there was about 40 of these.Thanks for
your help.

Regards

Tommy

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Request for Question Clarification by endo-ga on 18 Jan 2005 11:33 PST

Hi Tommy,

It's going to be difficult to come up with a solution that isn't
"format and reinstall". If you've removed all startup processes, have
nothing else running and your PC is fast enough to deal with the
applications you're trying to run, then there's not much else you can
try.

If I had the same problem and the same PC, I would buy Windows 2000
Professional and install it, formatting it as NTFS.

You could also keep FAT32 and install Windows 2000 on top, therefore
keeping your documents and programs, but they might have to be
reinstalled to get them working properly again.

Or if you still have your Dell disks you could reinitialize to those.

Make sure you backup everything important first.

You can get Windows 2000 Professional from eBay for less than $100 and
most are under $50.

http://search.ebay.com/windows-2000_Operating-Systems_W0QQcatrefZC12QQfromZR8QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ11226

Thanks.
endo

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Clarification of Question by lowryt-ga on 20 Jan 2005 10:58 PST

Hello Endo,
           Thanks for the advice.I will have a look at these options
in the coming week or so and will get back to you.

Regards

Tommy

Hey Tommy, hopefully my suggestions may help you correct the problems
that you've been having without having to "take the plunge"
so-to-speak and format your HD thus losing everything. I would really
only recommend formatting your computer as an absolute last resort.

Before you do anything, it would work tremendously to your advantage
to post your complete system specifications so that we can isolate
exactly what you are running over there. The problems you describe can
be caused by a multitude of sources that are independent from your
graphics card, DirectX version, or Antivirus software. You can export
a complete document containing this information by running DxDiag, and
clicking on "Save All Information..." on the bottom of the screen.
(You can open DxDiag by going to Start>Run, and then typing "dxdiag"
in the dialog box and pressing enter).

If you can then post the information contained in that file on this
page, it would greatly help us in being able to diagnose your problem.

It's important to note that the DxDiag utility not only describes your
computer's specifications and exactly what version of DirectX you are
running, but it also provides you with some extremely useful
diagnostic information that may help you troubleshoot your problem
further. If you navigate to the "Display" tab, you will see under the
DirectX Features area that there are two buttons entitled "Test
DirectDraw" and "Test Direct3D" -- You may want to run through these
tests to see if there are any problems in any of the tested areas.

You also want to make sure that DirectDraw and Direct3D acceleration
are enabled. These buttons are located on the same "Display" tab as
previously mentioned. You can also access these options in the
"Display Properties" panel. You can access this panel by going to the
control panel.

Also, in the display properties panel you want to make sure that
hardware acceleration is set to "Full". You can access this option by
clicking on "Advanced", and then on the "Troubleshooting" tab. If it
already is set on full, you may want to see if turning this down
increases performance in the game. If this isn't set to full, your
computer may not even be using your installed video card. As
previously mentioned, you should also make sure you are running the
latest video drivers for your graphics card.

Depending on the drivers you are using for your GeForce, you should
have a control panel that controls the operation of your video card.
This can be accessed by going to the "Advanced..." button again in
your Display Properties panel, and then going to the GeForce tab. From
here you should be able to adjust and tweak the settings of your video
card.

Additionally, as you have said that you are hearing a certain amount
of distortion with audio as well - your problem may originate from a
conflict with your sound card. What sound card do you have installed?

Lastly, another thing that would be worthy of checking is the device
manager. You can access this by right clicking on the "My Computer"
icon, then clicking on the "Hardware" tab, and lastly, clicking on the
"Device Manager" button. You will notice right away if there are any
device conflicts by the existence of any number of small yellow
caution signs floating above any of the items listed in the device
manager. If you see any of these, it's a sign of a conflict / device
problem.

I realize this is quite a hefty response to read through, haha, but
hopefully I have helped! These problems can be rather elusive, as
there can be any number of components at fault. I will monitor this
post for any updates on your progress. Take it easy man ;)

Best Regards,
Joseph.