A Neighbor's Q: Speeding up Spider Solitare after re-installing ME

[ahhaa]

Out here in boonieland, I'm getting quite the rep as a hardware guru, thanks to you guys...
here's a typical problem.

Guy up the street has a basic 1gig Gateway running ME, vintage 2002.
Had it all screwed up, ran completely expired AV for a year or two, went to wierd websites, the works. ME hung at the Desktop.

As there's no chance of getting a nickel for my time from him, I tried a bit of self-help, just saying off-the-cuff "Do you still have your Recovery Disks? Why not give them a try?"

Well, he did. Actually have to give him credit; machine works again & he's back on dial-up, etc. (Had some trouble explaining that all his updates were gone, and he should be prepared for a logjam of updates, that the old 30 day AV trial would install an old engine, etc.)

BUT... (and its all my fault) now Spider Solitare deals the cards real slow!

Isn't there an Intel accelerator or something that should've been re-installed? His machine makes its video right on the mobo. Shouldn't the old BIOS settings still be correct?

I need to give him a one sentence right answer to maintain my new rep!

[jimmalenko]

Here's a one-sentence answer that computers users of all levels need to know IMHO :

"Google it".

[ahhaa]

done did that already... googling 'Slow Spider Solitaire', Intel says:

Intel is not aware of a fix or workaround for this issue. Contact the game manufacturer † for further updates, patches, or support. http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/cs-003917.htm

The link goes to MS games, which has nothing useful... how MS is that?

for the next guy...
lotsa posts about it out there, McAfee etc causing the prob- their 'solution is $20.

best thread found, but with no sure fix: http://www.eggheadcafe.com/ng/microsoft.public.windowsme.games/post14217471.asp

[Prot]

The problem started with his using ME. Probably the worst, most unstable OS Microsoft ever put out. I don't think MS even supports it anymore. Your friend should go back to WIN98 or make the move up to XP.

[smearbrick1]

Are his graphics adapter settings correct? Correct refresh rate?

[Heywould3]

http://209.133.53.130/exec/forum/winme/1026959963

http://www.eggheadcafe.com/ng/microsoft.public.windowsme.games/post14217471.asp

just a couple of sites that have what might help.. reduce hardware exceleration etc.. read through might help;

[Richard_G]

Motherboard chipset drivers loaded? If not, his IDE ports will almost certainly be forced to run in PIO mode.

[CrayonEater]

To kind of augment the other's advice, also make sure the correct video driver is loaded. Check that all the drivers - video, chipset, bus, LAN, etc. - are correct and UDMA settings ok before messing around with Hardware Acceleration settings. There are a few cases where you don't want HA or you want less than 100%, but most performance problems seem to be due to bad/wrong drivers or UDMA settings, and playing with HA settings is more of a last resort, in my experience.

[ahhaa]

Thanks guys, plenty to ponder here!
The thought of this guy monkeying with any of this gives me the cold robbies (if something doesn't load right, he clicks real fast).

I don't want to spend much time maybe fixing a solitare game, or mebbe not, his other software doesn't seem to be affected by whatever it is. I just checked out this game for the 1st time, and there was the obvious.

So... he wants fast & free; my one sentence answer is:
Load Spider, go to GAME>Options in the toolbar, and uncheck 'Animate when dealing cards'.

I feel an appropriate amount of guilt for this solitaire solution... ...now, if I could just get that jack off the ace...

[Doramius]

If worse come to worse, just recommend th I-RAM from gigabyte, but warn him the cost to use it is too much an upgrading to XP would be much cheaper and simpler. :/

[jagabo]

Check "write combining" -- should be enabled.