I don't know what this means

[Jennikat]

I apologize if I inadvertently posted an incomplete thread -
I have been playing Civ IV, game of the year edition and off for several years - recently, it started locking up and I had to use task manager to exit the program - now it has started to open a blue screen - this does not always happen when playing the game, it may happen later, but only if had been playing Civ IV -

I have a Dell XPS laptop and use Windows 7 - recently my hard drive died and I had to have it replaced but the blue screen bot preceded and followed the repair - I don't know much about computers so I hope this is enough information - I did review the technical support threads and don't think this problem was mentioned

 

[Seraiel]

Blue screens are usually errors of your Windows and Driver configuration and have nothing specifically to do with CIV. What could i. e. have happened is / was, that your system overheated because CIV uses the processor and grafics cards harder than windows itself does. DELL will help you read and analyze that bootscreen if you call their support, normally there should stand a name of a file that crashed and Windows also has a crash log and crash-dumps (if enabled) that can help track down the error.

Hth.

 

[Jennikat]

thank you for the information - I had been working with Dell for a week and a half to stop the blue screen, and they also indicated that a game would not cause this, but I kept seeing the temporal relationship - I will call them back with the overheating information -

I now have another problem: I am unable to play the game because I keep getting this error message: Civilization 4.exe System Error - The program can't start because D3DX9_32.DLL is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

I did not see an option to install, so I tried to uninstall the program, but now when I tried to uninstall, it kept acting as though I was trying to install - it would ask if I wanted to change my computer, I said yes, then got this error message: An error
[-5004 : 0X80041142] has occurred while running set up.
Please make sure you have finished any previous set and closed their applications. If the problem still occurs, please contact your vendor, Firaxis Games [##DS_PRODUCT_URL##]

any further suggestions will be appreciated

 

[Furiey]

I now have another problem: I am unable to play the game because I keep getting this error message: Civilization 4.exe System Error - The program can't start because D3DX9_32.DLL is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem.

You need to update you directx 9c from Microsoft here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35

 

[Jennikat]

Thanks again - it's really hard doing much beyond basics without knowing much about computers, so your help is greatly appreciated

 

[Jennikat]

I thought it was going to work, but after several turns, the screen goes black several times and then the programs locks up - I still want to uninstall it, but it won't let me because of the error noticed I mentioned before - I don't mind purchasing the game again after I talk to Dell - I did notice that my computer was hot when the black screen was coming up - can you think of any way I can uninstall the game?

 

[Seraiel]

I'm somehow getting the impression that your windows installation is somehow screwed (very often the case from inexperienced users) .

You install this, you install that, you never clean up, and at some point the system is full of so much "garbage" that it refuses to work.

The message you got indicates that CIV was still running when you tried to alter it.

Usual way to uninstal is System Command -> Programs -> Uninstall -> Select remove -> Ok.

A good way to fixing a broken Windows Installation is the Program "Registry Mechanic" and things that also can help are the Programs CCleaner and TuneUp.

It's probably best though you set up Windows completely new and then only choose CCleaner to remove fragments from your harddrive after having uninstalled a program.

Also: Never install something you don't trust, always choose "custom install" and read what the installation says to you when there are checkboxes.