Odds are you will need the mobility modder to use ATI's off the shelf drivers.
You can get the modder here -
Mobility Modder
Follow the directions carefully. The simple most common reason it does not work is when all the instructions are not followed step by step.
Make sure you get and install the MSXML pack from the same site on XP.
Good luck with it.
You may also want to try out the ATI drivers from Omega Drivers.
Also, be sure to look at BillZBubba's ATI Issues and Settings Recommendations post that is stickied above. You can basically start with just the first post, then make minor tweaks as you like once you get things running stable.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Ok I'll grab the latest omega driver and try it out. I wish there was a laptop equivelent >.< the laptop nVidia site was much more informative, but it may just be what i am used to. I will let you know what happens. I tried my old Wolfenstein Enemy Territory on the laptop too, I get the same result as CoH.
Here's hopin 
Combat Kangaroos, Justice Server. First 50's
Jirra Roo Plant/Storm/Stone/Musculature Controller
Combat Kangaroo Rifle/Energy/Mace/Spiritual Blaster
Kung Fu Kangaroo Martial Arts/Reflexes/Body/Spiritual Scrapper
Tribal Arc Shield/Elec/Mu/Spiritual Tanker
[ QUOTE ]
In my mind, Vista shouldn't of been on here. Sure it runs fine and all, but don't run anything else on top of it. Trying to play COH on it was a little nightmareish. I literally had to play it in safe mode. and even then, lower the graphics scaling when there was more than me on the screen.
I thought, why not. I formatted the thing, put Windows XP Sp3 on there. No more vista, no more of the ridicious bloat that comes with most laptops.
Completely painless install. everything works (even the built in web cam). Lets try City of heroes....
OH my god, wow! I can leave it on regular settings now! Taking off FSAA to make it smoother.
THats where my new issue arrises.
[/ QUOTE ]
Your other option is to do a clean install of Vista on the laptop so that the officially supported drivers work. Vista is/was not the issue here - 2GB is plenty for what you're trying to do. The bloatware on the laptop, as you surmised, was most likely the culprit. Now, since you already put XP back on, I would try the modded drivers others have suggested first, but if that doesn't work, this is another valid option.
This post has been made with full knowledge of the possibility of generating a Vista flame war.
haha well, i aint going to flame anyone on vista, but yeah I know the bloat they put on laptops is awful, that aspire one was dreadful
Combat Kangaroos, Justice Server. First 50's
Jirra Roo Plant/Storm/Stone/Musculature Controller
Combat Kangaroo Rifle/Energy/Mace/Spiritual Blaster
Kung Fu Kangaroo Martial Arts/Reflexes/Body/Spiritual Scrapper
Tribal Arc Shield/Elec/Mu/Spiritual Tanker
Woooohoooo
Success.
The omega drivers installed without a hitch. didn't have to mod or anything.
Now City of Heroes (and W:ET for that matter), play perfectly, not glitching
Its set up almost the exact same way as my desktop and will be a great comfort for when I go back for surgery on my other foot (when that happens, I won't even be able to sit at my computer desk).
Thanks for the tips guys!
Combat Kangaroos, Justice Server. First 50's
Jirra Roo Plant/Storm/Stone/Musculature Controller
Combat Kangaroo Rifle/Energy/Mace/Spiritual Blaster
Kung Fu Kangaroo Martial Arts/Reflexes/Body/Spiritual Scrapper
Tribal Arc Shield/Elec/Mu/Spiritual Tanker
Glad it's all working for you.
If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.
Black Pebble is my new hero.
Ok Tech forum Guru's I am in need of enlightenment!
I can take care of my desktops here without issue, I know exactly whats goin on and how to fix it. I usually go with hardware/software I am familiar with to help make things smoother.
In steps, my laptop. It's nothing fancy, one of those $300 dollar things you can get at most PC warehouses,
Aspire 5515
1.6Ghz amd processor
2Gb (gonna be 3 shortly) of ram
160Gb HDD
x1200 Ati Gfx chip
Windows.... Vista.
In my mind, Vista shouldn't of been on here. Sure it runs fine and all, but don't run anything else on top of it. Trying to play COH on it was a little nightmareish. I literally had to play it in safe mode. and even then, lower the graphics scaling when there was more than me on the screen.
I thought, why not. I formatted the thing, put Windows XP Sp3 on there. No more vista, no more of the ridicious bloat that comes with most laptops.
Completely painless install. everything works (even the built in web cam). Lets try City of heroes....
OH my god, wow! I can leave it on regular settings now! Taking off FSAA to make it smoother.
THats where my new issue arrises.
Every now and then, I see a flicker.. not much but It kinda looks like, for a split second, your seeing the textures underneth the floor, or behind the wall. I saw this before on my Aspire One too, but i didn't keep that thing long enough to mess with it.
Now, I got what I thought was a graphics driver for it, it said Ati , but it was 160 Mb O.o .. But I realise this is the same thing as the nForce drivers I use. contains the chipset drivers and so forth.
My question is. Will the regular most recent Catalyst drivers work on my laptop? or do i need laptop drivers? I know the manufacturers website won't help me as they only support vista for the laptop, I had to go to the component manufacturers for drivers.
I would like to grab the most recent omega drivers for Ati, Are they my best bet?
Thanks for reading!
Combat Kangaroos, Justice Server. First 50's
Jirra Roo Plant/Storm/Stone/Musculature Controller
Combat Kangaroo Rifle/Energy/Mace/Spiritual Blaster
Kung Fu Kangaroo Martial Arts/Reflexes/Body/Spiritual Scrapper
Tribal Arc Shield/Elec/Mu/Spiritual Tanker