Issue with games on Vista Ultimate

[scared.and.confused]

I've been having issues with various games with Vista Ultimate on my XPS-M1710. Often when I start games they pop up and I can hear the game music in the background but the screen remains black and then it minimizes the game kicking me back to the desktop. When I try to restore the game it just keeps doing it. I've tried updating my drivers and searching for anyone else who has/had this issue but I've had no luck so far. I can't get any games to work other than WoW only after opening and closing it over and over again. Maybe time to go back to XP?

 

[LoStMaTt]

It would be helpful if you could post the games you are having difficulty with.

 

[Rampage1329]

There is your problem. WOW is evil.

On a serious note, I can get all of my games to work with vista ultimate.

This includes Bioshock, CSS, and TF2. BTW I realize 2 of the 3 are based on the same engine. It would help if you included some system specs and if you are using 32 bit or 64 bit. I use the 32 bit.

 

[The Null]

did you do a fresh install of vista or did you upgrade from XP?

i had a similar problem when i upgraded from media center, i fixed it by backing up all ym saved games and reinstalling my games.

 

[Slade]

first make sure you are on a clean install of Vista,

2nd get all the hotfixes that AREN'T on windows update. There are quite a few related to stability and gaming.

3rd, if you have an ATI card, get the latest drivers, do a CLEAN driver install. If that still doesn't work, try some beta drivers off guru3d... and if that still doesn't work... consider nvidia as their little problems are a lot more livable than ati drivers, not to mention they have beta's out every other day to address specific issues.