Hi,

<mad185@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:1128933854.630581.83800@g14g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...
| PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!!! I have spent hours upon hours talking to
| microsoft support proffesionals as well as emailing nVidia and HP. they
| were all useless. here's my problem:
|
| I have an HP Pavilion zv5000 notebook with an nVidia GeForce4 Go 440
| 64MB graphics card. I have Halo: Combat Evolved installed on this
| notebook. Whenever I play the game, either single or multiplayer, the
| game freezes periodically for a few seconds. During this time the video
| is frozen and the sound is kinda stuck in a loop. Now the first few
| times it does this, the game usually resumes play. After about a dozen
| or so freezes though, the game will minimize and I will get a message
| saying that direct3d hardware acceleration is not available or
| disabled, but direct3d and hardware acceleration ARE enabled. A similar
| problem happens when I play the game Age of Mythology. Please someone
| tell me what to do. Thanks
|

The first thing I would do in your situation is visit the website
of the laptop's manufacturer, and update all system drivers,
in particular the drivers for Chipset, Sound, and Video.

Driver installation instructions should be provided at the web
site, or start from Step 2 of my desktop video driver install
instructions: http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits/Video.html#drivers

Plug in your laptop for the best results when gaming.

OVERHEATING is the #1 cause of various laptop problems!
Be certain that you're not blocking the laptop's air vents,
and that they are free of dust. Look for signs of overheating
by running your hand along the sides and bottom of the laptop.

If you notice your laptop is running hot, and the fans are all
working properly, one trick that I've used with my old laptop
was to sit it on a clean flat box (similar to a medium pizza box),
in which I kept several cooler ice packs from the freezer. ;-)
Of course, you could order a professional cooling mat instead.

If you feel that your laptop is overheating way too much, you
should contact the manufacturer to see what they suggest. In
some cases they may need to replace the CPU heating fan, or
recommend the ideal Power Settings to use while gaming.

--
Cheers, Windows XP MVP Shell / User
Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Game FAQs: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call / Contact
MS Support at: http://support.microsoft.com/default...d=sz;en-us;top
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
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