As we've said many times before, Google is your friend. That's all I did.

It's next to impossible for me to d/l this patch, I either have to sign up now everywhere (is this the new internet d/l policy?) to d/l, and as soon as I click the d/l link at cnet, it jumps to an advertisement (which I click on "skip") then immediately jumps to a full page of other advertisements - my d/l never starts.

How am I ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going to be able to d/l this patch?

Pretty soon, all the game patch d/l sites will make you have to sign up to d/l, after this you'll have to start paying fees - I hate this greedy world!!

cruise02 I could not get cnet nor fileplanet to download for me either... I am looking for an alternative
edit
found one at MM go here:

http://mysterymanor.net/Atticsaves/index.php?act=view&id=51

Yep, it looks like all of the links lead to dead ends (just like some adventure games:) )

Thanks, Winfrey! I tried your link and I was able to d/l!

This J&F v2 patch d/l frustration was on the back of my mind while I kept trying to get on the internet on the newly-installed Win XP partition (NOT the VMWare XP VM - this is installed on the now-shrunken Win 7 partition) that I've just created on my new Acer laptop, my laptop has Fn + F3 to turn on the wireless wifi connection (in Win 7) but I tried pressing Fn + F3 on the XP side, but no "on/off" box shows up onscreen - and I have no "internet connection/wireless connection" icon at all on the bottom right side of the Win XP taskbar, so there is no way for me to enable my built-in wifi/wireless internet card on my new laptop (on the new XP partition that I created this afternoon) that I want to use in an attempt to install Driver Detective (or Driver Guide, etc) on to make it scan my system (on the XP side, again NOT the VMware XP VM), find & d/l XP device drivers (tinkering, tinkering, testing, testing, 1, 2, 3...) - how do I fix this problem and get on the internet from XP?

Also I have no wireless internet connection icon in my control panel\network connections, etc - how do I put one there?

The function keys are enabled via software - so, unless Acer supports XP as an OS it's not likely.

Inland, I just checked on Acer's website and I found an Acer Aspire 8935G, this even has a NVidia 3D card - had I'd know about this one (it supports XP x32, Win 7 and Vista) I wouldn't have bought my 5745G, and b/c of this I'm fast getting "buyer's regret" - here, I found what I really want on the acer website.

Acer Aspire 8935G w/ NVidia 3D card

So what do I do now? Email Acer and ask if I could do a trade-in (serious)?

EDIT - My link doesn't take you directly to the Aspire 8935G - you'll have to click on "notebook" > aspire > 8935G to get to the computer/drivers.

And 3 weeks ago I was going blindly upon Drac's advice in picking out a gaming laptop to buy, I tried doing my homework a bit before I posted here in the thread "should I buy this laptop?"

I didn't know I was going to run into this "my acer aspire 5745G doesn't support XP x32" issue when I told Nate to find that laptop that Drac picked out on newegg.

So lately I'm having a lot of aggravation just because maybe I bought the wrong laptop (Acer Aspire) model - instead of a 5745G I now believe I should have bought a 8935G w/ a NVidia graphics card.

But why when I enter the aspire 8935G model in the search bars at both Amazon and ebay, why don't I find listings for the whole computer, but parts for the 8935G instead such as RAM sticks, keyboard, screen, etc?

Here's an Aspire 8935G with a special edition graphics card (changeable) - it's an ATI Radeon, but I wanted an 8935G that is 15-incher, and with a NVidia card (changeable special edition) if possible

Acer Aspire 8935G

EDIT 2 - found another aspire model at acer that supports XP/vista/win7 - a 7738G.

Because it's not available any more.


That price is in Euros. I doubt that "DoneDeal" company would ship to the US, and if you convert Price: €1,150 to US dollars you get a lot higher price than your budget.


Same problem with that one -- hard to find. It's also "a massive 17.3 incher" according to ***this review*** at Notebookcheck.

Ok, maybe I should abandon the Acer brand altogether and look for another brand-name, model that fits these specs -

**15-incher,
**512 MB (or above) VRAM NVidia graphics card,
**it manufacturer supports XP (32-bit)/Win 7 so I'd have no aggravation finding XP as well as Win 7 device drivers,

as for the hard drive/system RAM, I can upgrade these to 500 GB HDD/4 GB RAM later.

that fits my budget - but I might have to sell the Acer (but only if I really have to) to get the $700 back - but if you guys can find me a laptop that fits these specs (marked by a **) please post.

I could partition the new (not the Acer) laptop's HDD (after upgrading it to 500 GB) for Win XP and Win 7.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

EDIT 2 - On the other hand, if it is possible to increase the VRAM for the 3D accelerator in my Win XP VMware Player's VM up to 512 MB, or even 1 GB VRAM and get on the internet (to activate certain games) through VMWare Player, then I'm all in favor of keeping my new Acer laptop - but how exactly do I do these?

Maybe you should ask over at the Notebookreview website. They have a "What notebook should I buy" forum.

You could also look for an older model that originally came with XP on eBay. But avoid any with the Nvidia 8400 or 8600 Go. Some Nvidia 7000 series were also affected. The graphics chip in those had a tendency to go bad and there was a lawsuit about it. There's a list of affected models here
http://www.nvidiasettlement.com/affectedmodels.html

There's an article that describes what caused the problem ***here***.


The problem isn't the VRAM so much as that the emulated video card in VMware isn't a Radeon or Geforce and doesn't use the same drivers as those cards. Games are most often tested with Nvidia or Radeon cards.

cruise, let's get this straight... when I posted that link, it was a suggestion, nothing more. And it was a suggestion based on your first post in which said you wanted a new computer which would play new adventure games. There was no mention of wanting to partition the drive and install XP on it. That all came later. You specifically asked for links to other computers....

I think Jenny's advice above is good - especially asking over at Notebookreview. Just be sure to be clear about EXACTLY what it is you are wanting to do. They are really helpful there.

Drac's answer to your question: "Should I buy it? I'm Latest Game Playing-starved.

Ouote from Drac: "I certainly can't tell you what to buy - all we're doing is linking you to options since that's what you asked for."

Oops, my mistake, Drac. I'm such an idiot, I'm a complete fool! As of now, I emailed the ebay seller of that Acer laptop I bought, told him that the laptop just isn't working out for me as I'd hoped, that I wanted to return it for a refund, and admitted to trying to set it up as a dual boot with XP/win 7 but this did not work out for me.

And, yes, I made a thread at notebookreview about wanting to buy a refurbished laptop with XP on it late last night telling them if I can get it for $100 - $200, I can buy immediately, was directed to ebay/craig's list, so I checked on Craig's list (I thought Mom said that I can have 2 gaming laptops - this Win 7 Acer and a used XP laptop, but this was a misunderstanding between Mom and I. Mom thought I wanted a used laptop to fix for my computer tech hands-on training which she had agreed to, but for me to have 2 gaming laptops is out of the question, and she said I'd have to return the Acer if I wanted another gaming laptop for which I can successfully set up as a dual boot with Win XP/Win 7), found a Dell latitude D600 for $160, but I never contacted that seller but I was thinking about calling them up, but then Mom told me if I wanted another gaming laptop I'd have to return the Acer, next, I contacted the seller of the Acer and am waiting for him to get back to me.

After the seller gets back to me, if he agrees to let me return the Acer, then I'll go back on notebookreview and edit my thread about which laptop to buy, and this time, I'm going to lay out all my cards (as they say in Poker) concerning exactly what I want to do with this next laptop, which I will changed the "refurbished" request to "new".

Otherwise, if the seller will not let me return the Acer, Mom told me I'd have to sell it for half price.

I made a big mistake in buying this Acer. I assumed that XP drivers were going to be readily available at the manufacturer's website, and that my games will make use of its NVidia card without this Optimus technology - which frankly, I don't really care for.

Hi cruise, I'm no techie but browse this forum to pick up 'bare bones' info so I've been following this thread & your other with interest. You didn't state that you wanted a new laptop that you could partition to run two OS otherwise you may have got different advice. It does seem that you are blaming Draclvr for buying the wrong one but who couldn't have given you better advice based on what you had posted. Maybe you don't realise how it comes across, but it seems ungrateful when you are at fault & Draclev has posted so much to help you.

You are not going to get what is considered a "gaming laptop" for $100 - $200 unless it has some defect, like a failing graphics card. What you might find is a laptop that you can set up with XP, possibly experiment with dual booting, and which will play some older games.


A Dell D600 is far from being a "gaming laptop." You can see its system specs ***here***. According to that, it has ATI Radeon 9000 graphics, 4X AGP, with 32 MB of VRAM. Would you be able to play any adventure games on this? Yes -- some of the older ones. Does that make it a "gaming laptop?" Not by any stretch of the imagination. Not even when it was new. A "gaming laptop" is one that plays the latest action/RPG games, or at least did so when the laptop was new. You can play games on a laptop that is not a "gaming laptop." But considering that the D600 only has 32 MB of VRAM and has a very low end graphics card (absolute bottom of ATI's Radeon 9000 series), you won't be able to get many new games to work on it. It would be fine for experimenting with dual booting and other repartitioning experiments though.



How many newer games (as in the last 3 years or so) is this Acer not able to play? I do not think you're going to get something in your price range that does everything you want it to.


Never assume anything. Always check out everything that's important to you before you spend your money. I think this Optimus technology is new to everyone here and we didn't realize the constraints it would have on loading Nvidia drivers. But even without that, there are chipset/motherboard drivers and network/wireless drivers to consider. I once set up an older computer and installed the video drivers, but still couldn't get the video card working properly until I installed the chipset/motherboard drivers. Chipset/motherboard drivers can be very important, not just for video but for USB, network, and other things as well.

Jenny has put things into a nutshell for you with the best advice in the world - never assume ANYTHING. And that's especially true with computers. And this is a recurring theme with you, cruise. You want a computer which will do everything in the world for you except cook breakfast. I've told you on another forum it simply doesn't exist.

I'm still trying to figure out what's wrong with having your very nice Asus EEE Netbook which will play all your XP games and having a great Windows 7 gaming laptop for new games... I don't understand why this isn't good enough for you. Or have you gotten rid of your 160 GB Netbook with XP on it? I would be in heaven with your assortment of computers.

I thought I was going to be happy with the Acer, and I'm sorry (I'm at fault, not Drac, she couldn't read my mind, I should have said it right off the bat that I wanted to set the new laptop up as a dual boot with XP/win 7) for blaming Drac, I'm sorry I didn't explain exactly what my intentions were with the new laptop that I wanted, but what I really, truly wanted was a (not necessarily a gaming laptop) laptop that has NVidia 3D graphics that I'd be able to set up as a dual boot with Windows XP (32-bit)/Win 7 that isn't too old, a 15-incher.

As for my trusty netbook, sure, I'm happy with it, XP and all, but since I want to return the Acer and get another laptop that will work out for me dual-boot-wise, the netbook does not have NVidia 3D graphics, so that said, I want to keep my netbook with its 160 GB hard drive (nice and big!) and just use it for playing DVD movies and doing multiple screenshot captures from these movies and transfer all my game-playing (latest games to DOS games) onto the other laptop I would like to get after I hopefully return the Acer.

Exactly!!

Have you checked whether such a thing exists and whether you can afford it if it does? As I mentioned before, not all that long ago there was a big problem with Nvidia graphics in laptops developing bad VRAM.

If you do decide to get a laptop simply for partitioning practice, the D600 has a disadvantage (though it could be considered an advantage for ease of installation). The D600 is old enough that it won't require SATA/AHCI drivers in order to install XP. However that means you wouldn't get the experience of installing XP on a computer that requires SATA/AHCI drivers to be added during the installation.

Had my eye on this for the past couple of weeks - a Sony Vaio w/ Intel Core Duo CPU 2 GHz, T2500, data bus spd @ 667MHz, NVidia GeForce Go 7600 GT @ 256 MB VRAM GDDR3 SDRAM vid card, only as a 15-inch version and possibly with 512 MB VRAM on the nvidia card. This isn't one of the laptops with the defective NVidia card, is it?

Is it old enough that it doesn't require AHCI drivers, and if I get this, will I be able to set it up as a dual boot with XP (32-bit)/Win 7 and be able to get all the XP device drivers for it?

EDIT - found this on the local Craig's list -
Asus gaming laptop

How do I check whether this model's hardware will support XP (32-bit) for dual booting?

cruise, you do realize an older laptop may not be able to run Windows 7 and that you would have to pay close to $200 for a legal copy of Windows 7 if you got an XP computer that would??

Go to the ASUS website as Jenny did to see if it supports XP drivers. Google is your friend.

Will you be waiting until you find out if the seller will take back your Acer or until you sell it?

Be very, very careful on Craig's List. I would be quite leery of this listing. This is a $1200 laptop which Newegg is selling as a refurbished (not new) computer for $900. Nowhere in the Craig's List listing does it say whether it is new or used or anything else. Document, document, document everything.

In 15" laptops, the 7600GT was one of those that were replaced. The problem was less extreme in 17" models so they didn't always get put on a ***replacement list***.


No it will require them.


When you find a model number, look it up ***here***.


***The Asus site*** only seems to have drivers for Vista and Windows 7.

I found that on the Asus site the Asus G1 laptop still supports XP but the OS is Windows XP media center edition. Don't know if this would be good for adventure gaming or not.

Can't find the Asus G1 anywhere for sale. Still waiting for the seller's (of the Acer Aspire) manager to get back to me about the return of the laptop. Realized that I'm not ready to use Windows 7 for gaming, I want to stick with Win XP (32-bit) until I get my huge pile of DOS - Win XP games (incl. games like Baron Wittard) played, and then after these are all played I'll be ready to move on to a newer OS. Don't push me, please, Microsoft.

Which ones have you found that will not work on Windows 7?

MS Flight Simulator X Deluxe, 80 Days, Zelenhgorm, Jazz and Faust. But let me say, there's still a chance I may be returning the Acer after all, if I end up stuck with it, I'll work with you guys to get my programs (including XnView - a free multiple screenshot capture program) working in Win 7 the way they did in XP.