Read my first post (ignore the name )

As you can see, I'm having some trouble running The Orange Box. Half-Life 2 doesn't crash until I get to a certain part on Level 1. Portal crashes before I even get the the main menu, and I'm guessing the rest of the games in the box do the same as one of the two. Steam has said that they are "working" with Intel to fix this problem. Check out my specs. I think I missed some system requirements (aka didn't really pay attention and thought I would be able to run the game no problem because my laptop is so new). Is that the problem? Laptops come with crappy video cards? At least I believe that's the case. That other dude's trying to help me.

I also have WoW, as you can see. I haven't even tried it out yet, but the dude seems to say that it will work.

Anyways, can someone help me? I'm kind of bad at this stuff, but I'm trying to improve.

P.S. I hope Deathawk reads this because I've seen many of his post in the Tech Forum in v5 and v4.1, and he seems like he actually knows his stuff.

Well first, you won't be able to upgrade your GPU on your laptop.
You seem to meet all minimum requirements of the Orange Box according to Wikipedia.

To be honest, there really isn't much you can do to my knowledge. I would check on Valve's forums for techniocal support, but if you're adamant Valve/Steam/Whoever is going to release something to fix their problems with Intel GPU's, then I guess you dont have much of a choice but waiting for that.

Try running WoW, see how it works.

This was what I was afraid of.

Shit.

They'll probably never be able to fix the problem. That guy says the GMA 950 is kind of old.

I'll try WoW tomorrow. But damnit, I really wanted to play The Orange Box on my computer. There's nothing? Why can't I upgrade my GPU anyways, that's stupid.
EDIT:
Wow, I just used the Steam Diagnostic Tool, and it says General System Performance passed and I should be able to run the Source games. I don't even get it. And it keeps saying McAfee could be messing with the game (I need to get another protector).
This is off-topic, but I was just wondering. It says I have an adware on my computer, in C:\WINDOWS\system32\mclsp.dll. Should I delete this? I've researched it an it says its a component of McAfee.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 27 2007, 2:30 am by Xx.Doom.xX.

you cant upgrade your INTERNAL GPU but if you had the money you could have EXTERNAL GPU
http://www.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=4728
you need another monitor though -_-

Well first off, I would try running the games with McAfee shut off to see if it's actually causing anything.

The GMA 950 should be able to handle those games, though, so yeah, it's strange as to why it crashes.

But doing some research online, it seems a lot of people with the GMA 950 haven't had luck with running the Orange Box. So yeah, it looks like Valve is going to have to release a fix or else you're out of luck.


http://www.fbmsoftware.com/spyware-net/process/mclsp_dll/629/

What program is telling you mclsp.dll is adware?

The problem is that you have a gma 950??? maybe?

The GMA 950 is Intel's second-generation Graphics Media Accelerator graphics core, which was also referred by Intel as 'Gen 3.5 Integrated Graphics Engine' in datasheets. It is used in the Intel 940GML, 945G, 945GU and 945GT system chipsets. The amount of video-decoding hardware has increased; VLD, iDCT, and dual video overlay windows are now handled in hardware. The maximum core clock is up to 400 MHz (on Intel 945G, 945GC, 945GZ), boosting pixel fill-rate to a theoretical 1600 megapixels/s.

The GMA 950 shares the same architectural weakness as the GMA 900: no hardware geometry processing. Neither basic (DX7) hardware transform and lighting[1], nor more advanced vertex shaders (DX8 and later) are handled in the GMA hardware.

(according to wikipedia) NO DX7 OR DX8!!! (unless you have this desktop chipset --- http://www.intel.com/products/chipsets/945g/index.htm )(but we know you have a laptop )

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 27 2007, 6:23 am by MasterJohnny.

I read up on that External GPU, and:
1. It's too much money (even though it looks sweet)
2. Dumb you would need to have another monitor (even though I have an extra one)

Steam Diagonstic Tool is telling me I have mclsp.dll. The tool is supposed to check all of your systems specs and stuff and they either pass or fail. I can't seem to find the tool on the website =\. I don't remember where it was, so I'm going to look for it.

The thing I don't get is why they would release a new one (GMA 950) without hardware transform and lighting if the 900 didn't have it.