Video Card help

Marvel1 · Forum Member Joined: May 30, 2002 Posts: 76

I just did an upgrade on my computer and am having a bit of a problem. I've added an NVIDIA GeForce2 MX MX 400 graphics card and whenever I try to work in Poser 4 of Pro Pack my system will do a complete lock up. I have some things worked out and I think that I have narrowed it down to a problem with Poser and the new video card as all my other apps seem to be running fine. Im' running Windows 98SE with an AuthenticAMD AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2200+ for the motherboard and 512MB RAM. I have already tried turning down the hardware acceleration with some pretty unsatisfactory results to say the least. Can anyone recommend either a graphics card that won't cause these lock ups or perhaps have an idea what else I can try to correct this situation? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hasdrubal · Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2004 4:23 pm Post subject: Re: Video Card help

My older Pentium 4 computer runs with a similar op system. It may be a Windows graphics kernel named Tpkd.vxd. There's more than one version of this nasty little file. Al Wilborn at Curious Labs sent me the newer version.

I'm not sure why my new Athlon 64 hasn't had the same problems. I would be willing to bet its due to the difference in op systems.

Marvel1 · Forum Member Joined: May 30, 2002 Posts: 76

I just did a search for Tpkd.vxd on my system and don't seem to have this file at all.

L8rdaze · Forum Member Joined: Jun 04, 2002 Posts: 62

Hey Marvel!

You may want to upgrade to Window XP (IMO). You've got a pretty optimal system there and 98 "may" actually be slowing it down and causing compatiblity problems! I was in the same boat awhile ago and upgraded to a Pentium 2.53 ghz (with XP home) and my daily crashes are few and far between. Seems way more stable! Also if you ever want to upgrade you computer ram from the current 512 mb, there is a bug in 98 that can cause memory and lockup problems.

L8r!

Hasdrubal · Posted: Sat Oct 09, 2004 8:49 pm Post subject: Re: Video Card help

It's possible the file my be "protected" and invisible to searches or normal file viewing. In Windows ME it can be found at

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\Tpkd.vxd

Your new card is probably a generation beyond the op system. Planned obsolecence by the manufacturers is the great evil of our time. (One notch below Al Quaida.)

Hasdrubal

Marvel1 · Forum Member Joined: May 30, 2002 Posts: 76

Thanks for the suggestions all. Not too sure about XP but I think I will have a go at Win2K and see if that helps. I'll do a more thorough search for that Tpkd.vxd file HAS, by the way, what exactly is that file for?

Hasdrubal · Posted: Sun Oct 10, 2004 1:40 pm Post subject:

I wish I knew more about it. It's a graphics filter of some sort. C.L.'s Tech Support had me replace it with a later version. Your graphics card may be looking for the later version.

Has
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Marvel1 · Forum Member Joined: May 30, 2002 Posts: 76

I think that I will pick up a copy of Win2K tomorrow and see how that goes. I know that that file is present there and it has been suggested to me that since I upgraded the machine I may as well update the OS. Does Poser 4 require patches of any kind for running on Win2K or XP?

Hasdrubal · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 12:05 am Post subject: Re: Video Card help

Poser 4 is as happy as a clam on XP with no patches. Poser 5 without any patches also seems to run well. (Admittedly, I haven't done any demanding P-5 projects on my new system.)

Overall XP has been more satisfying than Windows ME. The last upgrade patch for XP was sort of wonky, but not a problem to fix with System Restore. A good firewall product is strongly recommended to correct the security issues.

I'm not sure you want Windows 2000. I may be wrong, but I thought Windows 2000 was mostly for big office and college university systems linked together. Windows ME was released on the market about the same time as Windows 2000. I think they still sell Windows 2000, but Windows ME was so crappy it was only available for about 6 months. Windows ME has a nasty tendency to bypass the normal startup and open from Safe Mode. It requires a special startup procedure to bypass the problem.

Hasdrubal

OrcaDesignStudios · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 8:18 am Post subject: Re: Video Card help

I've done some pretty heavy renders with P5 on XP -- cloth room, hair room, etc. -- and haven't had any major problems. One crash, but hey, it's Poser, that's par for the course.
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