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[MrSpaM]

I’m writing this guide for anybody who is having problems with getting Minecraft to work using Intel integrated graphics cards that come with standard Dell PC’s. I ran into this problem when I attempted to run Minecraft on a PC I wouldn’t normally use, and after running into Open GL errors when attempting to open the game I went hunting around on the internet to see if anybody else had encountered the problem. Turns out there are many people who are finding they are buying the game, only to find out it won’t run due to the ‘Open GL Accelerator’ not being found, but nobody seemed to have a solution to the problem.

Well it took me a couple of hours but I’ve worked it out!  

Please note this guide is only good for users who have bought Dell computers with Intel integrated graphics chips, and may not work on other manufacturers hardware.

It turns out, in their infinite wisdom, that the drivers Dell post on their website, and give you on the drivers CD that comes bundled with the machine, are made specifically for the PC you have bought, and have actually been edited by Dell to work with you PC. The main problem stems from these drivers being VERY outdated, and their lack of support means that they haven’t updated the drivers for a long time, which means they haven’t added Open GL acceleration to the drivers.

You might say to yourself  “Well this is easy, all you have to do is download the most recent version of the correct drivers off the Intel website, and it’ll work again!”. Normally this would work, but Dell have made it so that you can only use the drivers downloaded off of their website, and not the official ones. If you try to install the drivers off the Intel website you will be presented with a message similar to “These drivers are not compatible with your hardware”, and the drivers will fail to install, even though they are correct for your hardware.

Now the solution!

First of all, download the correct drivers off of the Intel website. After you have downloaded the executable DO NOT RUN IT, instead unzip the executable using a program such as 7ZIP, and you should end up with a folder, containing a few new folders, and some other files, these are your drivers.
Next go Start > Settings > Control Panel > System and look for the hardware tab. Once in the hardware tab click on the device manager button and you should be presented with a list of hardware currently on your computer. Look for ‘display adapters’ and inside this you should find your graphics card, right click this and go to properties.
In the Driver tab, click the Update Driver button. Select ‘No, not this time’ for the windows update search and click next. On the next screen select ‘install from a list or specific location (advanced)’ and click next.
On the next screen select the ‘Don’t Search’ option and click next. Next click on the 'have disk' button, and browse to the directory you extracted the drivers to earlier, in here you should find a file that matches the one you are looking for, double click this. The drivers should now install.

You will probably be prompted to restart your computer so do this if needed

Now you should find your graphics card drivers are the latest version, and Minecraft will now work!

If anybody feels this guide needs some work, or need some help with it, please feel free to let me know.

[Leet]

The solution! never buy a Dell
they suck anyways.. cant even OC 'em >.<
kk nice guide although i dont need it.

[MrSpaM]

Lol good solution i was trying to get it to work on my Office PC  

[OnionKnight]

I'm using a Dell Latitute D620, running Windows XP Professional 32x, using the Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset Family.  I've updated my drivers, updated my Java, Followed your guide and the guide located here:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=39953

And I still receive the error.  Help?

[MrSpaM]

If your getting the 'Bad Graphics Card' error, it is down to your graphics card, not your java version. Are you sure you have the correct drivers for your graphics card? try entering your service tag into the dell support site, and list what options you have for downloading display drivers.
Also check what version of the drivers you are getting off the intel site are, they should be from around 2008.

These should be the correct ones for your graphics card -

http://downloadcente... ... y&lang=eng

[capnjack]

I have followed these instructions before by looking on the lenovo website for updated graphics drivers (I have a thinkpad). Still no luck. Any ideas?

[MrSpaM]

This workaround is specifically for Dell PC's with intergrated Intel graphics chipsets, as i stated in the guide it might not work with other manufactures computers

[Amarinth]

Keep in mind that the solution in the OP will only work if your graphics card actually supports the correct OpenGL version (hardwarewise) and if there are actually drivers available from Intel that enable this OpenGL support on your card. If either of those criteria aren't met, then this solution won't work.

If you still keep running into this problem even with the latest Intel drivers, then there's nothing you can do except A. hope Intel releases better drivers for your card or B. upgrade your system / get a decent dedicated gfx card.

[MrSpaM]

Most graphics cards produced in 2006 onwards should have support for this, if you have a graphics card older than this, theirs a good chance it'l never work, and you should invest in a new one

[SirCynical]

MrSpaM, thank you for your investigative work attempting to get this great game to work on such old unhappily OEM comps.  However, I myself could not get your strategy to work.

I have a Dell XPS M140 (laptop) with an Integrated Intel 915gm mobile graphics chip, and after successfully installing the latest Intel drivers from http://downloadcente... ... 2&lang=eng listed externally as Version: 14.25.50.4764, and internally as Version: 6.14.10.4764 (released somewhere between 1/13/2007 and 1/22/2007) I'm still getting the "Bad video card" message that other people are getting.

The two things I can think of are:

1) In your guide you say "in here you should find a file that matches the one you are looking for".  What exactly am I looking for?  Windows seems to want to find a .inf file, but there are a total of 3 of them that I can find in the unzipped folder.  I assumed it was the .inf in the 'Graphics' folder and it seemed to install fine, with the installed driver version matching the one in the zip.  It is possible one of the other 2 .inf files is the correct one?

2) You say this guide is for Intel integrated graphics cards on Dell comps.  Do we know if this works for all models, or, only a few?  So far there seem to be problems getting this to work for at least one 915gm and a 945gm so I wonder which model did you get yours to work for, and how could you know that this would work for all the other models out there?

To anyone else whose got this work: can you please post here what model you've fixed using this guide so we can keep track of which ones this works for.

[xl_ju1c3_lx]

i did all that with dell integrated graphics. didnt work for me. what did work is this:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=74073&p=1189077#p1189077

[tank6100]

Thank you so much this made it work!!!

[cnorhoob]

What is the executable??
I'm having a lot of trouble with this.

[Geniie]

Thanks alot, am testing this on my new computer at the moment (it has an old graphics card).

[ShaneGF4]

what directory do i browse?

[lukman1219]

Leet said:

The solution! never buy a Dell
they suck anyways.. cant even OC 'em >.<
kk nice guide although i dont need it.

a dell ain't no mac  

but thanks for this, i will try it out with my dell latitude c640 (i doubt it will work though   )

onelastorphan said:

one of the new Macs for my birthday this July

+1

[Nikc-Nack]

I simply love you now...
This... is... awesome...

[donaldengine9]

I have a Dell Dimension E310 and it has an Intel GMA 900 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0, but it doesn't have any drivers listed, can anyone help me out with this?

[Thebuilderdd]

Leet, on 14 October 2010 - 02:11 PM, said:

The solution! never buy a Dell
they suck anyways.. cant even OC 'em >.<
kk nice guide although i dont need it.

You sir, are a failure.

[AGPz]

MrSpaM, on 14 October 2010 - 02:00 PM, said:

I’m writing this guide for anybody who is having problems with getting Minecraft to work using Intel integrated graphics cards that come with standard Dell PC’s. I ran into this problem when I attempted to run Minecraft on a PC I wouldn’t normally use, and after running into Open GL errors when attempting to open the game I went hunting around on the internet to see if anybody else had encountered the problem. Turns out there are many people who are finding they are buying the game, only to find out it won’t run due to the ‘Open GL Accelerator’ not being found, but nobody seemed to have a solution to the problem.

Well it took me a couple of hours but I’ve worked it out!  

Please note this guide is only good for users who have bought Dell computers with Intel integrated graphics chips, and may not work on other manufacturers hardware.

It turns out, in their infinite wisdom, that the drivers Dell post on their website, and give you on the drivers CD that comes bundled with the machine, are made specifically for the PC you have bought, and have actually been edited by Dell to work with you PC. The main problem stems from these drivers being VERY outdated, and their lack of support means that they haven’t updated the drivers for a long time, which means they haven’t added Open GL acceleration to the drivers.

You might say to yourself  “Well this is easy, all you have to do is download the most recent version of the correct drivers off the Intel website, and it’ll work again!”. Normally this would work, but Dell have made it so that you can only use the drivers downloaded off of their website, and not the official ones. If you try to install the drivers off the Intel website you will be presented with a message similar to “These drivers are not compatible with your hardware”, and the drivers will fail to install, even though they are correct for your hardware.

Now the solution!

First of all, download the correct drivers off of the Intel website. After you have downloaded the executable DO NOT RUN IT, instead unzip the executable using a program such as 7ZIP, and you should end up with a folder, containing a few new folders, and some other files, these are your drivers.
Next go Start > Settings > Control Panel > System and look for the hardware tab. Once in the hardware tab click on the device manager button and you should be presented with a list of hardware currently on your computer. Look for ‘display adapters’ and inside this you should find your graphics card, right click this and go to properties.
In the Driver tab, click the Update Driver button. Select ‘No, not this time’ for the windows update search and click next. On the next screen select ‘install from a list or specific location (advanced)’ and click next.
On the next screen select the ‘Don’t Search’ option and click next. Next click on the 'have disk' button, and browse to the directory you extracted the drivers to earlier, in here you should find a file that matches the one you are looking for, double click this. The drivers should now install.

You will probably be prompted to restart your computer so do this if needed

Now you should find your graphics card drivers are the latest version, and Minecraft will now work!

If anybody feels this guide needs some work, or need some help with it, please feel free to let me know.

SirCynical, on 16 November 2010 - 11:39 PM, said:

MrSpaM, thank you for your investigative work attempting to get this great game to work on such old unhappily OEM comps.  However, I myself could not get your strategy to work.

I have a Dell XPS M140 (laptop) with an Integrated Intel 915gm mobile graphics chip, and after successfully installing the latest Intel drivers from <!-- m -->http://downloadcente... ... 2&lang=eng<!-- m --> listed externally as Version: 14.25.50.4764, and internally as Version: 6.14.10.4764 (released somewhere between 1/13/2007 and 1/22/2007) I'm still getting the "Bad video card" message that other people are getting.

The two things I can think of are:

1) In your guide you say "in here you should find a file that matches the one you are looking for".  What exactly am I looking for?  Windows seems to want to find a .inf file, but there are a total of 3 of them that I can find in the unzipped folder.  I assumed it was the .inf in the 'Graphics' folder and it seemed to install fine, with the installed driver version matching the one in the zip.  It is possible one of the other 2 .inf files is the correct one?

2) You say this guide is for Intel integrated graphics cards on Dell comps.  Do we know if this works for all models, or, only a few?  So far there seem to be problems getting this to work for at least one 915gm and a 945gm so I wonder which model did you get yours to work for, and how could you know that this would work for all the other models out there?

To anyone else whose got this work: can you please post here what model you've fixed using this guide so we can keep track of which ones this works for.

WOW THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS!

For ages I have been researching everywhere to find a solution to the "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) fatal Java error" and by following both MrSpaM and SirCynical steps this has solved the issue and I'm able to play Minecraft again!

I bought a new Toshiba Pro Satellite C660 and was gutted as when I went to play Minecraft I would just get the Fatal Java Error. I thought it was to do with Java so did numerous installs and uninstalls of pretty much every version but finally stuck with the Java 7 JDK 64bit but still the same "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) fatal Java error" occurred after logging in and would shut down minecraft. It just gave me a notepad file with all the error details in it everytime.

I wouldn't give up though and after researching it for days it seems this was linked to OpenGL errors. Specifically when a graphics card driver isn't updated to support OpenGL or the latest version.

I know the guide is more for Dell Laptops but it worked perfectly on my Toshiba too! As they also stop you from downloading any other driver software that isn't from their website. And all the Display Drivers on their website are over a year old.

I have a intel i3 380M CPU with Integrated Graphics and was on version 8.15.10.2189 of the Intel HD Graphics Driver and by using this method installed the latest version 8.15.10.2361 and it ran Minecraft as soon as I logged in, I couldn't believe it and was so glad I had finally found a fix!

Thanks again guys, I even made an account to post here and show my thanks and hopefully help others out with this problem.