Examples of Software Lesson Plans --from Sunday School Software

Creating a DirectX Diagnostics "dxdiag" Report
Diagnosing audio and video error messages when running a 3-D game
Diagnosing your computer's graphic card info & capabilities
Diagnosing DirectX, Directdraw (ddraw.dll) problems
Solving problems with your video or graphic card

a brief tech article from Neil MacQueen
www.sundaysoftware.com

Have you looked up your program on our Software Support Page?

We document all known incompatibilities and workarounds for our software. Go to www.sundaysoftware.com/techie2.htm to see our notes for your software.

If you have an older computer, or a computer that's experiencing an error message running a 3-D style program, this page is for you. In fact, we may have directed you here to help us diagnose your computer's problem.

If you are one of our customers, we may have sent you here to gather info about your computer.

The first thing we need to know is your computer's operating system version.

The second thing we need to know is the brand name and model number of your computer.

The third thing we need to know is the brand of videochip/card in your computer and the date of the video driver.

To collect this system info, you need to Run the Microsoft DirectX diagnostics program found in your Windows operating system. DirectX is a suite of files from Microsoft that interface with your computer hardware. A "DXDIAG" report can tell you and us the answers to the questions above and help us diagnose the problem.

Here's how to run Direct X Diagnostics on your Windows operating system.

1. Click your Windows desktop START button (the windows pearl located in the lower left of your desktop). A menu will pop up.

2. Type the letters DXDIAG in the run field (XP) and click OK

Or... type DXDIAG in the SEARCH field (Vista/Windows7).

In Vista and Windows 7 you'll see the file dxdiag.exe appear in the search results.
Click dxdiag.exe to open DirectX Diagnostics.

3. View the DirectX Diagnostics Page.

The first page tells you about your computer and operating system. You can click on the "Display" tab to look at your video/graphic chip and driver info.

4. If you are a customer of mine and I have sent you to this page, you will notice a button that says "Save All Information" ..... Click it.

This saves all the diagnostic info about your computer to a text file.

It will prompt you to save this info as a text file somewhere on your system. If the computer in question is not connected to the internet, you need to save that text file to a USB flash drive (memory stick/card) or to a disc, and bring it to another computer to email the file to me.

If you're a customer of ours, STOP HERE and EMAIL your DXDIAG text file to neil@sundaysoftware.com

I'll research your info and get back to you.

If you're not our customer....read on for more help...

5. Click the "Display" tab to see vital information about your video/graphic chip.

Write down the NAME and model number of your video chip, and the DATE for the video driver you have. It's all in the dxdiag report if you want to just save it and view it.

Next.... Go to your computer manufacturer's website to see if they have an UPDATED video driver for your computer (one with a newer release date than the one seen in the DXDIAG report). In some cases, you may need to go to the video chip company website to see if they have an updated driver.

What are we looking for in your DXDIAG report?

Your computer's graphic/video card capabilities might be out of date.

The driver which runs your graphic/video chip might be out of date. Manufacturers regularly update the drivers to solve compatibility issues.

You might not have enough videoram or system ram.

Your processor might be too slow.

Your version of DirectX might be out of date. It's a free program from www.microsoft.com/directx

You may have a particular brand or model of videochip that's not good.

Possible Solutions We May Talk to You About:

1. You may need to update the videodriver for your computer. This is best done by going to the computer manufacturer's website and downloading the latest driver. Check the release date of their latest driver versus the one on your computer. Don't be surprised if your "new" computer already has an updated driver available for it. Happens all the time.

If you just upgraded to a new operating system, then you DEFINITELY want to make sure you have the latest video and audio drivers.

2. You may need to replace an outdated videocard/chip with a new videocard. These can be purchased for under $50 from web companies, such as, www.tigerdirect.com. They are easily installed.

3. You may need to update your computer's version of DirectX to work with your video/graphics card. www.microsoft.com/directx

**Remember to view the program's specific support page at www.sundaysoftware.com/techie2.htm

4. IF you are getting a DDRAW.dll error message and have Windows 98, you must download DirectX version 8.1 at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=4846C891-D45D-4122-8230-69F3E5ECDEDE If this link does not work, do a Google search for "DX81eng.exe". Download and install it. If you have run into a DDRAW error message running one of our programs, 'explore' the folder where you installed our program and look for a DirectX folder containing version 8.1 for Windows 98. We include DX8.1 with our games.

5. If you have Windows 2000, download DirectX 8.1b

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