How do I know what drivers to update to? I have Creative Sound Blaster PCI 128 and Video Board is 3dfx Voodoo3 w/direct X Ver. 4.09 operating on Windows 98. I am told that if I update my drivers some of my programs will run better. Please, advice me. If, you need more info. please, let me. I enjoy playing my computer games and they freeze up on me half way thru the game. I would just like to finish one game with out this happening. Someone's intelligent help would be greatly appreciated.

Creative website for latest sound card drivers.
http://www.americas.creative.com/support/

For Direct X updates, please use the 'Windows Update' feature in your start menu.. when presented with a list choose DirectX (it should be offered when system is scanned). If the 'Windows Update' feature is not present in your start menu then click the link below to get there.

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

If you do not understand any functions, repost in this thread.

Creative website for latest sound card drivers.
http://www.americas.creative.com/support/

For Direct X updates, please use the 'Windows Update' feature in your start menu.. when presented with a list choose DirectX (it should be offered when system is scanned). If the 'Windows Update' feature is not present in your start menu then click the link below to get there.

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

If you do not understand any functions, repost in this thread.

Thank you for your response.... I have tried windows update and it says I have the most current drivers available. I guess, I was just looking for an easy way to update without having to buy or invest in the update or upgrade. Thank you again

DirectX v4.09 is not the most current version of DirectX.... Windows Update will check your current version and tell you about newer versions that are available and allow you to download and install the newer version.

I think you might be looking in the wrong place, try going to Run, then type in "dxdiag". At the bottom of the first screen it should tell you the version.
About your freezing problem, the VGA card might be overheating, feel the case and the air that exits the back of the PC to see if it feels a little warm.

How do I know what drivers to update to? I have Creative Sound Blaster PCI 128 and Video Board is 3dfx Voodoo3 w/direct X Ver. 4.09 operating on Windows 98. I am told that if I update my drivers some of my programs will run better. Please, advice me. If, you need more info. please, let me. I enjoy playing my computer games and they freeze up on me half way thru the game. I would just like to finish one game with out this happening. Someone's intelligent help would be greatly appreciated.

increase the size of your operating space more memory should help or possibly increasing the size of your files and buffers.

increase the size of your operating space more memory should help or possibly increasing the size of your files and buffers.

How do you increase the size of your files and buffers ? --- Bill

Sounds like you need additional memory and possibly a higher processor.
You can go to

http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp

to get some of your updates and others you can probably find on this website. Of course, you have to know what to look for in order to do the updates.

Good luck!


How do I know what drivers to update to? I have Creative Sound Blaster PCI 128 and Video Board is 3dfx Voodoo3 w/direct X Ver. 4.09 operating on Windows 98. I am told that if I update my drivers some of my programs will run better. Please, advice me. If, you need more info. please, let me. I enjoy playing my computer games and they freeze up on me half way thru the game. I would just like to finish one game with out this happening. Someone's intelligent help would be greatly appreciated.

Change it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just throwing in some new hardware isn't supposed to solve your lockup problems. It's like shooting pigeons with a cannon - too expensive, too inaccurate.

If your PC locks up with games, then you should check your RAM with MemTest86 (freeware), that should find out if your RAM has errors.

Then you should look at the temperatures in your machine. I use Motherboard Monitor 5 (shareware) to display my motherboard, processor and HDD temperatures. If any of them goes up higher than 50 degrees Celsius that means your system is overheating. (An extra chassis fan should help decreasing overall heat in your machine.)

Also, it is not always true that the most recent drivers will work best. I have recently bought an nVidia TNT2, and the latest Forceware driver caused lockups, but an old Detonator driver works fine.

DirectX 4 is really old, you should try upgrading that.

Live long and prosper,

Tyb

Go to your control panel and select the system folder. under general tablet at the bottom will tell you what processor chip is and how much ram you have in your system. after you know this check the back of the game for the system requirements as you may need to upgrade your pc's ram, if you do not have enough ram for the game you wish to play.
some newer games require a higher spec to play them.

on your bios info page press Pause/Break button
copy the BIOS sign-on string on bottom
Press enter and finish booting
start a new thread post to 'cpu&motherboard'
and post the string in it
someone intelligent should reply with your existing hardware upgrade possibilities
in the mean time don't do anything except deinstall the software you don't need>>>>>>>later

actually Direct x 4.09 could be microsofts latest
dxdiag returns version number 4.09.0000.0902 for direct x 9b

DirectX9c (4.09.0000.0904)

I totally agree with message #12 as far as uninstalling extra software. Too many drivers and codecs freezes me up. I was working on a project, http://bridgetdesign.com , and had to uninstall all the overlapping utilities to get my pages to move.
Also, before searching through all the user posted updates, check with your motherboard manufacturer for reliable files. FIC and others have very easy to navigate web sites (www.fic.com.tw/support).

Clean house, then update.
Oh, and for particular games, go to gaming forums and post. They have a surprising lot of informative people who never make their beds.

Guess it was not DX 9.0c ... did you see the date of the original message ? :rolleyes:

How do I know what drivers to update to? I have Creative Sound Blaster PCI 128 and Video Board is 3dfx Voodoo3 w/direct X Ver. 4.09 operating on Windows 98. I am told that if I update my drivers some of my programs will run better. Please, advice me. If, you need more info. please, let me. I enjoy playing my computer games and they freeze up on me half way thru the game. I would just like to finish one game with out this happening. Someone's intelligent help would be greatly appreciated.
the only thing you need to do is go to my pc properties and then select the hardware tab, then select device manager button and finally it will tell you automatically which devices drivers are needed to be updated if you want more information contact me by e-mail: noemailaddys@allowed.com