The following error message may appear when the InterVideo WinDVD® program starts:

Create Overlay failed. Please lower your screen resolution or color depth and try again.

This error message may be generated if the display settings are incorrect or if another program has turned off Direct3D® functionality on the computer.

To troubleshoot this issue, follow the steps in this article.

If Novell ZENworks for Desktops (ZfD) 4 is installed on the computer, update Novell ZENWorks for Desktops 4 to the latest version. The error message that is mentioned in the "Summary" section is known to occur with versions of Novell ZENworks for Desktops 4 that are earlier than May 22, 2003.

Obtain the latest version of Novell ZENworks for Desktops 4.

For more information about this issue, see Novell Technical Information Document TID10082471.

Verify that the display settings on the computer are configured correctly. To do this, follow these steps:

Microsoft® Windows® XP

1. Click Start, click Run, type desk.cpl in the Open box, and then click OK.

2. In the Display Properties dialog box, click the Settings tab.

3. Under Screen resolution, drag the slider to the appropriate resolution for the monitor. For example, drag the slider to 1024 by 768 pixels.

   	Note:
   	The documentation that is included with the monitor specifies the supported display resolutions. Additionally, when the monitor is turned on, a message that specifies the optimal display resolution may appear.

4. In the Color quality list, click Medium (16 bit).

5. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Versions of Windows that are earlier than Microsoft Windows XP

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

2. In Control Panel, double-click Display, and then click the Settings tab.

3. Under Screen area, drag the slider to the appropriate resolution for the monitor. For example, drag the slider to 1024x768.

   	Note:
   	The documentation that is included with the monitor specifies the supported display resolutions. Additionally, when the monitor is turned on, a message that specifies the optimal display resolution may appear.

4. In the Colors list, click High Color (16 Bit), click Apply, and then click OK.

Set the graphics hardware acceleration to Full in Windows. To do this, use one of the following methods, depending on the version of Windows that is installed.

Windows XP

1. Click Start, click Run, type desk.cpl in the Open box, and then click OK.

2. In the Display Properties window, click Advanced.

3. Click the Troubleshoot tab.

4. Drag the Hardware acceleration slider to Full.

5. Click Apply, and then click OK.

Windows 2000

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

2. In Control Panel, double-click Display.

3. In the Display Properties window, click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced.

4. Click the Troubleshooting tab.

5. Drag the Hardware Acceleration slider to Full.

6. Click OK two times.

Windows 98

1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

2. In Control Panel, double-click System.

3. In the System Properties window, click the Performance tab, and then click Graphics.

4. In the Advanced Graphics Settings window, drag the slider to Full.

5. Click OK.

If Microsoft NetMeeting is running, turn off one or both of the following features:

• Remote Desktop Sharing
• Automatically receive video at the start of each call

These features disable Direct3D functionality in Windows®.

To turn off these features, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the NetMeeting icon in the notification area of the taskbar (Figure 1).

   

   Figure 1: NetMeeting icon

2. On the shortcut menu that appears, click Turn off Remote Desktop Sharing.

3. Try to start WinDVD. If the error message that is mentioned in the "Summary" section appears, continue to step 4.

4. Click Start, click Run, type conf in the Open box, and then click OK.
   Microsoft NetMeeting starts.

5. On the Tools menu, click Options.

6. In the Options window, click the Video tab, and then click to clear the Automatically receive video at the start of each call check box.

7. Click OK to save the changes, and then exit NetMeeting.

1. Obtain the latest graphics driver for the computer from Dell Support.

2. Remove the current graphics driver from the computer:

   1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.

   2. In Control Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs.

   3. In the Currently installed programs list, click the graphics driver. For example, click ATI Display Driver.

   4. Click Change/Remove, and then follow the instructions in the wizard that appears to remove the graphics driver.

3. Restart the computer.

4. Double-click the driver package that you downloaded in step 1, which starts the extraction of the graphics driver.

5. Extract the driver files, and then follow the instructions to install the updated graphics driver.

6. Restart the computer.