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Graphics Cards

newslogger44
Journeyman III

Compaq Presario driver, graphics card upgrade possibility?

Hi!

I have a backup laptop Compaq Presario 2700 with Windows XP, 32-bit which, unfortunately, due to its limited HDD space (74.5 GB and with 1 GB RAM) cannot be upgraded to Windows 7 or higher. Apparently, Vista will soon no longer be supported, so there is no point in upgrading to that.

According to the Presario's dxdiag readout, the graphics card is a Mobility Radeon AGP (0x4C59), main driver: ati2dvag.dll version 6.14.0010.6334 (Engish), Date 3/30/2003

However, according to the information on these websites:

         https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/update-graphics-driver-windows-xp.html

         https://support.lenovo.com/ca/en/downloads/ds002891

it looks as though I may be able to upgrade to a more recent graphics card, namely the ATI RADEON family Display Driver for Windows XP (32-bit) as long as the computer already has the Integrated ATI RV610 graphics card.

My question is whether or not I can download and install the Integrated ATI RV610 graphics card in order to permit the downloading of the ATI RADEON family Display Driver for Windows XP (32-bit), or am I putting the cart before the horse? I may be grasping at straws here, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

My purpose for the potential upgrade is to hopefully allow the viewing of high-definition and Blu-ray movies through the laptop's VGA output into a converter and then into the HDMI input of my HDTV. Currently, most (but not all) of these hi-def videos appear onscreen as jittery, stop-motion, and fragmented due to the limitations of the legacy Mobility Radeon.

I have previously been informed that an upgrade to the Mobility Radeon is impossible, yet I wonder if the information indicated on the aforementioned websites may countermand or outdate that advice.

Your advice and assistance would be very much appreciated, thanks.

SW

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4 Replies
jargon
Elite

Your graphics chip is really, really old. In a time when new graphics families were being released every year or every two, the RV610 is likely already generations ahead (at least 5 years launch difference) and it's very possible that even if you successfully installed the newer graphics card in your laptop the BIOS would not be able to properly detect it. Either way I don't think the HD 2000 series cards are capable of driving 1920x1080 @ 30 Hz, which is the current standard for viewing Full HD TV/Movie content.

I don't know about your area, but where I live a refurbished laptop for $100-$200 would be better for this purpose.

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Thanks, jargon, for the quick reply.

I purchased the Presario in 2002 for over $3000.00--a fortune in those days not so long ago, and when it became limited and cumbersome to use with its built-in Windows XP, I switched to another laptop with Vista which I later upgraded to Windows 7, so now I only use the Presario as a conduit via thumb drives to play music, radio plays, and "low-def" movies which can be viewed without fragmenting, etc., on an HDTV. With luck, it should last another 10 years.

Another drawback is that Windows XP won't allow many websites to load anymore due to the discontinuance of support by Microsoft's planned obsolescence policy.

Having said that, the Presario is very rugged and I've had few problems with the hardware, presumably because it was made in Japan and not China where most of today's tech stuff is cheaply manufactured and not as long-lasting.

Anyway...time marches on! I'm now using yet another laptop with Windows 10.

SW

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I also know that feeling when long-lasting and dependable hardware becomes obsolete. If you're willing to accept some cosmetic blemishes and scratches you can get decently powerful 3-4 year old refurb workstation laptops which come with Win7 Pro. They're all made in China now, but are still head and shoulders above the cheaply built consumer laptops available through retail.

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Thanks for that.

Incidentally, I do have a brand new, unused spare IDE 80 GB hard drive (the maximum capacity that the Presario will accommodate) ready for the inevitable point-in-time when the currently-installed (made in 2008) IDE drive must be replaced.

Indeed, both the Astra32 Advanced Information System Tool and the Western Digital HD Diagnostic test evaluate the current 2008 IDE drive as "poor" yet still usable, but as it would be unwise to wait for it to deteriorate any further, I want to be pro-active and prepare the new drive ahead of time.

I realize that I can simply remove the existing drive and replace it with the new one immediately by rebooting the laptop with the Windows XP CD procedure and product key, but my concern is that since Windows XP is no longer supported, is there the possibility that I would have trouble with it being recognized with its previous drivers and other basic features fully functional?

My important files are, of course, already safely stored on thumb drives but no doubt some of the Presario's programs will not load into XP anymore because they have been updated. For example, only an earlier version of CCleaner is loaded and working; later updates fail to do so. Furthermore, when it came time to update Malwarebytes, it, too, would not be recognized by XP, so I am now relegated to and reliant upon Avast.

Apparently the cloning software Macrium Reflect 7 still accepts XP, so I wonder if you or anyone else reading this are familiar with it and if that may be the way to go?

(See Macrium.com)

Otherwise, perhaps you are aware of something else I can try?

Thanks.

SW

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