Samsung RF711 Graphic issue.

Lurkybaby

Lurkybaby

Lurkybaby

Associate
Joined
12 Apr 2012
Posts
30
Well, Where do I start.

I just bought a samsung RF711 from PC World due to my Acer Aspire 5740G died.

However, I am having slight problem regarding the laptop monitor or the graphic issue. Instead of explaining please look at my youtube video to know what I am talking about.

Ok, This video below is my issue with playing a game called Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEL2fj6QstE&list=UU_Hbse4Hetk9XFZ9Q4VlXOg&index=1&feature=plcp

Mind you, I didn't have that problem with my died laptop which had ATI Graphic but This new laptop is a Nvidia and Intel Graphic. I even got " Live Support Help " from nVidia but no help at all. Both screen has refresh rate of 60 HZ, I have tried from very new to a couple of drivers of before the new'ish ones but no avail.

Anyways this video shows the normal way of playing Tiberian Sun with my " Dell 23" monitor " using VGA Port.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-woTcpz-NA&list=UU_Hbse4Hetk9XFZ9Q4VlXOg&index=3&feature=plcp

I took video to explain to the Live Support Guy last night so he understands what I am talking about.

Any help please before I decided to take this laptop back to shop for a refund, I know the issue lies with the graphic. But it could be something else?

It has 2 graphic in Device Manager, Intel HD Family Graphic and Nvidia 540m

Processor Intel® Core™ i7-2670QM processor (2.2 GHz, TurboBoost to 3.1 GHz, DMI 5 GT/s, 6 MB cache memory)
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
RAM 8 GB
- DDR3
- 1333 MHz
Graphics card NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 540M
Screen type LED HD+
Screen resolution 1600 x 900
Screen size 17.3"
Screen features 280nit Gloss HD LED Display
Hard drive 1TB
- SATA
- 5400 rpm
Optical disk drive Blu-ray
Memory card reader 4-in-1 (SD, SDHC, SDXC, MMC)
USB 2 x USB 2.0 ports
2 x USB 3.0 ports
Modem/Ethernet 10/100/1000 GbE LAN
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth BT 3.0 HS
Video interface VGA, HDMI
Audio interface 3.5 mm audio out, 3.5 mm audio in
Sound Built-in speakers
Webcam 1.3 MP
Keyboard & Mouse Full Numeric Keyboard, multi-gesture touchpad
Battery Li-ion 5200mAh
- 6 cell
- up to 4.8 hours
Accessories included AC Adaptor, Installation Guide

Thank you for your time
 
Hi Lurkybaby,

How's the machine? I just ordered one...you know about the VAT back deal?

That game is pretty long in the tooth! I'm pretty sure you have backward compatibility problems, do you have some more recent games and do they play OK, if so I'd say the Samsung is fine.

Can't promise any of what follows will deliver a cure, I don't have the game. But here goes...

Looking at the specs of the game it runs using directx 6.1 and the graphics card in the Sammy is geared to directx 11. I think also that Win.7 by default only "does" directx 11 which is not backwards compatible that much, certainly not back to 6.1. You can however install directx 9 alongside 11 which possibly will stretch back to 6.1.

Note I am no expert in this; just done a bit of googling on the subject, so maybe another forum member can chip in and verify the theory; directx 9 can be downloaded here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displayLang=en&id=35

Did you have a CD ROM on your old Acer? It may be a red herring, but in Westwoods documentation there is a known problem, not sure if its your symptoms though, it says:-

"b. CDROM issues
If you have only a CD-Writer as a drive, it can cause a component of Tiberian Sun to fail. It is suggested that a CD-ROM only drive be installed."

There was also an update issued that addressed "problems", have you got that applied? The documentation is available here: ftp://ftp.westwood.com/pub/tiberiansun/info/
And the updates are here: ftp://ftp.westwood.com/pub/tiberiansun/updates/

Hope you can get the game running OK.
 
Hi, Thank you for your reply.

I also had 2 ideas of why the game is not working, one of them was directx and the other is Kaspersky because I just remembered when I visited my mum at the new year and she bought a laptop, I installed Kaspersky on hers then decided to download Tiberian sun and same problem happened on my mum laptop I am sure it's Kaspersky that is causing it, but the idea didn't come to my sooner cos I took the laptop to the shop.

The specs of the machine is bloody awesome especially for £700 after VAT back, I am glad my Acer aspire laptop broke haha, I played Renegade on it, I must say I am gobsmacked, runs very smoothly no stuttering or FPS freeze. I got a blue ray drive, if Kaspersky and directx doesn't work I'll try your suggestion of CD ROM. But however if shop can't fix the game and the suggestion I'm gonna try doesn't work maybe you could download that game and try yourself? To see if it's ok then what drivers you downloaded etc?

Thank you, that laptop is totally worth the money!!
 
Good to hear the machine is running great.

If you are concerned about the laptop getting viruses minus Kaspersky you could download Microsoft Security Essentials before you uninstall Kaspersky, drop your Internet connection, unistall Kaspersky and install MSE.

Your mum's laptop sounds quite recent too? What was the screen resolution on that? Did it have a graphics card too? Maybe not the 540M? If Kaspersky isn't the cause it points back at the game not coping very well with latest graphics etc.

Let me know how you get on. I don't have a delivery date yet for my machine; "within 5 days" is the best I have at the mo.
 
Hi, No I am not that Worried about getting viruses, I always check my process and msconfig start up, I actually know a bit about computers. I use uTorr... Hence why better safe than sorry.

As for my mum laptop, I can't remember what specs and card but I know it's an i5 processor, however the choice I suggested doesn't work there's always windows virtual machine to load XP or a dual boot.

My laptop screen was 1444 x 900 not sure about my mum only used it once well twice, one for set up stuff and 2nd for trying to play game. I am sure it's Kaspersky 100%.
 
Well, Still not having any luck nor the shop too...

Tried all suggestion I could think of nothing. but what is strange when i plug VGA port for external monitor it works fine...

Have you managed to get your laptop yet?
 
My machine is still a few days off yet, they rang me today to turn 5 days into 8 to 10!

Have you tried some basic stuff, I'm thinking: match the Win.7 screen resolution for the Samsung to the game? Massive downgrade I think, but if it works it'll be worth it. I assume the info here: http://www.activewin.com/reviews/software/games/t/tiberian_sun.shtml is still relevant? 800x600 by default, but you can push it to 1024x768 by editing the sun.ini file. This vid shows how I think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuL_D4NUk_I they are experimenting with various numbers, looks like one guy has similar problems to you but no obvious solution. Worth trying a few variations though.

The graphics card must be pushing a compatible resolution out to the VGA.
 
I have tried all you suggest and even the draw. No luck it works fine on VMWare XP mode however I can't host or join game. Black screen. Tried D9 tried all diff Res also tried to reduce 60hz frame rate but there's none available. Tried all setting on graphic even turned things off change to max. Nothing.

I read on forums people have problems but no fix 4 it so however I still see games in shop for sale so... Someone has to put out a fix!! I'll contact EA and see what they say.
 
Sounds like your best bet, if there are a growing number of people hitting this as they upgrade their hardware then EA will want to get it sorted. Sorry we didn't crack it.
 
I just managed to point it to Intel HD graphic family. I am just making a post on the intel forums.

Here's what I done.. Formatted everything reintalled Win7, I didn't do any updates, I tried to install nVidia first and it says error you must install intel graphic first so I installed intel graphic drivers and guess what... same problem bascially nothing is installed on my computer ie BIOS chipset so forth. So looks like the issue lies with the Intel Graphic and I am making a post on their forums will post back here as soon I can.
 
With these laptops with switchable graphics isn't there some manual setting you have to do to make certain programs use a certain graphics card, i.e. the Intel HD which is part of the cpu, or the dedicated external nvidia card? My very limited research tells me this mechanism is not without difficulties, e.g. when programs use opengl and can't be configured to use the external card for example. Minecraft is one such program with problems in this regard.
 
Nice bit of detective work! Keep going!

I expect you might have got to this then: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intelhdgraphics3000_2000/sb/CS-032052.htm
It lists a couple of C&C variants, but not your specific game, has further pointers to resolution, although they seem a bit general.

Let us know if you get a solution, will be good to understand what's fouling up where. If my machine arrives (ever!) I can play it into the variations to try if we haven't cracked it by then.
 
Good pointer from Bubo, but without the machine in front of me I can't try this one...the manual isn't very clear, a bit more browsing indicates settings for this might be in the Advanced tab of the BIOS SecureCore Setup Utility, frustratingly the Sammy manual does not show a shot of this. F2 at boot-up will get you the BIOS menu, is there anything on the Advanced tab to control graphics card options? Manual says "Using this menu you can configure the major chipsets and additional functions"
 
I have made a post on Intel forums but however after using the search feature of Tiberian Sun and apparently I am not the only issue...

Here is a quote from a guy from Intel

8. 16-Apr-2012 10:54 in response to: adi518
Re: On going problem with C&C: Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge
Hi there!


The Intel engineering department is aware of this thread and they are currently working to get this issue resolved. I still do not have an estimate time of resolution but you can keep checking this post for updates.


Thanks

Allan.
Click to expand...

It's an issue with Intel Drivers and they are putting out a fix but don't know when. topic can be found here.

http://communities.intel.com/thread/24623?start=0&tstart=0
 
So with the Intel route at an impasse we still have the option of trying to get the laptop to use the 540M to output to the laptop display; I'm assuming the VGA out must be coming straight from the 540 card? Which is why your external monitor works fine; if we get the machine to use the 540 to the laptop screen too then in theory it'll run fine? Have you had a fish in the BIOS to see if there are any settings for that as described above? Do yo have anything in the laptop manual that discusses graphics card switching?
 
Pretty sure there will be a way to switch but without a machine my only routes are via available documentation and they're not coming up trumps; if you can't see it in BIOS then its not there. This is an NVIDIA card isn't it? I wonder if it can be done in the Catalyst Control Centre? I've not got that on my current machine though. Worth a Google to check what it can do. I'll take a look.
 
I even tried to disabled intel graphic in device manager hoping it turns to nVidia but screen went black had to do a force reboot.

Have a look and get back to me here and ill try anything.
 
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