Help! Program cannot locate CD?

[protista]

We installed the program, including the DX9.0c.

When we try to run the program, it gives a message "cannot locate the CD"?

We are assuming the program is looking for the "Play" (#2) CD?

Any help greatly appreciated!!

Protista

 

[rob.derosa]

try the other cd? lol

 

[Vael]

Yeah, I've read you need the install CD.

 

[Goombaz]

You do have... the actual CD's right?

DISREGARD BELOW THIS LINE IF YOU HAVE THE ACTUAL PROGRAM:

If you downloaded it I will just say this. This forum is linked to the official Civ 4 website, and would be a poor choice of places to ask what to do with a "creatively acquired" copy of Civ 4.

 

[MeteorPunch]

The CDs are mislabled. :shakehead The Play CD is actually not the play CD.

 

[FlyPelican]

No. CD2 is labelled as the play disk. You need to insert CD1 (Install) Disk for some reason.

Again, did anyone get there fold-outs in a foreign language?

 

[paralipsis]

If you downloaded it I will just say this. This forum is linked to the official Civ 4 website, and would be a poor choice of places to ask what to do with a "creatively acquired" copy of Civ 4.

Copy-protection, of pretty much every flavour, has a nasty habit of interfering with some users ability to run their legally purchased games. It happened to me once with Knights of the Old Republic. Depends on your CD/DVD drive in combination with your other hardware.

When it happens, it really sucks. And what's worse, when you ask for help people assume, or at least imply, that you pirated the game

 

[Mankster]

I had the same problem. The disks are labeled Disk1/Install and Disk2/Play. Both are used during the install process. The manual says to put in Disk2/Play to play the game. This results in the error posted above. The game will only start with Disk1/Install in the drive. The manual and disk labels must be wrong.

 

[ljknight 5]

F *** mine wont play either

 

[crazybeard]

I hate to say this, but this is frequently a sign that you have a pirated edition.

On the other hand, since there are two CDs, you may simply have the wrong one in your drive.

 

[ljknight 5]

this is the worse thing ever

 

[Goombaz]

Oh I wasn't implying that anything bad would happen to him. It would just kind of be embarassing There is about 0 chance he would have any legal trouble. He wouldn't get any help at any rate.

But yeah, after I posted that I saw the bug report about the install disks so it is moot anyhow.

EDIT: Yes, it is good that the piracy didn't start before release. Post release piracy is, honestly, as inevitable as the morning sun. That is really all a game can ask for is that it not be pirated BEFORE it comes out, so I would say that battle is already won.

 

[Dave22]

This seems fairly bad. Has anyone who had this problem been able to fix it? Is it just mislabeled disks, or is it a deeper problem?

 

[ainwood]

Moderator Action: Moved to tech support.

 

[wonderpug]

Like paralipsis said, sometimes copy protection is to blame. I couldn't get the game to read my discs, and I discovered that my DVD drive was set to "Slave" by accident, something that SecuROM has issues with. Changing the jumpers made it so the drive had no trouble reading the disc.

If that's not your issue, here's a SecuROM troubleshooting article that didn't help me, but may have your fix:

Some systems may encounter various conflicts with the SecuROM copy protection that is placed on the Half Life 2 program disk(s).

If you encounter a message that is similar to (but not limited to) one of the following:

"No disk inserted"
"Wrong disk inserted"
"Unable to authenticate disk within time limit"

this may be related to a conflict between your system and SecuROM.


1. Use MSCONFIG to close background applications

Before starting the installation go on the desktop to START/RUN and type in "msconfig". When the menu appears, click on the GENERAL tab, if it is not already at the front. Under STARTUP SELECTION, select SELECTIVE STARTUP, and UNCHECK the selection LOAD STARTUP ITEMS. Click APPLY and then OK, and reboot the system and retry the installation.

At any time, you can always go back into the MSCONFIG menu to change back to NORMAL STARTUP, or SELECTIVE STARTUP and replace the checkmark next to LOAD STARTUP ITEMS.


2. DMA setting on the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives

Windows 98

Right-click on the My Computer icon and select Properties.
Click the Device Manager tab and click the plus sign next to the CD-ROM entry.
Double-click on your CD-ROM drive.
Click the Settings tab on the CD-ROM Properties window.
Change the DMA setting. If it is checked then uncheck it. If it is unchecked then check it.
You may need to restart your computer for the change to take affect.

Windows XP/2000

Right-click on the My Computer icon and select Properties.
Click the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
Go down the list and find IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.
Double-click on Primary IDE Channel.
Click the Advanced Settings tab.
From the Transfer Mode drop Down menu, select
DMA if available and click OK.
If DMA is already selected Select PIO.
Repeat steps 4-6 for the Secondary IDE Channel.

Note: If changing these settings does not resolve the problem you may want to set them back to their original settings.


3. Update firmware for CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive

Some manufacturers have resolved this issue with firmware upgrades for the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. Contact either the computer or CD-ROM/DVD-ROM manufacturer for the firmware upgrade and instructions on applying this upgrade.

This problem can also result from conflicts with outdated or incompatible driver software for the sound or video card. Always be sure that the computer has the latest drivers for the video card and sound card. Drivers are frequently updated to keep the hardware current and to fine tune performance.

To find the brand and model of the sound and video cards as well as the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM:
- Click the Start button, choose Settings, and then Control Panel.
- Double-click the System icon.
- Click the Device Manager tab.
- Double-click the Display Adapters icon, then the icon of the listed device.
- Make a note of the name and manufacturer of the device.
- Double-click the Sound, video and game controller"s icon then the icon of the listed device.
- Make a note of the name and manufacturer of the device.


4. Do you have emulation software or a virtual drive installed?

If you have emulation software or a related virtual drive, such as Alcohol 120%, Daemon Tools, or CloneCD, installed you may need to either disable or completely uninstall this program or software as these types of applications are know to have conflicts with SecuROM.


5. Update the sound and video drivers

Driver software is generally available for free as a download on the Web site of the card manufacturer. The particular Web site can be located by a Web search, although domain names are often the name of the manufacturer itself (just as VU Games is found at www.vugames.com). There are also general driver sites such as http://www.windrivers.com and http://www.driverzone.com.

When a driver file is found that is the latest for the particular model of card, select it for download. A window will come up asking what to do with the file; select Save it to disk. Find a place on your hard drive to download the driver software; be sure to create a new folder to contain the driver software. After the download, go into the driver software folder in the hard drive and double-click on the executable to extract the other files. There will be at least one README file with instructions on how to install the drivers. These directions are brief, and relatively simple to follow, but are extremely precise, so read and follow the instructions carefully.

For further information on how to update the Video and Sound drivers, please contact the manufacturer of the computer or the specific hardware manufacturer.

6. Disable joystick port settings on sound card (for Windows 98/98SE only)

This issue may also be caused by the joystick port settings on some soundcards conflicting with the copy protection software. Please follow the instructions below to disable the joystick port.

- Right-click on My Computer.
- Left-click on Properties.
- Click the + next to Sound, Video, and Game Controllers
- Click on the sound card.
- Click on Properties.
- Click on Settings.
- Put a check in the disable "Joystick port" box.
- Click on OK.
- Start the game.

This will disable the Game Port on the computer. If there is a controller plugged in it will now be disabled. To enable the Game Port for other games redo the above instructions and recheck disable "Joystick port" box. This will not affect any USB controllers. Updating the drivers for the sound card will most likely solve this issue also but this will tell us if in fact the Game Port is the culprit.

 

[protista]

Thank you for the detailed information!

We have purchased every version of Civ since the very first(Circa 1990?)! We do not copy software, nor would we. We do get upset when copy protection interferes with our use of a purchased program!!
Thanks to your help, we have civ up and running!!

 

[insydr]

I'm having the same problem... tried all your troubleshooting tips but no dice. And I can't change the jumpers since it's a laptop drive.

Anyone else find another way to fix this? I'm pretty annoyed that securom is preventing me from using the software that I PAID FOR.

 

[Irk'd]

I'm not having this problem myself but I was able to duplicate it by accident. What I'm looking for was a work around for the rendering error and as a last ditch effort tried running in compatibility mode.

When I did that (Win 2000 compatibility mode), the launcher gave me the error your getting. So, if your runnin' in compatibility mode that might be your issue. If not, good luck with it, I know I need it for my problem.

 

[insydr]

Nope, no compatibility settings whatsoever.

What annoys me the most is that if I was a cheapskate pirate and I chose to download this game, I'd probably be playing it right now instead of staring at a "cannot find CD" error screen. Way to go, copy protection jackasses!

 

[AlecTavi]

I'm having the same problem... tried all your troubleshooting tips but no dice. And I can't change the jumpers since it's a laptop drive.

Anyone else find another way to fix this? I'm pretty annoyed that securom is preventing me from using the software that I PAID FOR.

I too have been having this problem on a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop. I solved it after rebooting Windows, having my hotpluggable CD drive in the entire time. Hope that helps!