YET ANOTHER "Please insert correct CD-ROM"

[kromor]

I spent $50 yesterday buying a legal copy of Civ4 and after about 6 hours of troubleshooting, I can't get past "Please insert the correct CD-ROM" error message. I have the 2 CD US version. Here is what I have tried:

1. multiple re-installs. Tried installing on both hard disks I have.
2. Upgraded firmware on my DVD drive. Went from Philips DVD8631 G21 -> G30. Since the upgrade, I can Explore the CD1 contents.
3. Multiple reboots
4. Tried both PIO and DMA settings on IDE controller.
5. Removed numerous programs including PowerDVD which stared the DVDLauncher background process
6. Tried using both CDs. The first CD automatically runs and I get the error when I select Play at the Civ4 splash screen.
7. Tried using "Windows 2000" compatibility for the application.
8. I have a high-end Dell XPS 3.6 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, ATI x850 graphics card, etc. Other games run lightning fast at full options.
9. Applied patch 1.52 to Civ4.
10. sd4hide version 1.11 did not fix it.
11. Using msconfig to disable all and reboot did not fix it.

The DVD drive is good. I've installed many programs with it as recently as last week.

What is so frustrating is if I had a pirated copy, I would be playing now. I understand the companies need to protect their software from piracy, but when legal copies don't work, they ENCOURAGE it!!

 

[Russe]

Well, what is keeping you from downloading pirated version in addition to you legal one?

 

[Bernout1]

Well, what is keeping you from downloading pirated version in addition to you legal one?

Kromor, I had this exact same problem and went through a few rounds with 2KGames tech support without any solution. There is little doubt in my mind that if I had tried another ROM drive it would probably have worked. However, since the drive only had a problem with Civ 4, the easier solution was just to get the no-CD version of the executable. It took me about 10 minutes to find and download the new .exe and a WinRAR program and I was good to go. I should probably have done that far sooner given all the grief I went through.

As a paying customer I felt perfectly justified doing that just so I could play the game.

Bernout

 

[Gervy]

I'm getting this message too. What's weird is that I've used the same CD in several PC's I own. This time on a brand new laptop that I formatted and reinstalled Windows on.

If anyone has a cure, please let me know.



Gervy

 

[Yagmoth]

I do not know how to actually fix this issue in XP; however, this is a workaround for me (I dont have any civ4 add ons) on with service pack 3 and all microsoft updates:

Change the compatibility mode for CivilizationIV exe to Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5).

This seems to bypass whatever is causing the cd to ghost inside the rom which has been hypothesized to be starforce drivers, secdrv problems, virtual drive problems, and such.

Good luck.

 

[Enphorser]

You are a genius Yagmoth. I spent hours researching how to fix this and nothing! Then with just a couple of clicks I can play again. Thanks.

 

[Bragre_Hunter]

I do not know how to actually fix this issue in XP; however, this is a workaround for me (I dont have any civ4 add ons) on with service pack 3 and all microsoft updates:

Change the compatibility mode for CivilizationIV exe to Windows NT 4.0 (Service Pack 5).

This seems to bypass whatever is causing the cd to ghost inside the rom which has been hypothesized to be starforce drivers, secdrv problems, virtual drive problems, and such.

Good luck.

Unfortunately I'm having the same problem with my copy of civ iv. Anyone know how to fix this problem? I'm starting to think that I´ve lost R$ 90,00!!!!