COTN wont start

[ausbeastie]

I have downloaded COTN demo and when I try to run it a sub window comes up saying it has a problem and do I want to send a report to Microsoft :(

[ausbeastie]

Herewith copy of dxdiag file

[Manni]

PHIL WALKER is right, the drivers are old.

@ausbeastie

Please confirm for ident-reasons, if yours is a desktop or laptop pc!

[ausbeastie]

this is a brand new desk top PC

[Manni]

Thanks for the confirmation!

Like Phil Walker said.........do freshen up you graphics-driver and the sounddriver too and have another try with the game.

Have a look here and DO COMPARE THE TYPE-NUMBER with your notebook, make sure that it is right :

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?x=5&dlc=en&lc=en&product=406245&lang=en&cc=us&y=2&os=228

there is a graph-driver for vidia and sounddriver for Realtek AC97 Audio

[ausbeastie]

have done the updates and herewith new dxdiag file .. still getting same message:(

[Manni]

in your 1st dxdiag the driver-version was 53.05

following the link I gave, there was version 53.16 for the Compaq .

Now in your latest dxdiag you have version 61.77......where did you get that from?
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Your resolution is: Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit), set it to 1024x168 (16bit) for a try.
Before starting the game switch off virus-guard and firewall if they are on.

Somewhere in SYSTEM you are able to turn off that "sub-window" following the report to Microsoft.
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Here is your RAM, according to dxdiag: Memory: 512MB RAM Page File: 280MB used, 967MB available

Change the Page File-Size to 1200 MB..........min AND max ........do a reboot afterwards and IMPORTANT! a defrag of C .

[Keith]

Did you uninstall your previous Nvidia graphics driver BEFORE you installed the new driver? If not, uninstall the drivers, both if necessary and reinstall the newer driver.

Try using a lower resolution on your desktop as Manni mentioned. Such as 1024x768, or even 800x600. You may want to try using a lesser number of colors and see if that helps. Try using a 16-bit color mode instead of 32-bit.

If you can get the demo running at all, try lowering all the video effectes and settings in the games OPTION menu to minimum. Try turning off the sound to see if the game still won't run. If it does run, try increasing the settings one at a time until the game crashes.

[Manni]

Did you uninstall your previous Nvidia graphics driver BEFORE you installed the new driver?
I have stopped saying this because most people don`t do it anyway

[ausbeastie]

Many thanks to all of you for the help .. did all you told me then discovered that in the Properties, Settings, Advanced, Troubleshooting, the Hardware accelerator was at ZERO .. moved to top and we're in business .. if you come to Australia I owe you all a beer .. off to Melbourne tomorrow morning for one week .. so from sunny Queensland many many thanks

[Manni]

Keith is right becasue some of the old driver routines may still be in there if not uninstalled first. Talking first hand on this as I tried it the other way first myself and it didn't work, so while it doesn't always happen it is the right way to do it. IIRC, it is also mentioned before you install the new drivers as well for this reason.[/FONT]
I totally agree to you Phil!

But when it comes to changing drivers most users "hate to come into safe-mode".....it gives them the impression of "pc is broken". In addition to that they feel uncomfortable to run any driver-cleaning-tools at this stage.
Both ATI and NVIDIA recommend a clean which is mentioned further down the driver pages, but most don`t read and follow the advice.

Anyway...........there is another happy CotN-player "DOWN UNDER"!
Let`s all go down for beer to "Ayers Rock"