Need Laptop Video card Help...

Hi, I just bought my daughter a laptop a month ago. She is not big into gaming on a PC but she had one game, the sims 2, that she really wanted to play on the laptop. A friend told me her laptop would have no trouble playing the sims 2, but he was wrong as it installs quickly & you can start the game but as soon as you try to create your own family it always freezes at some point & I have give up on trying to get it to work.

So...I guess I am gonna buy her another laptop. I have found a couple I think has the goods to play but I want to ask here this time if the video card will be ok. They all have Windows Vista. Here are the Video card details...

New Laptop #1 Video card- ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics RS780M

New Laptop #2 Video Card- Nvidia Gforce Go 7150M

New Laptop #3 Video Card- Intel Graphics Media Accelarator X3100

And here are the supported Video cards for the Sims 2...

Supported video cards (and the more video memory the better):

ATI RadeonTM series (7000 or better)
Radeon 7000/VE series (non-T&L; requires 2.0 GHz processor)
7200, 7500
8500, All-In-Wonder 8500
9000, 9200, 9500, 9600, 9700, 9800
X300, X600, X800


Nvidia� QuadroTM series
Quadro, Quadro2, Quadro4


Nvidia� Geforce series (GeForce2 and better)
GeForce2
GeForce3, 3 Ti
GeForce4, 4Ti, MX 420, 440
GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, 5950
GeForce 6600, 6800


Intel� Extreme Graphics (non-T&L; requires 2.0 GHz processor)
82845, 82865, 82915


Please only answer if you are 100% sure you know you are right. And let me know if all of them work or 1 or 2 or none. Thanks in advance for any help as I know nothing about this stuff.:hithere:

before you go purchase another laptop can you post the specs of the one you have. You may have something else running in the background that be killing the app. A T&L spec (transport and lighting) has been supported by most vid cards for the past couple of years. If you just bought the laptop it should play the Sims deuce since it is not graphically intense.

before you go purchase another laptop can you post the specs of the one you have. You may have something else running in the background that be killing the app. A T&L spec (transport and lighting) has been supported by most vid cards for the past couple of years. If you just bought the laptop it should play the Sims deuce since it is not graphically intense.

Good Idea, & my freind said basically the same thing that it should easily run a game like the sims. Well here they are...



Specifications

Display Type: WXGA with BrightView technology
Screen Size: 15.4"
Maximum Resolution: 1280 x 800
Memory Type: DDR2
Memory Size: 1GB
Memory Speed: PC2-5300
Memory Slots (Total): 2
Memory Slots (Filled): 1
Memory Slots (Available): 1
Maximum Memory Supported: 4GB (Requires 64-bit Operating System)
Capacity: 160GB
HDD/SSD Drives Included: 1x 160GB
Drive Types: Hard Drive
Hard Drive Speed: 5400 RPM
Lifestyle: Home & Student
Condition: New
Operating Systems: Windows Vista Home Basic
Startup Operating System: Windows® Vista Home Basic
Optional Operating Systems: Microsoft® Windows® Vista Family (available separately)
Platform: Notebook PC
Expansion Ports: 1 - Express Card Slot/54
Processor Brand: Intel
Processor Class: Celeron
Processor Type: Single-Core
Processor Speed: 2.0GHz
Processor Number: 550
Processor FSB: 533MHz
Processor Cache: 1MB L2 Cache
Graphics Description: Integrated Graphics
GPU/VPU: Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Video Memory: up to 384MB Shared
Video Interface: VGA
Optical Drive Type: Dual Layer DVD±RW with LightScribe
Supplemental Drive Type: Media Reader
Media Types: SecureDigital
Multi Media Card
Audio Description: Integrated Audio
Audio Chipset: Hi-Definition (HD) Audio Support
Audio Channels: Integrated Mono Speaker
Audio Input: 1- Microphone input port
Audio Output: 1 - Headphone output port

Try this- start - run - type in DXDIAG and hit enter. It will ask you if you want to check certificates, just hit okay. The next screen to pop up will be a diagnostic screen. Click on the display tab. From here you can check your dx features - make sure they are all enabled. Almst forgot - make sure anything running in the background is turned off - AV apps, Office apps, etc. These apps will kill anything thats vid or process intense.

Try this- start - run - type in DXDIAG and hit enter. It will ask you if you want to check certificates, just hit okay. The next screen to pop up will be a diagnostic screen. Click on the display tab. From here you can check your dx features - make sure they are all enabled. Almst forgot - make sure anything running in the background is turned off - AV apps, Office apps, etc. These apps will kill anything thats vid or process intense.

everything was already enabled.

from looking at the specs do you think it should be able to play the sims 2?

Also I just tried to create a family twice & on the first person I try wich is the man as soon as I click to change heads it freezes the game completely.

yes it should. one other thing to try is entering the bios and see if you have the option to allocate more vid ram to the card. Are you comfortable with entering the bios on your machine?

yes it should. one other thing to try is entering the bios and see if you have the option to allocate more vid ram to the card. Are you comfortable with entering the bios on your machine?

ok I am not very tech savvy at all, so I do not know what bios means

Me might have missed this, but what brand and model of laptop is it?

Me might have missed this, but what brand and model of laptop is it?

HP 550 Notebook PC KS158UT - Intel Celeron 550 2.0GHz, 1GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, DL DVDRW, 15.4" WXGA, Vista Home Basic

Thanks oblioman...I gotta go for now but I appreciate any suggestions. Have a nice night!

You should be able to enter the bios (basic input output system) by doing this. With the computer completely off, press the power button and immediatly press the F10 key (some use F10, some use escape and some use delete) but me believes this one uses the F10. Once in the bios you will have to use your direction keys to navigate. navigate between the screens to familiarize yourself. Dont change anything. Once you come to a screen that says video ram - bump that to 128, me thinks it is set to low. If it is set at 128, bump to 256. Save your settings and exit. The machine will boot and you can try your game.

Thanks oblioman but it did not work as I could not get that screen to come up. I can't even remember what was on the screen but it would not let me change anything, at least I don't think. I give up:what: As it bothers me that I buy her a decent new laptop & it won't even play a game that came out in 2004:confused::confused::confused:

And even though I do not know much about computers I was 100% sure this one would have no problem playing that old game even though it's not considered a "gaming" laptop. And I have a friend who I would put his brain up against anybody when it comes to technology as I have had level 3 tech's from roadrunner come to my house & could not fix my problem & I quickly learned I just need to call him. But this is the first time he cannot figure out what's wrong.
One thing he had me try & I thought it fixed it was I click on The Sims 2 properties & then Compatibility & he had me change it to Windows XP & to Run it as Administrator. So I do that & since my kid was in bed I went ahead & made my own family & had no problems. Then I got into the game & it was letting me play no problem. So I turn it off after a few minutes & was so happy that the game was fixed I woke her up. So she starts the game up & deleted my custom family to make her own & sure enough it froze while she was changing heads on the first family member she tried to create. So I am just at my wits end here as something doesn't add up.

Anyways thanks everybody & any & all suggestions are welcome. :)

Aha, now we know one thing - the computer is capable of playing the game. Me gut feeling is that you have an application running in the background that is killing the game. Can you post a screenshot of your taskmanager and send it to me.

ctrl-alt-delete and do a printscreen

Oblioman I want to thank you very much for all the help you provided.

I have been on the phone with my niece's hubby who I had referred to as a wizard at this stuff earlier. He said that Video RAM was already set at 256 & he wanted what you asked for & that was a snapshot of what was running in the taskmanager & he still was stumped. Then he had me delete some kind of cache in the game & I breezed right thru making a family but as soon as I purchased a house & it took me to the screen that loads it the game froze. So he is now on his way across town to get the laptop & game & fix it...hopefully...He is one of those guys that won't stop until it is fixed. So if it can be fixed I am 100% sure I'll get it back tomorrow ready to go.

But again a BIG thanks to you Oblioman for taking your own time to try & figure out what my problem was.

Have a SUPER day:hithere:

Oblioman I want to thank you very much for all the help you provided.

I have been on the phone with my niece's hubby who I had referred to as a wizard at this stuff earlier. He said that Video RAM was already set at 256 & he wanted what you asked for & that was a snapshot of what was running in the taskmanager & he still was stumped. Then he had me delete some kind of cache in the game & I breezed right thru making a family but as soon as I purchased a house & it took me to the screen that loads it the game froze. So he is now on his way across town to get the laptop & game & fix it...hopefully...He is one of those guys that won't stop until it is fixed. So if it can be fixed I am 100% sure I'll get it back tomorrow ready to go.

But again a BIG thanks to you Oblioman for taking your own time to try & figure out what my problem was.

Have a SUPER day:hithere:

Purchasing a house now days is enough to make anybody freeze. Glad you have some familial support close at hand,,but if ye have any more questions - the HDForum is the place to be. Go Vikings.

Purchasing a house now days is enough to make anybody freeze. Glad you have some familial support close at hand,,but if ye have any more questions - the HDForum is the place to be. Go Vikings.

Yea it's nice having a family member that is very smart about technology, especially when I own a bunch of it. I hate to call him though cause he has a big family & works long hours all night & sleeps all day so it is very nice to have the HDF & members like yourself to turn to also. :)