Windows display Driver Model prevents aero theme on 7 ultimate

slizza786 · 26 Apr 2013

Hi

I have currently upgraded the operating system on my desktop pc from windows xp home to 7 ultimate 32bit. everything seems to be working fine however I am unable to select the windows aero theme which has the transparency features and i am stuck on the basic theme. I made windows do a search to see if there is a hardware issue and windows found this (please see the attached screenshot) Windows also fails to find me the correct driver required. It is very hard to find window 7 drivers as it is an old machine (that being said the machine works fast and flawlessly). Please is there anyone who can help me get the transparency features for me OS. My pc specs are:

Dell dimension 2400
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit SP1
Motherboard: Dell Computer Corp. 0G1548 (Microprocessor)
RAM: 2.00 GB DDR @ 166MHz
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3.06Ghz
Graphics card: Intel(R) 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller
Driver version 6.14.10.4020

Thank you in advance

stormy13 · 26 Apr 2013

Hate to say it but there is nothing you can do to get Aero working short of adding a Windows 7 compatible video card. Reason being is that the old Intel 845g chipset/video doesn't have the necessary hardware in it for Aero to work. Aero requires at a minimum DirectX 9, and that old Intel is DirectX 7 at best.

So no, there is no driver, hack or workaround to get it to work.

Layback Bear · 26 Apr 2013

I do agree with stormy13. Their is nothing wrong with Windows 7. It just needs a little help by installing a more modern video card.

slizza786 · 27 Apr 2013

thanks for the reply guys ill try upgrade my video card to a more modern one, any recommendations to a cheap yet good one? (UK shipping preferably)

Mark Phelps · 28 Apr 2013

Intel first supported Aero with the 945 chipset -- I found this out the hard way because I bought a laptop with their 915 chipset and discovered you couldn't get Aero on it. Yours predates that.

Faladu · 30 Apr 2013

hi slizza, bad news, that PC is too old, it doesn't even have a PCIe-16 slot on the motherboard, per this:

Dell Dimension 2400 Specs (Pentium 4 2.66 GHz, 512 MB RAM, 120 GB HDD) - Desktops - CNET Reviews

You'd have to find a PCI card, and they are all going to be awful, nature of the limited slot beast, plus you are using really slow DDR(1) RAM... but that was on purpose when they built that model since it uses less power, too.

That PC just won't hack it for Windows 7 and beyond, I'd stick with XP if that was your only PC choice now.

If your needs are not a 3D fast gaming rig or similar, to save money you can go with 1 generation back for parts, and even two or three gens back on video cards, my old Radeon HD 5850 is still a great card for most people, most store slammed together in bulk units are 1 gen back or worse any way.
Look for a new computer to have USB 3.0 ports, that will force it to not be supremely OLD parts.

A $350 USD walmart special would be a big leap for you over that old dell, that 2400 only has a 250 watt power supply in it, so it's really bare bones, just enough to run what it came with, so typical, plus over time those PSU's wear down, so it's probably closer to 200W in real use.

This looks like a reasonable UK PC seller to give you ideas:

PCSPECIALIST - Computers For Sale, Computer Sale, PC Sales, PC Sale, PC For Sale, Computer Sales UK

That site has good PC builder feature, reasonable options, if budget is tight AMD CPU is the way to go, A8's will come with on-board graphics Radeon 75xx+ series which would be a huge leap over what you have now and can add separate card later if it isn't, just as an example.