Can hardware acceleration be upgraded in unsupported Windows XP?
I was able to diagnose my problems with new windows opening instead of tabs and keyboard anamolies by following support directions: starting in safe mode, removing hardware acceleration, restarting normally and . . .no problems! I would like to find out if it is possible to upgrade graphics drivers in Windows XP-pro before going through the whole process (I am not a tech savvy type). My internet loading is already slow as it is, rural DSL speeds, but I would rather just be patient rather than deal with the constant keyboard problems that were driving me crazy. Please advise whether it is worth trying to upgrade or not.
Chosen solution
Personal opinion, stay away from Nvdia / GeForce video cards. AMD / ATI based cards seem to work better with Firefox than the GeForce cards based upon research I did back in April for a new PC I was building at that time.
No problems with Hardware Acceleration or Firefox in general on Win7 32-bit with the AMD Radeon-based video card from ASUS that I installed (~55.00 USD). But with WinXP you may never be able to use Hardware Acceleration, "new" video cards may not support an EOL operating system like WinXP, and those that do may not provide enough in the long run, as Mozilla continues to tweak HA in Firefox.
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About a year ago, you indicated in one of your posts that you have this graphics adapter:
NVIDIA GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a
I think unfortunately, it is so confusing to search NVIDIA's site to understand the latest available driver software version, that you may need to use their scanner. That's Option 2 on this page: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx
Thanjscher2000 said
About a year ago, you indicated in one of your posts that you have this graphics adapter: NVIDIA GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a I think unfortunately, it is so confusing to search NVIDIA's site to understand the latest available driver software version, that you may need to use their scanner. That's Option 2 on this page: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx
Thank you for the link. The website had me update to Java 8, which I hadn't done before because of the warning that it would lead me open to security problems since XP is no longer supported, but I updated so that NVIDIA could run the scan, After all that, this is the message I got.
Current
Installed Driver Recommended Update GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a 307.90 Your PC currently has the latest driver installed for your GPU. No driver update is necessary at this time. So, apparently a driver update won't solve my acceleration problem. I guess this means I'll just have to live with acceleration turned off. :(
James said
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Blocklisting/Blocked_Graphics_Drivers
I clicked this link but don't understand what to do with it??? I said I wasn't tech savvy, so I need some guidance to use this page. thanks
goatmother51 said
GeForce 7025 / nForce 630a 307.90 Your PC currently has the latest driver installed for your GPU. No driver update is necessary at this time.
It's great you were able to determine that so fast. Not the happiest answer, but, Nvidia probably would be happy to sell you a new graphics card with a newer driver. ;-)
Actually, that is a good idea. I've had this computer since 2007, it was custom built for me and I don't want to give it up since it has lots of software I like. Any suggestions for a graphics card upgrade that wouldn't be a fortune and would work well with an old computer?
Chosen Solution
Personal opinion, stay away from Nvdia / GeForce video cards. AMD / ATI based cards seem to work better with Firefox than the GeForce cards based upon research I did back in April for a new PC I was building at that time.
No problems with Hardware Acceleration or Firefox in general on Win7 32-bit with the AMD Radeon-based video card from ASUS that I installed (~55.00 USD). But with WinXP you may never be able to use Hardware Acceleration, "new" video cards may not support an EOL operating system like WinXP, and those that do may not provide enough in the long run, as Mozilla continues to tweak HA in Firefox.
Thanks, ed-meister, for the explanation. It saves me throwing away money on upgrading the video card for an old Operating system. So everything is working okay so far with hardware acceleration just turned off, and it doesn't seem any slower than it was before anyway. Just one more question. Does the fact that I'm using XP and no HA mean I should stay away from add-ons in general just to stay safe. I don't tend to use them much anyway, since I've been refreshing Firefox every couple of days with the past problems.