choppy slow refreshing windows when they are dragged and moved 2

[daglugub37]

I think I have seen this before with windows xp running on an AMD processor.

the problem is that when you drag windows(any window) in a minimized state, they become choppy during the move. Actually the time it takes to move the window does not seem slow; it is just that it's attempt to redraw is much more abvious then on a normal machine.

any thoughts?

 

[bcastner]

right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Performance - Settings.

Check what is enabled for Visual Effects. You can just click for best performance. Play with the settings, particularly the setting to 'show windows contents while dragging.'

 

[daglugub37]

that was it!!! you rock; thanks

 

[Nelviticus]

Although bcastner's solution will stop you from having choppy windows when you move them, it could just be masking the fact that you don't have the right drivers installed for your graphics card.

Any reasonably modern PC should be able to show a window's contents smoothly while dragging it around the screen. I recently reinstalled XP Pro on my machine and straight after the OS was installed but before I updated the gfx card drivers I had the same situation as you. The machine ran fine and the display looked great, but if I dragged windows around they looked choppy.

The gfx card drivers that come with Win XP are very basic. Try updating them to the manufacturer's own drivers.

Nelviticus

 

[daglugub37]

Nelviticus,

i now have a classic case of should have left well enough alone. You made a great point, and you were right i ndeed did forget to load the driver CD that came with the Nvidia GEFXforce 2500.

but now that I have it is hosed. With the "proper" driver now loaded the display is horrible...it cuts out then back in it is flickering all over the place.

I have tried rolling back the driver back to somehting generic(which was working well) but after every reboot it wants to "add new hardware" wizard.

do you know of a way I can permanently set the driver of the video adapter to something generic??

 

[linney]

Uninstall the drivers via Device Manager, reboot and let XP find the "generic" driver.

Of course you might find later drivers than those on your CD at the Manufacturer's site which might work.

 

[jimp56]

this doesnt help now, but you can always create a system restore point prior to adding drivers - that way if they cause problems, you can "roll back" the system to the previous working state.

question: is there any reason for running the drivers from the CD as opposed to getting the latest certified driver from the nvidia website? in my past experience the nvidia cards seem to run better with the latest "all in one" driver. you can just try to install the all in one driver while the old driver is in place, and it may "fix" everything.

regarding removing the old driver: if you can determine which INF file the driver is installing under, you can rename it and it will stop promtping to install that same driver over and over. there is a link that explains how to do this, i will try to find it and repost.

unfortunately i know that all this isnt a guaranteed fix, but installing the all-in-one may do it. hope this doesnt mess things up further!

 

[daglugub37]

good call,

i did try to roll back to the generic; but it is not happening smoothly. Basically i ripped out nvidia so it won't auto detect, but now after every reboot i have to walk through new hardware wizard and set VGA generic.

i will check the manufacturer for a better driver.

 

[bcastner]

There are utilities to remove all traces of an Nvidia driver install; freeware:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3214.html

 

[daglugub37]

great, that utility will help, because I really wanted a clean install of the next nvidia driver.

by the by, this is a gateway monitor using the dvi slot on the AGP card; i don't know if it makes a difference in terms of drivers..this is the first time i have come across a monitor that uses that port so i wonder if i am doing something fundamentally wrong

 

[Nelviticus]

And to think that you were a happy bunny before you followed my advice! Sorry - there must be a moral there somewhere

Anyway, do your card and the monitor both have normal (i.e. non-DVI) ports as well as DVI? Mine both do and I have both sets of cables connected. This is because I can't get my Linux installation to use the DVI output, but it also means that if there is a problem with the DVI connection I can fall back to the non-DVI one for troubleshooting.

DVI connections are a bit more complicated than standard VGA ones because it's possible for the cable to carry digital signals, analogue signals or both at the same time. Furthermore, it's possible to have a card that can only output digital connected to a monitor that can only accept analogue, which on visual inspection would look as if it was connected up properly but which in practice wouldn't work at all.

Are you using the same connections that you were using before you installed the nVidia driver, back when everything looked fine?

If installing the latest drivers (or a slightly older version - nVidia keep older, stable versions available for download) doesn't fix your problem then I'd have a look at the cabling. I can't remember the specifics of DVI but when I was setting mine up I found several helpful sites quite easily with a web search. This one is quite good:

http://www.hallresearch.com/products/cables/video/dvi.htm

Regards

Nelviticus

 

[daglugub37]

Thanks all I will have an opportunity to work on this tonight...i will let you know the outcome.

 

[daglugub37]

Hi All it is fixed.

it was the driver. I had to use that driver cleaner tool; and after installing different nvidia drivers from the manufacturer site it worked fine.

thanks for all the help