TDR Error with Vista - Contemplating Solution

[Crabnife]

A friend is having this error, I am just trying to help him out. So if someone else starts responding like they started the thread, they did.

I recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 531s Desktop. I have a problem and I looked into it (on & off for a few weeks). After a bit of research, I've been informed that I have an error referred to as a TDR error. When playing games fullscreen (World of Warcraft, Warcraft III are the only two I've tried really [yes, legit copies]), the game freezes for about 2 seconds, screen goes to black for another 2, then it comes back. If I let it happen about 5 times (matter of a minute or less in WoW), the computer will freeze completely.

I've tried installing many different graphics drivers, as I've read that is possibly the main culprit here. None of which have worked, though I'm not 100% sure I installed them properly (run setup.exe or whatnot, let wizard do it's thing). Although wizards have finished, computers restarted, etc, I wasn't sure if that's all there was to it, or if there's a more indepth way to install them / remove old drivers.

As this is one of the main uses I have for my computer, it's rather irritating to be non-functioning. As I've read from many varying sources online, mainly forums and personal accounts, I've heard vista is a great source of this error as it's drivers aren't fully compatible as of yet. So I've even tried installing Windows XP (legit version I own), but when I go to boot from CD, it freezes completely as the setup starts. I've heard I can uninstall Vista easier with a Vista dvd, which of course, Dell didn't send me a copy.

At this point I just want a fix really. If it's some driver trick, great. If it's reformatting and installing XP, great. I'd like to keep Vista so I don't later need to upgrade/install again later, but if I need to go back to XP, I'm willing.

System Specs:

Vista 32bit Home Basic
AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core 4400+
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
160g Serial ATA HD
48x CD-RW/DVD Combo
Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 6150 graphics GPU <--- Onboard, but I'm Using a 128MB Radeon X1300

 

[PC Hobbyist]

Hmm, this is one of those things that you might search forever and not really find a fix for it for a while. I would give it a try with XP like you mentioned. Now, are you trying to install XP on the same partition as Vista? Ideally, you want to use another partition so that Vista will remain installed.

Again, here are some questions:

How many partitions do you have?

At what point of the "boot to CD" path does it freeze on you?


I will caution you, that even if you are able to install XP on a separate partition and keep Vista on another, your boot file will be the XP one (since that was the last OS installed) and it won't see the Vista partition. This happened to me and I never found the solution on how to change that so that I could boot back into Vista when I wanted. I ended up reformatting the Vista partition and reinstalling Vista into it, so that now Vista's boot file is in charge (and that one does see the XP partition). I am sure there is a way around that, but I tried many suggestions I found online (on how to edit Vista's and XP's boot files) and none of them worked for me.

OK, but like I said, I would try installing XP and see if that will work with your games. My guess is that it will and that the problem is Vista compatibility issues with some of the drivers. Also, even after you uninstall drivers for your video card, and install other drivers, there are likely still remnants of the old driver in there and that can cause problems sometimes. I know for nVidia there are programs out there that will scan for old left-over driver remains and clean them out. I don't know if that is as much of a problem with ATI cards.

 

[PC Hobbyist]

I will caution you, that even if you are able to install XP on a separate partition and keep Vista on another, your boot file will be the XP one (since that was the last OS installed) and it won't see the Vista partition...

I found this on how to be able to dual boot XP and Vista when XP was installed AFTER Vista. (In case you decide to go that route)

The full thread is here
You can also see the Google search results for installing xp after vista

Below is the way I installed XP on my computer, after Vista was already installed... creating a dual boot.

First find the drivers for your network components, wireless card or nic, and save them to an external device such as a floppy disk or flash drive.

Then you will need to go into the BIOS on your computer startup. Scroll to the System Configuration tab and go down to the SATA Native support and change its setting to Disabled. Then hit F10 to Save and Exit.

Next, insert your Windows XP CD and create the partition you wish to install XP on. After the installation is complete you should boot automatically into XP.

Now you need to move some files. First, make sure you have set your folder options to see hidden files and to show protected operating system files. Then open Windows Explorer and go to the drive where Vista is installed. Copy the folder Boot, and the files bootmgr, boot.ini, NTDETECT.COM and ntldr and paste them to the root of your XP drive.

Then download Vista Boot Pro and save it to your desktop or somewhere else that you can easily access. Unless you already have .Net Framework (v2.0 at least) it will redirect you to a Microsoft page where you can download this necessary component.

Install and run Vista Boot Pro and open the "Bootloader" tab. Select "Reinstall the Vista bootloader" and press Apply. Then go to the Manage OS Entries tab and select "Add new operating system entry" and make sure you select "Windows Legacy". Give the new entry a name (ie: Windows XP) and select the drive letter you have XP on and then select Apply. You can also choose which entry you would like as the default the system will boot to.

And now you should be able to dual boot between Vista and a previous OS. Sorry.. forgot to mention I don't think you need to change the BIOS if you have an ATA or IDE hard drive.

Someone else wrote:
These instructions may not work for some configurations, but they are well-written and very useful. BCDEdit can also be used.

 

[Crabnife]

To begin, thank you for replying, not many have

As far as the partitions go, I haven't much messed with them as I have not been able to. The computer has 3 partitions that I see here, one is 47 MB labeled EISA Configuration (healthy), 10.00 GB Recovery (D NTFS labeled Primary Partition (healthy) and 138.96g GB OS (C NTFS System, Boot, Page File, Active, Crash, Dump, Primary Partition. Again, these all came as is when I received the computer from Dell.

As far as making a new partition for XP, I was going to, but as I attempted to get into that area of Bios, that is where I lock up. I've read that guide you provided before (thanks for that, again) and that's where I've locked up. The exact step where I lock up is at this screen which I just happened to find a pic of online:

http://www.housing.hawaii.edu/resources/support/images/console_windowssetup.gif

Upon reaching that screen, nothing happens whatsoever. No response, no progress, nada. Before that, it just boots from CD up to that point.

I'm not sure what else to try, but I recently installed 7.9 ATI catalyst drivers and they're not working either.

 

[dutchfarmer1]

THis just happend to me today, this is very very frustrating, indead. it makes me want to smash my computer into little bits, but that would be a waste of 700bucks!
I also want to konw, should i down grade. or stick it through until the microsoft people pull their heads out of each others rear, or should i just go to XP. Would down grading also make it faster?