Portal Trouble

[Fuelbi]

So as you may know, the game Portal was made a free downloadable from Steam. I downloaded it and now it won't run. I open it up and after the logo from valve and the loading screen pops up, it won't go any further than that. All I see is a black screen.

What do I do about it?

 

[Lore]

What are your computer's specs? It might not be able to run it.

 

[Fuelbi]

What do you mean my specs?

You mean that I have windows vista or something?

 

[Lore]

...What kind of graphics card, processor, etc do you have?

 

[Fuelbi]

...how do I check that?

Sorry if I sound like a n00b, but I know nothing about computers

 

[Super_ness]

Click the start button. Right click computer, and click Properties. A window should pop up saying you RAM:, Proccessor or CPU, and some other stuff.

 

[Lore]

It's ok, we've all been noobs at one point.

I would go to canyourunit.com, pick portal from the list, and see if it says that you can run it. I use that site all the time to check what a computer's specs are.

Edit: That works too ness, but its useless if he doesn't know the minimum requirements to run portal, lol.

 

[Super_ness]

It says the requirements on it's steam page.

 

[Fuelbi]

canyourunit.com says that I pass every thing except that an upgrade is suggested...


What do I do about that?

 

[Lore]

It does? Well, I guess he can use either method then, lol.

I personally prefer the site, but it's up to him.

Edit: It probably means that it wants you to upgrade to windows 7. You don't have to, though.

 

[Fuelbi]

Well everything else checks out ok

When I open up the task manager, it says that the game isn't running

 

[Lore]

Ok, run it again and go to the processes tab in the task manager. If "portal.exe" or something similar isn't there, then it isn't running.

The only thing that I can recommend now is to redownload/install the game again.

 

[Charmander]

Well everything else checks out ok

When I open up the task manager, it says that the game isn't running

That happens to me with a lot of programs (shoddy, spore, potato)

I click the link, loading, blackscreen.

A) Your game is reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllyyyyyy slow at loading
B) You have a virus, Go to an antivirus and kill it
C) Your comp is just being gay, Shut down and turn back on, Itll prolly work.

 

[Super_ness]

By the way, the game process is hl2.exe, not portal.exe.

But, I'd say it's a source engine problem.

 

[Fuelbi]

I just remembered, before the game opens a window pops up that says:

Uknown Video Card

It says my video card doesn't appear in these guy's database and something about upload details. I pressed the upload details button and then pressed continue anyways

Could that have to do with it being wrong?

 

[Super_ness]

See if you can find out what card it is. Check the docs that came with your computer. That's probably your problem.

 

[Fuelbi]

See if you can find out what card it is. Check the docs that came with your computer. That's probably your problem.

What do you mean by the docs?

Also, it does say hl2.exe...

 

[Super_ness]

The documentation. The instruction manual. Or better yet, just tell us the make and model of your computer.

And yeah, it's a source engine issue. Probably gfx related.

 

[Fuelbi]

I don't know any of this

I dumped all those papers that came with the laptop 3 years ago >_>

 

[Super_ness]

Note to future you: NEVER do that.

Well, look on the casing of it and see if you can find a model.

Like Dell Inspiron 2700 or something.

Also, is it Dell, acer, HP, who made it.

 

[Fuelbi]

I found the model

It's a Toshiba Harmand/Kardon

What do I do now?

 

[Super_ness]

Searching for it only gives me speakers. See if you can find anything else.

Like satellite A-150

it will probably have numbers.

 

[Fuelbi]

I've tried checking everything and even looked on the internet to try to find the model, but I can't find anything

I'm sorry if I'm of no use right now

 

[Sraigux]

First re-install the game

Second, update your graphics drivers

Third, run an anti-malware program

 

[Super_ness]

That's the thing. He doesn't know his graphics card. If I can find the model, that should tell me.

Try this. (coutesy of Google)
The easiest way is to run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool:
Click Start.
On the Start menu search bar, type Run and hit enter.
In the Open box, type "dxdiag" (without the quotation marks) , and then click OK.
The DirectX Diagnostic Tool opens. Click the Display tab.
On the Display tab, information about your graphics card is shown in the Device section. You can see the name of your card, as well as how much video memory it has.

 

[Fuelbi]

I don't know what exactly to type, so I'll type everything that popped out:

Name: Mobile Inter(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip Type: Mobile Inter(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family
DAC Type: Internal
Approx. Total Memory: 1342 MB
Current Display Mode: 1280x800 (32 bit) (60 Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor

I don't know which of these is the graphics card, but one of these has to be it...

EDIT:

I thought I'd point this out. I got Avast free to get rid of teh virus my computer had and it still has the black screen

More advice? Tried the getting rid of the virus method -_-

 

[Super_ness]

Well, you don't really have a graphics card. It's just a part of the chipset. You can download drivers here: http://www.intel.com/support/detect.htm?iid=dc_iduu ( use Internet Explorer for this) . Install anything it tells you to, and try running Portal again. If it fails, try reinstalling portal. If it still doesn't work, your laptop just isn't powerful enough to run it and the only thing you can do is get a new computer.

 

[Maniclysane]

Chip Type: Mobile Inter(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family

Your computer doesn't have a graphics card, it has an integrated card. I have one in my laptop too, so basically your computer can only run old games and emulators.

And WoW I guess.

 

[Jon Farron]

OMG I LOVE PORTAL! Its free!!!??? :O i need to get it o_o
and sorry i dont know how to help i thought u were having in game trouble

 

[Super_ness]

OMG I LOVE PORTAL! Its free!!!??? :O i need to get it o_o
and sorry i dont know how to help i thought u were having in game trouble

Portal was free until the 24th of May.