DirectX (Direct3D) disables itself

Priddle · 11 Jul 2010

Hello

I have Win 7 Ultimate (32bit) on this system:
CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8300
Motherboard - Asus P5Q Pro
Memory - 4GB
Graphics Card(s) - Asus EAH4550HD, Asus EAH3450HD
Sound Card - On-board
Monitor(s) Displays - Samsung T220, Liliput 10in, Samsung PN42A450

Lately my DirectX 11 disables itself. I have to reboot to fix it. The last time it happened Aero was still working. I turned off Aero and turned it on again and it doesn't work. In dxdiag, DirectDraw, Direct3D, and Texture all are disabled. DDI Version also shows as Unknown. I restarted and all is fine.

I have had Win7 for about a month now and this has only happened the past 1-2 weeks. My ATI drivers are from Asus and are 8.703.

Is there any other information I should look for and post? Any ideas on this problem?

Thanks

severedsolo · 11 Jul 2010

I hate to tell you this, but both those Graphic cards are only DirectX 10.1 compatible not DirectX11.

Thats probably the issue

Apologies if you already know this, but basically to run DirectX11 3 things are needed.

1. A DirectX 11 OS (Windows 7... so you have this)
2. A DirectX 11 Graphics card (yours are only DirectX 10)
3. A DirectX 11 program,

If one of these things are missing it will default to the highest you can get, in your case DirectX 10 from the graphics cards

Priddle · 11 Jul 2010

Thanks for the reply.

I had to reboot again and this time DirectX would not work. I read somewhere else changing themes enabled DirectX again. I switched from my personal theme using UltraMon to Windows 7 Basic, then to Windows 7 and DirectX was enabled again.

I only really use DirectX for XBMC for Windows. I guess I can't revert to DirectX 10?

severedsolo · 11 Jul 2010

I dont understand

you should already be running DirectX10 thats the odd thing. DirectX11 wont work, so it should default to DirectX10.

Have you tried installing DirectX from the MS website? Download details: DirectX End-User Runtime

I found that although Windows 7 has DirectX 11 and my PC only supported 9 (at the time) I had to manually instal the DirectX runtime to get the other versions. Might be worth trying

Priddle · 11 Jul 2010

dxdiag says I have 11. Strange.

Thanks for that tip. I got a couple of other things to try first but I'll post any results I get in case its helpful for someone else.

severedsolo · 11 Jul 2010

Dxdiag also says I have 11, suffice to say I don't. Or rather I do, but I cant run it, like you. My card is also a DX10 card. Actually thinking about it, I seem to remember that Passmark needed to install DX10 before it could run. That would seem to support my earlier post.

bobkn · 11 Jul 2010

Priddle said:

dxdiag says I have 11. Strange.

Thanks for that tip. I got a couple of other things to try first but I'll post any results I get in case its helpful for someone else.

Win7 includes DirectX 11. As far as I know, there's no way to revert to any of the older versions. They are subsets of DX11, anyway.

You don't get the DX11 features if your hardware doesn't support them. (I admit that I don't understand the differences between the various version of DirectX.) Support for DX9.0c is needed to Aero Glass support, so the Win7 desktop can be fully run on a system that isn't really up-to-date.

Apparently DX11 as installed by Win7 does not include all components that support older DX versions, so it may be worthwhile to install the latest version of DirectX from Microsoft. (The installer won't over-write newer versions of the code, so it appears to be safe enough.) I tend to use the redistributable package rather than the Web install, although I doubt that it matters.

None of the above has much to do with your problem, I believe.

I don't understand your problem. If Aero was working, some sort of DX support had to be as well. I'm not even sure how I'd know if DX was disabled - never saw it happen.

Done any fresh re-installs of Win7 lately? May be time to give it a try.

Priddle · 11 Jul 2010

I think I found the problem.

When I change the source on my TV to PC, my desktop displays will flicker...ie, go black for a second or two. This wasn't a problem prior a few days ago as I have a Gefen HDMI Detective Plus between my PC and TV to ensure an EDID signal is sent to the PC. I found previously (when I had XP) that the PC would loose the EDID signal from the TV on occasion and my desktop screens would flicker. This was annoying me so I got the HDMI Detective.

But a few days ago I was loosing the signal to the TV from the PC when the source was set to PC. The TV screen would black out for 2-3 seconds. I removed the Detective Plus and it didn't happen again but when switching sources, the EDID signal gets interrupted.

Having said all that, it seems when I change sources on my TV, that is when DirectX features become "not available". Earlier I had to do a System Restore to get DirectX working again. After I went to my TV to watch some videos on XBMC for Windows. Once done, I left XBMC open and I switched the source to cable. I went to my PC, opened dxdiag, and DirectX is unavailable yet again! although Aero and XBMC still work. If I shutdown XBMC and try to start it again, it will not open.

I have no idea what is going on here or how to fix it.

Priddle · 13 Jul 2010

I may have solved my problem.

I uninstalled my ATI drivers and CCC. I booted in Safe Mode and used Driver Sweeper to remove anything else. I also used the CAT uninstall tool after another boot to Safe Mode. There were ATI files left in Windows system folders I could not remove, one was a DirectX file for ATI. I tried to delete them but needed System permissions.

I unplugged my HDMI cable from the PC and booted back into Windows, and rebooted again for kicks. I also searched the Registry for ATI references but none came up.

I had the latest drivers and CCC from Asus website and installed it. Once done, it said it completed but with errors. The log said the error was around my HDMI audio driver. But luckily, I have a Realtek HDMI audio driver to compensate that works well. So after a reboot, everything was back up and running and DirectX was enabled! I did notice that before I had unsigned drivers warnings that were no longer showing.

I plugged my HDMI cable in and DirectX was still enabled! I turned my TV on and off, still enabled! Hopefully this is permanently corrected. Time to create a Restore Point I think.

the thinker · 01 Mar 2011

f you run "dxdiag" from the start menu and go to the "display" tab,
you can see, that Direct3D Acceleration is disabled, but you are not given the
possibility to switch it back on ( as in Windows XP), this must be an error in Vista??

You have to switch the setting "under the hood".

From the start menu run "regedit" and open this key (click on the + signs):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Direct3D\Drivers

Double click (on the right hand side) the text "SoftwareOnly" and change the value from "1" to "0"

Thats it! Close the regedit program again.

Be warned: Don't touch anything else in regedit, unless you know, what you are doing.

As a matter of fact, you will get a lot of warnings from Vista, NOT to do this,
but then again - Vista could have offered a better way to do it.
Vista DID allow some old game you wanted to run, to switch the setting off.

For Google:
Direct3D acceleration vista registry

TRUST ME IT WORKS ON WINDOWS 7

DirectX (Direct3D) disables itself

DirectX (Direct3D) disables itself - fixed

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