Dell Dimension 3100/E310, Graphics/Video Driver for Windows 7 (x86 / 32-bit)
2012-06-16 Updated
2012-01-06 Initial Post
NOTE: This was NOT tested on x64 / 64-bit systems.
I recently loaded Windows 7 Ultimate x86 SP1 on a Dell Dimension 3100/E310 and it did not properly detect the graphics card. Dell has no Windows 7 drivers for this graphics card. The system runs Windows 7 fine even though it only has 1.25 GB RAM so the only thing holding it back was the lack of a graphics driver which resulted in crappy screen resolution.
Since the system uses the Intel 915GV chipset, I looked on Intel's site. I found a driver for XP and used that and it seems to work fine on Windows 7. Just install the driver directly instead of running the installer. After reboot, you'll get some warnings to allow some of the driver-related files to run--you may allow them all. I rebooted a few times and everything still works correctly. The driver will show up as Intel(R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family.
The maximum resolution is only 1400 x 1050 which is less than my monitor's native resolution of 1920 x 1080 (I have a Dell P2310H). For smaller monitors, 1400 x 1050 should be fine.
Here's the driver download from Intel:
Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator Driver for Windows* XP (zip)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=14493&ProdId=1765&lang=eng
January 30th, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Will this work for Win 7 Premium?
If I upgraded from Win XP, can I use the video drivers from Window.old already installed. Win 7 doesn't seem to recognize them, where do they need to be moved?
Cheers
January 30th, 2012 at 5:23 PM
Dave: Thanks for checking out my site. Drivers should work the same in all versions of Windows 7 as long as they are for the same processor platform (32-bit or 64-bit). I haven't tried what you're asking so I don't know if it'll work. My advice is to download the driver from Intel's site as I mentioned in the post. Extract the zip file and then in Device Manager, point Windows to the extracted folder named "Graphics" which will contain an INF file named igxp32.inf. The INF file contains instructions that lets Windows know how to install the drivers.
February 13th, 2012 at 1:42 AM
You safe my life dude. Thank you so muchhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
March 7th, 2012 at 7:14 AM
Dell Dimension 3100 with Windows 7 Ultimate. You driver for XP work. Thank's for all.
April 1st, 2012 at 12:27 AM
Thanks! At last....my problem solved.
May 10th, 2012 at 10:43 AM
My computer (Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit) won't let me install this - it keeps saying it's not compatible with x64 etc!
May 10th, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Hi Michael: Thank you for checking out my site. The title of this post is "Dell Dimension 3100/E310, Graphics/Video Driver for Windows 7 x86" so it's specific to the x86 (aka 32-bit) version of Windows 7. Regular 32-bit software will usually work on 64-bit systems, but drivers are basically hardcoded to either 32- or 64-bit. I'm not a computer scientist, but I don't think it's possible to ever get a 32-bit driver to work on a 64-bit system and vice versa.
July 23rd, 2012 at 1:32 PM
Hi there, thanks for the tip! However when I downloaded the package I didn't see the file igxp31.inf in the Graphics folder. Am I missing it? Thanks so much!
July 25th, 2012 at 9:37 PM
Hi Amy: Thanks for checking out my site. I made a typo with that file name. It should be igxp32.inf, not igxp31.inf. I will update my other comment with the correct file name. Thanks for your feedback.
September 20th, 2012 at 3:03 PM
Hey SysAdmin, I work for Verizon and they have this same model Pc in storage. I was given permission to use it and upgrade it as I see fit. I was wondering if I could put Windows 7 64bit on here. Or was the gist that it would only recognize Windows 7 32bit? Also with the two PCI slots I think I actually have a older Nvidia PCI graphics card laying around at home. Would this be feasible to use in lieu of the on board graphics?
There is 768MB of memory on board now. It is uber slow for the amount of items they have running on here. It is running XP SP3.
Thanks.
Matthew
September 20th, 2012 at 4:01 PM
Hi Matthew:
Thanks for checking out my site. This is an old PC, and per specs in link below, maximum system memory is 2 GB, so installing Windows 7 64-bit would not give you any advantage. And there are probably no 64-bit drivers for any built-in components.
There are two PCI slots and one PCIe x1 (PCI Express) slot. I'm not sure if the PCI video card would work well since that's really old technology. Graphics cards use PCIe now (the PCIe in this computer is x1 while the current speed is x8 which I believe is backwards compatible with x1). Before PCIe, graphics cards used AGP (Advanced Graphics Port), and then I think before that it might have been regular PCI.
I would suggest to replace both memory DIMMs with 1 GB DIMMs to max out at 2 GB. Check http://crucial.com for compatible DIMMs and then once you get the specs you can buy from them or shop around. I also like to configure a static page/paging file with the minimum and maximum values set to the same value. You can search around for how to do that.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3100/en/sm/specs0.htm#wp1052310
September 20th, 2012 at 5:18 PM
Copy that, and thank you for the reply. I will try putting 3Gb in and see if the Xp will recognize it. Otherwise I will leave it the way it is. It will defiantly run Dungeon Keeper 2 for me and Baldur's Gate! Then I am set. Thanks brother, and best of luck to you and yours.
Matthew
September 25th, 2012 at 1:16 PM
Hey SysAd,
I found your site, while looking for a way to tweak video performance in win7 on the same Dell Demension 3100. Thou I am still thinking of returning the system to a windows XP installation, I thought I would mention that, I added 2x2GB DDR2 modules. The BIOS registers 4GB, and Windows 7 32bit registers 4GBs (I am really not sure why,) but everything seems to be working fine. I was ready for win732bit to tell me I had 3GB, so I am a little confused, but still things seem to be working (aside from the video performance - the Intel 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset reports 128MB VRAM,) Video issue is waiting for screen refreshes when loading up video memory....for example working in movie maker with a large project. If anyone has any insight to resolving this issue please let me know.
Thanks
October 16th, 2012 at 10:56 AM
Hello: Thanks for visiting my site and for your input. Since the graphics driver is not specifically written for Windows 7, I wouldn't expect it to work very well with video editing software. Maybe you have a more updated model because the specs for the one I had state max 2 GB RAM so I never bothered to get more RAM than that.
September 25th, 2012 at 4:47 PM
quick update...I went back and that windows reports (2.99GB usable) - in regards to the 32bit Windows 7.
February 25th, 2013 at 7:10 PM
... dosen't work on w7 home premium 32 bits i'll try on w7 ultimate 32bits later. thanks!!!
February 26th, 2013 at 3:16 PM
...aero not working, but i can play movies with out problems, THANKS!!!
tested on windows 7 32 bits
February 26th, 2013 at 3:17 PM
... sorry tested on windows 7 ultimate 32 bits
March 11th, 2013 at 5:49 PM
Gracias amigo, it works!!!
April 5th, 2013 at 3:03 PM
Hi guys thanks a lot it really works.
Thanks Gecko
August 29th, 2014 at 10:37 PM
Excelente. Thanks a lot