PC problem..anyone have this happen to them before?

[Scoottr]

I know this is tech, but I need some eyes to help me diagnoes the issue. I've had Civ 4 BTS and all on this pc for years now. All the sudden had a problem and tried to reinstall and fix it.

The game intalls up until I have to put in the 2nd disk. It then freezes up. Same thing happens with Diablo 2 now (thought my Civ disk was bad). This all started when loaded up Civ 4 started the mod Final Frontier. Didn't like it so exited to main menu. After that everytime I loaded Civ4 I would end up with an advanced start. Unclicked advanced start and all that. Finally decided I needed to uninstall. So Uninstalled BTS, then Warlords, then tried to uninstall Civ 4 vanilla. All this was done via Add/Remove programs. But I got some Run.dll error saying I couldn't uninstall Civ 4. So I hard deleted the folder in the C drive.


Now I can't install anything that requires a second disk. Civ 4 freezes up when it asks for the 2nd disk as does Diable II. So I bought a new DVD drive thinking that would fix it. INstallled the drivers. Still the same issue. The disks load fine on my wife's PC, just not mine.

Asked the guys at Microcenter when I was there and they thought it was the hardware.

So after I install the 1st disk of civ4 I have an icon on my pc for civ 4. Click it and I get ...Failed Loading XML fileASSETS//XML\GameInfo/CIV4Playeroptioininfos.xml

I checked and the game is not listed in my ADd/Remove options to get rid of the remaining bits from the failed install. So I have to hard delete it again.

Anyone have any recollection of this happening to them?

 

[Racsoviale]

If I recall correctly the game creates a directory in documents-my games, maybe delete that if you havent already. I dont think it removes that after a removal/uninstall.

 

[Scoottr]

Deleted that out and still having the issue. Even downloaded SP 3 again for XP. Soooo frustrated.

any thoughts out there or anyone had this happen to their pc before?

Its weird, it is like the game thinks it is already loaded on the Pc when I try to reinstall. But then just gets hung up and goes to blank screen when it asks for the second disk. To even get that far I have to Explore the CD drive and clikc on Setup to get it rolling at all.

 

[Dhaulagiri]

I'm not great with computers but I recently installed an old game and learned a way to do it that might help. Instead of letting windows decide where to install it, chose something simple like C:\games\(game name). The default location it puts newly installed games can confuse it with older games. Worth a try.

 

[Scoottr]

I think it isn't so much the location as it is the PC isn't recognizing the 2nd disk when it is put in the drive. When I do it locks up and goes to a white screen. Have to hard shutdown from that point.

Really bizarre how the Civ4 Mod would cause all this to happen.

Anyone know how hard it is to reinstall windows? I think i have the disks and wonder if just reinstalling over the current windows would put this component back into the PC. Does one have to wipe the hard drive to reinstall windows?

Thanks to all for posting suggestions on this!

 

[Willem]

Asked the guys at Microcenter when I was there and they thought it was the hardware.

That would be my guess as well, especially since the same thing is happening to Diablo 2. Your disc drive is could be dying. It could have something to do with Install Shield as well, it might have become corrupted on your system somehow.

 

[Willem]

Does one have to wipe the hard drive to reinstall windows?

That's the best bet. Windows doesn't fix squat if you just reinstall over an existing version. The only way to be sure you repair a problem is to start from scratch. If you do wipe your drive and start over, you should first make a small partion for your C: drive, like about 25-30 gig, and install your OS there. Use the other partition for all your games etc. That way if anything goes wrong with your OS, the rest of your data on the other partition is still secure. It also helps with security since most viruses will only target your C: drive.

 

[theskibum]

I recently had something similar happen to me. Not on installs, but any game using a lot of calculations (Civ4, Galactic Civ2, Neverwinter Nights even) would freeze my entire machine and the only way to get out was to power it off.

I eliminated my video, sound and network cards, eliminated RAM chips. I blew all the dust out of my machine ran as much Spyware removal tools and Anti-virus software as possible. Even tested CPU temperature and fan airflow, all to no avail.

Finally I thought motherboard or processor was dying, but before buying new ones I wiped my harddrive completely clean and re-installed Windows (using XP Home). Its been 3 weeks and no issues. Slowly re-installing software and drivers as I need them.

I think eventually Windows can't take the constant virus/malware beating and enough gets corrupted that you have to wipe it out and start from scratch.

I second the above poster to partition your HD for your OS and games. Use a "zero writing" software to wipe out your drive. I use "Kill Disk Free Version" which I believe you can still download and write to a CD or even a 3.5" floppy (very small program). put the disc in and set your setup options to read from disk first and run 2 or 3 passes to make sure all info is zeroed.

 

[Scoottr]

Well it wasn't the hardware. I replaced that and still had the problem.

Ended up reinstalling windows on the hard drive, which wiped it, and now it works.

Something got messed up in the software it seems. Gonna stay away from that mod though, not sure why or how it would have messed things up so bad but I don't think it was coincindence.

Thank you to all for the advice!