Your Video Card Or Drivers Are Not Compatible

**WBHoenig** · March 25, 2005

If you have had the problem of MCE2004 or MCE2005 where you get the above error (or something like it; I don't remember the exact message" and are not able to play DVDs or Videos, here is how you fix it.

1. Make sure you have the .Net Framework 1.1 or 2.0 BETA. Then download the SDK for your version. They can all be download from The Microsoft Download Center

2. Copy ehshell.exe (in the %windir%\ehome) directory to a tempory location.

3. In C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\(either v1.1 or v2.0)\bin folder (or wherever you installed the SDK), open ildasm.exe.

4. Click File>Open and open ehshell.exe in your temporary directory.

5. Click File>Dump. Check only Dump IL code and Expand try/catch. Click OK. Once that process is finished, close ildasm.exe.

6. Open Notepad. Browse to your the temp directory that ehshell is, and you should see two new files, ehshell.il and ehshell.res. Open ehshell.il. This may take a while, depending on the power of your computer.

7. Search for the string get_UsableVideoMemory in the file. Just below that, you should see the value 0x2000000. Change that to 0x1000000. Save the file and close notepad.

8. Go to your temp directory, and delete the copy of ehshell.exe that you have.

9. Using the Open Command Window Here powertoy, open Command Prompt to your tempory directory. Type "C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\(v1.1.4322 or v2.0.40607)" \ilasm /resource:ehshell.res /exe ehshell.il and press enter. If this process fails, download a new version of ehshell.res Here, and replace the old version with this version.

10. Start Safe Mode

11. Backup your old ehshell.exe in the ehome directory to a different folder.

12. Copy and paste the new ehshell.exe from your temp directory to the ehome directory, replacing the old version (MAKE SURE YOUR OLD VERSION IS BACKED UP!!!!!).

13. Boot the computer again normally.

14. Start Command Prompt at the ehome directory.

15. "C:\Program Files\Microsoft .NET\FrameworkSDK\(v1.1 or v2.0)\bin\sn -Vr ehshell.exe

Now You Should have a completely working version of Media Center 2004 or 2005!

**prathapml** · April 1, 2005

Thanks for this guide

My card is compatible with MCE, but the emulated VMware card is not - so it will be useful in that context.

**Yogi76** · April 17, 2005

I have an ATI Radeon 7000 series video card on a Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 machine that gives me the "Your video card or drivers are not compatible with Media Center" error. I tried the above steps, but I am still receiving the error and I still can't play videos in Media Center. Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Yogi

**Marsden** · April 17, 2005

Do you have WHQL Certified drivers for MCE 2005?

**Yogi76** · April 17, 2005

I am running the ATI Radeon MCE drivers that I downloaded at http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-mce-8-121-...22a-022141c.exe. My card is not listed as a compatible video card at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/mediace...nerlisting.mspx, but I was under the impression that this hack was to get around that.

Yogi

**Francesco** · April 17, 2005

I have the same videocard (radeon VE aka radeon 7000 (32mb of ram)), i've done the same things and I'm still getting the same error

**Francesco** · April 17, 2005

i've found a referenge in the assembly to a certain "DisableDxCheck" thing, probably it's a registry key that when disabled turns all the dx9/ram check off... i'm giving a look at this right now i'll post some updates as soon as I can

**Francesco** · April 17, 2005

Just open regedit and point to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Display Settings

Then Add 2 DWORD KEYS called DisableDxCheck and DisableDx9CapsCheck and set both their values to 1 and media center should start without problems and without all those nasty recompiling things

Have fun

**Yogi76** · April 19, 2005

Francesco, that did indeed work to start Media Center without giving any errors. However, I cannot view any video in Media Center, be it live tv from my E-Home Wonder TV tuner or a regular video file. I can hear sound, but no video comes through. Seeing as you have the exact same video card as me (Radeon 7000 VE), I was wondering if you are experiencing the same problem. I may just have to break down and buy a new video card, but I don't want to spend a bunch of money. This is an extra computer that is using a spare TV tuner I had. My main computer with an up to date video card is running Media Center with no problem.

**WBHoenig** · April 24, 2005

This guide will only help if your video card has memory of between 16 and 32 megabytes. The video requirments are actually more tham 32 (33 or more) mb of ram. This makes it 16 (or should). Although this is most cases with Media Center Video, there are still other ways to make this happen.

**Marsden** · April 24, 2005

MCE 2005 requires a beter video card. Why kludge a work around if you don't have to? Your overall experience on MCE is going to suck rocks with just 32 Megs of video RAM!

**WBHoenig** · May 1, 2005

What if you have a MCE laptop???

**mourad amr** · May 17, 2005

I had a problem in starting from step 14 till the end I could not write the comand

15. "C:\Program Files\Microsoft .NET\FrameworkSDK\(v1.1 or v2.0)\bin\sn -Vr ehshell.exe it says that it is not recognized as internal or external command

please tell me how to write it as i get a message of