Powerdvd Help needed please

[Kimberly]

Hello,

I have a problem w/ my Powerdvd software on my laptop. I can't play any dvd's with it. When I attempt to play a dvd, it gives me this message:

The current display mode is not supported. PowerDVD does not support the current display mode. (DDraw Overlay mode is recommended)

Please lower the screen resolution and color depth, for example, 800x600 with 256 colors. Or you may adjust the refresh frequency, for example, to 75 Hz.

I have tried messing with all the display settings all the resolutions, etc etc. nothing is working. Does anyone know what could be wrong? Could it be a hardware problem with my laptop? i'm thinking of resetting my system back to the way it was when i got it but that would mean a Format which i do not want to do Please advice on what i should do/try. any help would be appreciated.

Kimberly

[docstevev]

Difficult to know where to begin - I could never get PowerDVD to work on my PC either. I prefer WinDVD but that's purely my own subjective opinion.

I assume your laptop is of sufficient hardware spec (the original Power DVD needed a minimum of PII 350MHz, I'm not sure about the current version). What OS are you running? Have you tried installing DirectX 9.1? Are your drivers the latest versions?

Windows Media Player 9 or Nero ShowTime (supplied with Nero 6) also support playing DVDs (originals or copies) and are available for free download from the appropriate sites, although Nero requires DirectX 8.1 as a minimum before you can install it.

[atifsh]

Re: Powerdvd Help needed please

Originally posted by Kimberly

The current display mode is not supported. PowerDVD does not support the current display mode. (DDraw Overlay mode is recommended)

Kimberly

update ur display drivers.

[Kimberly]

Dear atifsh,

How do I update my display drivers? Sorry if that sounds computer illiterate

docs-i'm running windows XP, and yes, i have enough space to run power dvd. it ran fine about six months ago, then all of a sudden something happened and it stopped working for me. i have not installed directx 9.1, whatever that is. i'm not sure if my drivers are the latest version. i will try downloading windows media player 9. thank you very much.

sincerely,

Kimberly

[setarip]

"i'm running windows XP, and yes, i have enough space to run power dvd. it ran fine about six months ago, then all of a sudden something happened and it stopped working for me."

Rollback/restore your system to the last time it behaved properly.

Just curious - Why would you wait 6 months before trying to find a solution?

[Kimberly]

dear setarip,

i tried restoring my system to a date like 5 months ago, but it wouldn't do it. the reason it gave me was : ''your system can't be restored because no changes have been made to your system since.''

i waited six months because no one knows much about computers around me. i've tried messing with the settings as much as i could, even installed WINDVD, but it gave me the same error message that the display mode is not supported.

thanks.

Kimberly

[setarip]

"i tried restoring my system to a date like 5 months ago, but it wouldn't do it. the reason it gave me was : ''your system can't be restored because no changes have been made to your system since.'''

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you but, if your problem occurred six months ago, why would you try to restore to only 5 months ago?

[Kimberly]

that's only as far back as it would let me go, and even then, it didn't do it cause it said your system has undergone no changes. i'll try to download windows media player 9 if i can find it. thanks.

[Kimberly]

ok i installed windows media player 9 and it still gives me the same problem to fix or lower my screen resolution etc i don't know what to do.l

[atifsh]

by anychance u know what display card you are using?
i.e nvidia or ATi or someother? incase u dont, what make/model ur laptop is?

also at what resolution ur laptop running also how many colors?

[Kimberly]

Hello atifsh,

I don't know about my display card but I have a compaq presario 700 laptop, with an amd duron processor. My screen resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels, and the color quality is the highest, 32 bit. believe me, i've tried changing all the color settings and nothing works. what is the normal screen resolution supposed to be? whenever i change the resolution from the current one, the icons become way bigger and blurry, only this resolution has my desktop working properly. thank you for your time.

sincerely,

Kimberly

[docstevev]

Dear Kimberly,

First of all, if you go into Device Manager (Right-click on "My Computer", select "Properties", select "Hardware" tab, click the "Device Manager" button, expand "Display" by clicking on the boxed "+" sign immediately to the left of it), this will identify your video card for you.

If your DDraw Overlay Mode isn't working, then installing DirectX may help. You can download it free from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Also if you run DXDIAG (just click Start -> Run, then type "DXDIAG", this will run a series of tests and tell you if there are any problems with DirectX, DirectDraw, etc.

Let us know how you get on.

[Kimberly]

dear docstevev,

Thank you for your help.

My video card i think is:

Video Controller (VGA Compatible). There is a ''!'' in yellow to its left.

I installed directx but that does not seem to help. I ran the DXDIAG test you told me to.

Here's what it says for Display:

. the system is using the generic video driver. please install video driver provided by the hardware manager.

. to test directdraw functionality, click ''testdraw'' button oabove.

. direct3d functionality not available. you should verify that the driver is a final version from the hardware manufacturer.

I'm still lost and don't know what to do. Thank you all for your help. it is much appreciated.

Kimberly

[atifsh]

Originally posted by Kimberly
My video card i think is:
Video Controller (VGA Compatible). There is a ''!'' in yellow to its left.
Kimberly

yes u need to install ur display drivers and that i think is
S3 Twister-K Graphics for 700 series...
here get this and install.

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp20001-20500/SP20057.exe

[Kimberly]

Originally posted by atifsh
yes u need to install ur display drivers and that i think is
S3 Twister-K Graphics for 700 series...
here get this and install.

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp20001-20500/SP20057.exe

THANK YOU VERY MUCH atifsh!!! That worked! WOOOOOOOOOO...thanks so much to docsteve as well. And anyone else that offered help. You guys RULE!!!

Thanks again.

Kimberly