"Cannot Locate the DVD-ROM"

[Furiey]

Just downloaded and installed the demo. That works OK, but of course there's no copy protection on that At least now I know that it will run on my PC if I can ever get it to acknowledge that the DVD really is in the drive....

 

[mmichaels1970]

My DVD player seemed to disappear as well every time I installed something. It totally disappeared from "My Computer". However, a reboot brought it back. Not saying this will work for you since you've probably rebooted several times since then. But I figured I'd mention it anyway.

 

[Gregules]

FYI...still had this problem after patch. Went back to the store and swapped my disks out. Game fired right up with new set of disks. If you still have this problem, you might try this beore some kind of firm ware upgrade.

 

[Buck_Satan]

I doubt anyone would find this useful, but what I did, being a XP 64 user (if you are thinking of upgrading your Windows OS for your new, precious 64-bit machine, don't bother, it is not worth the hassle) turn off the "Compatibility mode".

I hope this hasn't already been mentioned.

 

[biotron]

Wow, I just bought the game earlier tonight. I have the CD version, and I am getting the 'reinsert correct CD' error. I have tried both CD's, to no avail. I am not going to try any of the crazy methods people have suggested. In my opinion, I shouldn't have to resort to downloading software that circumvents copy protection to pay a game that I paid $50 very valuable dollars for.

To make a long story short, I am going to get a refund tommorrow.

 

[wright100]

Wow, I just bought the game earlier tonight. I have the CD version, and I am getting the 'reinsert correct CD' error. I have tried both CD's, to no avail. I am not going to try any of the crazy methods people have suggested. In my opinion, I shouldn't have to resort to downloading software that circumvents copy protection to pay a game that I paid $50 very valuable dollars for.

To make a long story short, I am going to get a refund tommorrow.

I got the same error and it worked with the Second CD for me. I've had a variety of errors with it but restarting the ocmputer has always fixed it.

 

[biotron]

Yeah, the disk that I have that is labeled 'disk 2' is just a cab file. It doesn't even get to the multi language startup screen before telling me to switch disks using disk 2. Using disk 1, I get a startup splash screen for a few moments, and the drive activates, you can hear the disk spinning.

I even reinstalled windows completely, and installed Civ 4 as the first program to insure that nothing else was interfering.

The thing I have to wonder is this:

Out of all the people who purchased this game, how many even know what a forum is? Out of those, how many would actually take the effort to sign up, and out of those who will actually take the effort to jump through the rediculous and quasi-legal hoops to get this thing to run?

I'm just trying to imagine the thousands upon thousands of frustrated users out there who don't know the first thing about fixing problems, such as seeking out multiple 3rd party fixes to get the game to agree that it is indeed it's own CD in the drive.

I know that I'm getting my $50 back, and I'm sure in the coming weeks, and right after Christmas, I won't be the only one. Unless they release a downloadable fix by tommorrow afternoon, 2K or Firaxis or whatever conglomerate that created this mess will give me my money back, and they can get an opened box sent back to their warehouse for disposal.

 

[wright100]

Yeah, the disk that I have that is labeled 'disk 2' is just a cab file. It doesn't even get to the multi language startup screen before telling me to switch disks using disk 2. Using disk 1, I get a startup splash screen for a few moments, and the drive activates, you can hear the disk spinning.

I even reinstalled windows completely, and installed Civ 4 as the first program to insure that nothing else was interfering.

The thing I have to wonder is this:

Out of all the people who purchased this game, how many even know what a forum is? Out of those, how many would actually take the effort to sign up, and out of those who will actually take the effort to jump through the rediculous and quasi-legal hoops to get this thing to run?

I'm just trying to imagine the thousands upon thousands of frustrated users out there who don't know the first thing about fixing problems, such as seeking out multiple 3rd party fixes to get the game to agree that it is indeed it's own CD in the drive.

I know that I'm getting my $50 back, and I'm sure in the coming weeks, and right after Christmas, I won't be the only one. Unless they release a downloadable fix by tommorrow afternoon, 2K or Firaxis or whatever conglomerate that created this mess will give me my money back, and they can get an opened box sent back to their warehouse for disposal.

I wonder out of everyone who bought it who bought it in the first week. Me and two friends of mine bought it about a week ago and the game works perfect for all of us. My friend even has integrated graphics and it runs like a dream for him. So maybe u should try an exchange. I usually wait to get games for at least around two weeks. My other rule is i never take the first one in the stack i always get one near the back. Doesn't always help though.

 

[biotron]

I guess I could exchange it, but I bought it yesterday (11-25-2005), and it must be pretty recent because neither disk is labeled with "play disk", they are only number disk 1 and disk 2.

I actually used a seperate drive too, to make sure it wasn't my internal drive. Reconfigured it to ensure that it is the lowest lettered drive. It still does not work.

 

[jklaidlaw]

Hi all
does anyone know if the new patch fixes the problem of the DVD ver.looking for
a CD rom. i handed back my Civ4 to the shop and don't want to go through all the hassle again

 

[Furiey]

The patch makes no difference to the copy protection problem, at least not for me as Civ still refuses to recognise the DVD in the drive when I try to play.

 

[jklaidlaw]

Hi Furiey
Thanks for the info. Do you know if they(firaxis) are going to do something about
our problem

 

[nikebball030]

uhhh yea guys. ive had civ 4 for a while and this is getting to me. and yes i have read alll the other posts in this topic. this is getting to me. different things work for the different comps. all these methods seem to not work for me. 2k needs to like get it fixed and since email and phone are not working for anybody there really is no hope to doing this unless i totally revamp my comp and uninstall all my cd copying like nero, decryptor, shrink...i sort of need those

 

[Furiey]

Sorry, but I have no idea where this issue is in terms of Firaxis' policy for fixing. If I were to hazard a guess however I would say it's pretty low and pessimistically off the list altogether. The reason for my lack of optimism is that the copy protection is put on after the game is produced, and my feeling is that it is probably seen as doing its job and stopping piracy, even though some of us here are unable to play a game we have legally bought as a result.

 

[neilt]

Amazingly my dvd version worked after I used a lens cleaner to clean my drive. It wasn't dirty and it had been working for everything else up to then. But if it works .... so try it if you haven't already

 

[Ryanstein]

Hi all, sorry for those of you that can't get the game working.

Here is the reply that I got from tech support:

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for contacting Take 2 Technical Support.

I have a few steps for you to try but if the problem remains please send a
directx diagnostic report so we can look into the problem further.

Close all background applications by clicking on start, run and type
msconfig. Click on the startup tab and select disable all. Apply then close
and restart the pc as prompted.

Empty the temporary files folder by clicking on start, run and type %temp%.
Click on the Edit menu then Select all and then press delete.

Uninstall the game, then reinstall. If you have any problems manually
uninstall the game.
Open My Computer then open the Local Disk (C
Open the program files folder.
Click on the tools menu then choose folder options
Click on the view tab and tick the box labelled "show hidden files and
folders". Press OK
Open the installshield installation information folder
Search for a folder named {CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3BF-D6E01F4112E8}
Right click on the folder and choose rename. Press the End key on the
keyboard and type the word OLD. Press the enter key
Insert the Civilization IV install CD and open My Computer. Right click on
the CD drive and choose explore,
Locate the setup.exe file and double click.

This will replace and overwrite any missing components that were preventing
the game from being uninstalled normally
To uninstall the game, go to Control Panel>> Add/Remove programs and
highlight the game in the list. Choose change/remove and follow the
onscreen prompts

If at all possible try reinstalling the game on a second drive.

Update both the video card and the sound card drivers, which can be
obtained from the manufacturers web site for the video/sound card.

Run compatibility mode for the game. Right click on the game's shortcut and
select properties. Click on the compatibility tab and run the game in
windows 2000 mode. If that doesnt help try 98/me mode.

If none of the above help please send more information by clicking on
start, run and type dxdiag. Click on save all information save the file to
the desktop and attach it to a reply email.




Please be sure to delete all previous correspondence when replying. This
will help us to process your response in a more timely and efficient manner.

Kind Regards,
Take 2 Technical Support

Try the option above and let me know what works/doesn't work. BTW I didn't use any method above. Email me if you like at ryanstein94@gmail.com and i can try and help you out.

~Ryanstein

 

[St. Bernhard]

I had the same problem, but solved it by exploring the DVD station (properties). Choose "hardware", change the unit to DVD mode. Worked for me, I have a combined CD/DVD ROM/writer. Execute this operation while the game DVD is inserted. This have to be a bug from Firaxis; the DVD ROM should detect that it's dealing with a DVD, not a CD!

 

[wouka]

hi i'm wouka
and i have the same problem
when i put my civilization 4 in HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B
i get this sign
place a Disk or a another one arranged medium
and i don't find the downloading programs except for microsoft
some help would be apppriciated
thank you

 

[Fil4000]

I had the same problem, but solved it by exploring the DVD station (properties). Choose "hardware", change the unit to DVD mode. Worked for me, I have a combined CD/DVD ROM/writer. Execute this operation while the game DVD is inserted. This have to be a bug from Firaxis; the DVD ROM should detect that it's dealing with a DVD, not a CD!

Hi,

somehow I'm not able to do that. It's either deactivate or active, nothing inbetween.... BTW: have a combined DVD/CD-RW drive (type: HT-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4240N).

Civ just prompts me to insert the correct CD-Rom (which having bought the UK-Version) I don't have...

Any hints, anyone?

Cheers,

Fil4000

 

[dropsy]

I had this trouble too with the french dvd version under windows 2000. My dvd is a liteon.
Thanks to this thread, i found anti-blaxx and it seems to work fine now