Motherboard replaced - some problems since.

Yorky

The motherboard and graphics card on my PC went recently. The motherboard was replaced but the graphics card wasn't - the technician turned up the integrated graphics and added some more DDR RAM to compensate for this (was 512MB DDR RAM and then added 256MB DDR RAM less 128MB RAM (for graphics)leaving 640MB DDR RAM)

I've had the following problems since:

When surfing there is a few second delay when downloading pages and then the page suddenly appears. It used to be instantaneous.

Games graphics seem to be hanging and trailing across the screen.

Are these problems both related to the lack of graphic card?

nibble

Yorky wrote:

The motherboard and graphics card on my PC went recently. The motherboard was replaced but the graphics card wasn't - the technician turned up the integrated graphics and added some more DDR RAM to compensate for this (was 512MB DDR RAM and then added 256MB DDR RAM less 128MB RAM (for graphics)leaving 640MB DDR RAM)

I've had the following problems since:

When surfing there is a few second delay when downloading pages and then the page suddenly appears. It used to be instantaneous.

Games graphics seem to be hanging and trailing across the screen.

Are these problems both related to the lack of graphic card?

I'd be 99% sure it is, try upgrading to the latest drivers for your integrated graphics, Intel I'm assuming, if that doesn't help buy a new card.

ethernet

Integrated graphics for gaming is a big no-no. You need a dedicated card for a better experience.

I wouldn't directly put the slow page download to the graphics card. That would be more down to your PC or Internet connection.

Yorky

I wouldn't directly put the slow page download to the graphics card. That would be more down to your PC or Internet connection.

When you say down to the PC, what do you mean?

nibble

The page loading issue sounds like it's something to do with your browser rendering the page, it happens sometimes when I have got a lot of tabs open in FF.

Yorky

Thanks for the replies. On another note, I would like to speed up my PC which has 640MB DDR of available RAM. It has two DDR slots with 512MB in one and 256MB in the other. 128MB is being used for the graphics but I am in the process of getting a graphics card which will boost up the memory to 768MB.

I was thinking of replacing the 256MB with 512MB or even 1024MB - is this feasible and would it make a significant difference to the speed? If not is there any other way of speeding it up a bit? BTW, the processor is an AMD Sempron 3000+ if that's relevant.

Yorky

I've just been on the motherboard manufacturer's website and downloaded the latest drivers into a zip file.

I have just extracted all of the files and and run the installshield wizard which detected another version of the drivers and asked me did I want to uninstall these which I elected to do.It also asked me if I wanted to restart the computer which I declined. I then opened up the wizard again and started to go through the installation process but 'updatedriverforplugandplaydevices:error' popped up.

Does anyone know what I should do now?

ethernet

If you are upgrading your RAM, you might like to go for DDR2 RAM instead of DDR for performance reasons. DDR2 offers better performance.

You can try fixing that driver error by ysing System Restore.

Open the device manager [Start -> Run -> devmgmt.msc]. Are there any yellow question marks there?

Yorky

Thanks for that- I created a restore point prior to the change. Do you knlow how I should actually update the drivers for the motherboard from the zip file?

In relation to the DDR2, from memory there are two slots and one is labelled DDR1 and the other DDR2. Can DDR2 be used in both of these? By upgrading the RAM will it help the PC speed?

ethernet

Yorky wrote:

Thanks for that- I created a restore point prior to the change. Do you knlow how I should actually update the drivers for the motherboard from the zip file?

In relation to the DDR2, from memory there are two slots and one is labelled DDR1 and the other DDR2. Can DDR2 be used in both of these? By upgrading the RAM will it help the PC speed?

You can't mix DDR and DDR2. Best to get two sticks of DDR2 RAM of the same size, like two 512 MB or 1 GB modules.

Regarding the drivers, what is actually in that ZIP file -- an .exe installer or driver files?

TerrorFirmer

It might mean DDR slot 1 and 2, you can't mix both. Unless that Sempron is an AM2, in which case you can use either ddr or ddr2, but not both at the same time still.

Also restart after you uninstall older drivers,it tells you to do so for a reason you know...

Make sure your graphics driver is installed properly, it wouldn't be Intel either by the way, so make sure you know what it is before you start installing drivers, no point installing drivers for hardware you might not even have.

Integrated graphics have no bearing really on web browsing or normal desktop use, so you can even go into the bios and only give it 32mb of Ram or whatever the minimum is, if you want to free up more memory.