Adjusting hardware acceleration settings

Answer ID 11648 | Document ID 1608 | Published 01/19/2012 03:06 PM | Updated

01/27/2014 11:15 AM
The following are instructions for adjusting your computer's graphics hardware acceleration settings.
Some issues may arise when using your ATX software that require you to raise or lower your graphics
hardware acceleration settings in Windows. This is due to a combination of how Microsoft Visual Basic
interacts with some hardware processors and the drivers they use.
To adjust hardware acceleration settings (Windows XP)
1. Right-click an empty space on the desktop, and then click Properties.
2. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
3. Click the Troubleshoot tab.
4. Under Hardware Acceleration, change the acceleration setting to Basic accelerator functions.
In Windows XP, this is the second marker from the left. Do not set the acceleration to None.
5. Click Apply, and then click OK.
6. Click OK in the Display Properties window.

To adjust hardware acceleration settings (Windows 7 & Windows 8)
1. Right-click an empty space on the desktop, and then select Screen Resolution.
2. Select Advanced Settings.
3. Select the Troubleshoot tab.
4. Click Change Settings (if available).
If Change Settings is grayed out, you cannot adjust hardware acceleration.
If Change Settings is clickable, drag the slider to Full Acceleration.
If your computer does not run properly after selecting Basic accelerator functions, repeat the procedure
and select Most accelerator functions, which is the next highest setting (drag the slider one marker to
the right).
Windows XP Professional supports write combining, which improves video performance by speeding up
the display of information to your screen; however, increased speed can also cause screen corruption. If
your display problems continue, you can disable write combining.
To disable write combining (Windows XP Professional)
1. Right-click an empty space on the desktop, and then click Properties.
2. On the Settings tab, click Advanced.
3. On the Troubleshoot tab, clear the Enable write combining check box.
4. Click Apply, and then click OK.
5. Click OK in the Display Properties window.