Help! I cannot install games from CD/DVD's onto my computer!

[mitchafi]

Well, a while back when I bought UT2K4 I was having problems installing it. Everytime during installation it would crash (not always at the same spot) and tell me that the disk was scratched or the data could not be read, or some nonsense. After numerous tries, it somehow worked so I was satisfied (sorta). Well, when I reformatted I had to reinstall again and now I'm getting the same problem. UT2K4 (DVD) will not install from either of my drives (Nec-2500A, Lite -On 52x/16x). I thought that maybe it was a bad DVD disc, so I exchanged it at Best Buy. Nope, new disc still doesn't work. So I decided to try to install another game, Asheron's Call 2 (CD's). It gives me very similar errors and won't install. So, what is the deal here. My winXP install is only a day old and I always make sure to disable my anti-virus and firewall before I install. I even tried installing in diagnostic mode (only neccesary applications running in background) but it didn't help. I also made an image of the original UT2K4 DVD and got the same error so I don't think that fixes the problem. Help would be much appreciated, thanks.

 

[mitchafi]

anyone have any ideas? I'm dieing here. Must...game

 

[DaveSimmons]

Are you running any no-cd cracks or virtual drive software? Some of that can cause copy-prtection software to choke on a disc.

Are you overclocking anything?

Have you ever used RAM testing software to check your memory?

Have you set the master / slave jumpers properly on your drives?

Have you checked for a loose IDE cable?

Are your CPU, case temps OK?

 

[janagan]

Few things u can try

1, Try playing a audio cd or dvd and see if it works properly (i.e. fast forwarding skipping e.t.c)
2, Go to device manager and see if it reports any problems
3, Open up pc and pust the IDE cables in to the drives just to make sure.

 

[mitchafi]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Are you running any no-cd cracks or virtual drive software? Some of that can cause copy-prtection software to choke on a disc.

Are you overclocking anything?

Have you ever used RAM testing software to check your memory?

Have you set the master / slave jumpers properly on your drives?

Have you checked for a loose IDE cable?

Are your CPU, case temps OK?

All stock settings.

Yes, Memtest86 ran for quite a while with no errors.

Yes, master and slave settings are correct, I'll double check though.

Haven't checked that but I highly doubt it is the problem, I'll check momentarily.

Idle temps as reported by asus probe are generally around 32 MB/35 CPU.

 

[borntodie]

To make a LONG story short, check your RAM. If you have multiple sticks it should be an easy process... otherwise you'll have to figure out another way to acquire one. If you got a moment read my novel below.

I had the same problem recently. Originally it only happened during installations via CD. I replaced the IDE cable which seemed to improve things a little bit but the problems still occurred. I was also getting the same type of errors when installing large downloaded installers for games/programs. After attempting to install a game that spanned 4 CDs I got fed up with things and decided to remove my RAM stick by stick. I have 3 of them: 1 x Kingston ValueRAM 512MB PC2100 and 2 x Kingston ValueRAM 256MB PC2100. Sure enough, with the 512MB stick removed I no longer experienced ANY installation errors. Best part is Kingston carries a lifetime warranty so I just cross-shipped a replacement and everything is once again grand.

 

[mitchafi]

OK well I just shut down and checked all of those things and everything was fine, no loose IDE cables and no incorrect jumper settings. I'm going to try installing regularly now, then if that fails (which I presume it will) I'll start taking out DIMM's. Thanks for all the help so far everyone.

 

[tizodq]

i was having the same problem with my drive.......i just did a clean install of xp and then it worked fine. i couldn't really get any other solutions to work.

 

[tkistre]

I had a similar, weird issue before. I had trouble installing "Medal of Honor", "UT2003" and "BF1942." I had no problem installing other programs, mainly games spanding over one CD. I was able to eventually install them, but then when I started to try and play the game, it insisted I did not have the correct CD in. After the install, if you looked at the CDRom drive in "My Computer" the icon for the game would be the "Windows" blank page icon, instead of the icon for the game. I had to put the NO-CD cracks just to play the games. Otherwise, my system ran fine. About 6 months later, my motherboard died. After replacing the motherboard using all same hardware, including cables, all the games loaded and worked normal. I think the motherboard was having some problems from the get-go, and that was the only sign it showed. May be a long shot, but thought I'd share. Good luck!

 

[mitchafi]

Well I just tried using one DIMM and window's wouldn't even boot. I Tested each Dimm individually in each slot (3 slots). I couldn't get into windows at all with just one Dimm inserted. Usually just K8V screen flashed and then black screen. The only way I can get into windows is with both DIMMS inserted in slots 1 and 2. Is this normal...?

 

[borntodie]

Hrmm since I don't own a K8V I'm not totally sure. It doesn't sound like it should be right but you never know. There is a thread dedicated to the K8V here in the forums. (http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=29&threadid=1226300&enterthread=y

After reading through the thread linked above I noticed this.

Originally posted by: JetBlack69
I SOLVED MY PROBLEM!!!!!!!!

Everywhere I read in the manual said to start populating the memory banks with the blue bank, then fill up to the yellow. Anyhoo, that never worked. Then I put one in the middle yellow bank and all of a sudden, the moniter gets a signal!!!!! IT POST!!!!!! Then, I put the other stick in the other yellow bank and it found it!!!!!!!!

I'm installing windows as we speak!!!!

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=29&threadid=1226300&STARTPAGE=2&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

... and...

Originally posted by: JetBlack69

Quote
Originally posted by: Markfw900

Quote
Originally posted by: JetBlack69
<a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT6464Z40B&amp;cat=RAM">http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT6464Z40B&amp;cat=RAM</a>
That is the memory I bought.

Please read my post. I am fair sure that if you got good PC3500 CAS2, your problems would go away.

I actually solved my problem, I put the memory in banks 2 and 3. Thanks though.

Hopefully, that will help.

 

[mitchafi]

Well, I had each DIMM in the middle slot and neither seemed to boot, but I'll try again.

 

[mitchafi]

Nope, simply will not boot with one DIMM, regardless of the slot or which DIMM it is.

 

[borntodie]

What brand, model, size?

 

[mitchafi]

2 512 mb sticks of Mushkin PC3500 Level One 2-3-3 (Dual Pack). Rest is in the sig.

 

[mitchafi]

Just tried a new IDE cable instead of my round one, no luck Going to run memtest tonite with both sticks in. If I get errors I'll try 1 stick at a time. How long is acceptable for memtest86 set to all tests to determine if the memory is bad or not? Also, I'm gonna run it at 2-3-3-6, since it is 2-3-3-?. Does 6 sound about right for that last number?

 

[borntodie]

If you're having problems it's best to just try a more conservative number... try 2-3-3-7.

 

[mitchafi]

True...how long should I run memtest for?

 

[mitchafi]

At 2-3-3-10 and 2.7 DDR Voltage with both DIMM's in memtest86 errored immediately on the first test - 72 errors. I'm going to sleep now so I'll try some new things tomorrow like one DIMM at a time. Would upping the voltage cause it not to error perhaps? I could relax the timings more as well but then that defeats the purpose since it won't be running at what it's guaranteed to run at. At least i've heard mushkin is a reliable and decent company and they will cross-ship ram for RMA's if it's neccesary.

 

[mitchafi]

Alright, I'm getting really confused. As I said in my last post, last night I was getting tons of errors immediately on the first test (both DIMM's in, 2-3-3-10, 2.7v). Today I'm trying to get down to business and figure out what's wrong, so I ran memtest86 again with the same settings as last night, and got no errors on the first test. What is the deal with that? Why would I get errors last night but not now? Then out of curiousity I changed the settings to 2-3-3-6, still no errors. So then I removed one DIMM leaving a 512 MB stick in the first DIMM slot. Memtest froze after getting through about 15% of the first test. I'd also like to note that I can't get into windows using either DIMM individually, regardless of the slot. Sometimes I get to the BIOS screen If I'm lucky, but never to the OS. Most of the time the monitor doesn't even pick up that the computer is on at all. So, is this faulty memory? If I were to RMA it do I RMA to newegg or to Mushkin directly? The memory seems to work fine when both sticks are in, but they should be able to run alone individually shouldn't they? Getting the errors with both sticks in still confuses the hell out of me, and now I can't even reproduce that problem, but I figure it should never ever error not even a one time thing, so might as well RMA...any thoughts?

 

[sandorski]

Try this!!

1) Put the disk in the drive

2) kill the Autorun window

3) Goto Windows Explorer and Explore the cd

4) Find Setup.exe and doubleclick

5) Install

I've had to use that method on a few games now(TOCA Race Drivver 2, Far Cry, Enter the Matrix)

 

[mitchafi]

Both of the games that I was having problems with just installed flawlessly. The last things I changed in bios before they installed correctly were turn off onboard audio and a few other irrelevant settings. Either some of them were more relevant then I thought or it just started working out of the blue. Now I'm still worried about my memory, why my PC wont boot with only one DIMM, and why Memtest86 gave me errors previously but doesn't anymore.

 

[Fern]

I tried to view your rig, but couldn't (?).

Anyway, don't rule out the psu. It may be flucky. Had a bad one give me install errors like yours when using my cd-rom. Maybe it got too hot and the wattage dropped, giving all kinds of probs