Help (?)
 

Listen, I didn't see any other subforum for this, so here it goes:

I got The Sims 2 and FIFA 2005 for christmas, right? So, yesterday, I installed FIFA 2005. Rebooted the machine and all that, and, when I click on the shortcut to play the game, a screen, smaller than the whole desktop appears with the fifa logo. So far so good, but suddenly that XP error message ("fifa2005.exe found a problem (...)") appears and that "splash screen" disappears and the game doesn't open, of course...
I tried installing The Sims 2 later, rebooted, etc. and the same thing happened: splash screen, error message, splash screen closes.

Does anybody knows how to solve this, or at least why it happens?

Computer Specs:

• AMD Athlon 2000+ (1.7 GHz)
• 512MB RAM
• CDROM LG (52x)
• CDRW/DVD-ROM LG (52x 32x 52x 16x)
• nVidia GeForce FX 5200 (128MB w/ latest drivers)
• HD w/ 40GB, 1 GB free
• Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Compilation 2600.xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158 )
• DirectX 9.0c

Re: Help (?)
 

sound`s like a copy protection error, try and download the update`s for the game if it still doesn`t work not you might need to download the unwrapped (cracked) executables to be able to play.
Dubb

[edit]
also check that there`s no debugger running on your system.
[/edit]

Re: Help (?)
 

Please do not encourage the use of cracks and or warez on this forums.

Thanks.



@$eu_crey$$on
No clue why you get the error. I dont have those games.
But most of the time that weird stuff happens its driver problems.
Try getting all the latest drivers for your hardware.
And check the games in questions forums or tech sites.
Some games do have problems with some hardware.

Re: Help (?)
 

Why would I use cracks? I payed for the freakin' game, I want to use it as it is!

Oh, and BTW: I already have the latest drivers...

Re: Help (?)
 

sorry about that just as a last resort.

Re: Help (?)
 

Ok, I've just received an awnser from consumer support of EA Brazil, they told me that because my sound card is onboard, and has old drivers, I can't run FIFA 2005. They told me to update my motherboard drivers and then update my sound card drivers.

1- By motherboard drivers, do they mean BIOS?
2- If this doesn't work, will I have to buy an off-board sound card?

BTW, I have an ASUS A7A266-E motherboard.

Re: Help (?)
 

i think by updating your motherboard they mean to flash your bios goto www.asus.com & download the flash utility & the updated bios make sure you have a windows bootdisk to boot into dos. Then download the updated onboard sound drivers.
p.s. funny thing my motherboard is an ASUS AZN266-VM

Re: Help (?)
 

If that's what they mean, I'll have to get a new sound card, 'cause I already have the latest BIOS (1012) for my motherboard... F*ck, I didn't see this coming... There goes my savings account...

Re: Help (?)
 

you can buy a simple sound card (16 bit, or 128 bit even!?) for a few bucks... don't go into an expensive one, i mean, they all give sound and for the avarage use its not even noticable! :D

Re: Help (?)
 

Waaaaaait a minute - the BIOS is the BIOS, and as such has nothing to do with your on-board sound chip. (Ok, you can activate/deactivate it using a BIOS setting, but that's about it).

Didn't the mainboard come with a CD that contained chipset drivers, drivers for the onboard IDE controller, drivers for the onboard USB functionality - and for the onboard soundchip?

Let me check something... *goes browsing*

A-ha. I just saw that mainboard uses the ALi MAGIK 1 chipset and comes equipped with a C-Media 8738 onboard audio chip (optionally).
Check this page:
http://www.asus.it/support/download/...266-E&Type=All

You'll find links to both C-Media and non-C-Media onboard audio drivers... the ones for the non-C-Media version include a driver explicitly designed for WinXP, the ones for the C-Media Audio don't. In that case, however, I guess you can use the Windows 2000 driver, since both are based on the WDM (Windows Driver Model) architecture - unlike Win9X drivers, which are VxD drivers.

Good luck - sounds like you'll need it...

Re: Help (?)
 

Hi $eu crey$$on, in the past my friend had the same problem with fifa 2004, and he use WinXP+AMD Athlon+Geforce too.
if the new sound card still not enough try this below;

This my suggestion :
1> The simply one; quickly press enter when the logo appear, if still didn't work continue to below;
2> Go to 'control panel' - 'sound, speech, and audio devices' - 'sound and audio devices' - the second 'advanced' button - 'performance' - and move the both slider to lower (not lowest) then restart XP.
3> Use RIVATUNER (this is the best nVidia tools) to disabling AGP mode (disabling /enabling AGP only available for win2000/XP), since nVidia drivers v2.183
disabling AGP mode will not decrease speed performance, this is good for stability & compatibility, or if you want to disabling it manually (without RIVATUNER)
Go to 'control panel' - 'performance & maintenance' - 'system' - 'hardware' - 'device manager' - 'system devices' - and here; change the '....processor to AGP controller' with 'PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge' then restart XP.

Well it works in the past, hope also with you too..

Re: Help (?)
 

Don't ever flash your BIOS unless you absolutely need to. Get the drivers that T Wrecks suggested.

Re: Help (?)
 

this is pretty offtopic, but I was just wondering...

Cracks aren't illegal, are they?

Because in case they arent, then i fail to see the problem with mentioning them. I mean, it's not like anybody is talking about warez in any way, and by downloading a (legal?) file to replace an exe file that obviously doens't work very well, he isn't really commiting a crime, is he?

And if he isn't commiting a crime, then what is the problem with the suggestion?

I'm ok, if it's just tolerated, but I think it would be kinda stupid, since I think the moderators in here are more than qualified to consider if a case when cracks are mentioned is 'warez talk'.

Re: Help (?)
 

Cracks are illegal in the US under the DMCA, because they circumvent security measures. I hate the DMCA; it makes it illegal to watch an encrypted DVD on Linux (unless the author of the player has it) and illegal to back up copy protected media. I am not aware of any similar European legislation, but you should check.

I personally hate swapping CDs, but I would rather not get a virus from a no-CD crack.

Re: Help (?)
 

/me hits myself in the head w/ keyboard

I've been downloading the XP version...

/me hits myself some more...

[EDIT]
Are you sure the XP one is not for C-MEDIA? They may not specify in the description, but they look like newer versions of the driver...
[/EDIT]

Re: Help (?)
 

No idea. I was wondering myself why some of the descriptions said "C-Media sound driver" and others just "sound driver"...

Well, I mean, you can d/l both and see what's inside...
If it's a zipped directory with setup.exe, some dlls and stuff, there ought to be a readme somewhere which will tell you more.
If it's just an auto-installer, there will be a nice splash screen which will tell you what you are about to install.

Re: Help (?)
 

Both are drivers, and I'm about to test the last solution, disabeling the AGP...

[UPDATE]
Ok, I quit. I'll get the f*cking sound card. Anybody recommends any device and/or brand (besides creative, of course)?
[/UPDATE]

Re: Help (?)
 

I have a aureon 5.1 sky, which I'm quite satisfied with... But I bought it mainly because it has a better digital to analog (and vice versa) converter than all creative's cards. Creative cards are best for gaming afaik, you might experience 1 or 2 more fps with a creative card.

But if you only gonna spend a few bucks, then just buy a soundblaster live!... If you don't have hifispeakers or something like that, then you'll never notice the difference between that card and anything better. Not that I want to support creative though...

Re: Help (?)
 

Terratec sound cards seem to be quite good, too. But of course I don't know if you can get them in Brazil...

So nothing worked, eh? Did you d/l all the latest patches for the games that crash?

Besides, if it's only one game that causes problems (despite a PC that's working perfectly otherwise), I'd kick the living sh*t out of the company which released that game instead of buying a sound card just because of them. But that's your decision.

Re: Help (?)
 

FIFA 2005 has no patches available, and the only The Sims 2 patch didn't make any difference.

And I can't kick the shit out of them, it was written in the box that the minimum required is a DirectX 9.0b compatible sound card...

And I just don't want to install one of those sound cards with that thing that occupies a CD-ROM bay in the computer...

(Man, just saw one w/ remote control. WHY THE HELL WOULD I NEED A REMOTE CONTROL IF I'M RIGHT NEXT TO MY COMPUTER??? Oh, americans...)

[EDIT]
What is the difference between 24-bit and the others?
Is 24-bit too "old"/Bad?
[EDIT]

Re: Help (?)
 

basically 24 and 32 bit display modes are the same, only that in the 32 bit mode you waste 1 byte for each pixel, the remaining 3 bytes are the normal RGB stuff. 32bit adressing is faster, since it's only multiplicating by 4 which is faster than multiplicating by 3. when you have 128mb on your video card today, nobody cares if some MB are wasted :P

Re: Help (?)
 

I still don't get the difference, but I care if I can avoid wasting some MB :D

/me goes for 32-bit.

[EDIT]
Umm... Where do I see if the thingy is 24 or 32-bit? Max. Playback and Recording Depth?
[/EDIT]

Re: Help (?)
 

I find it strange that an onboard sound card would prevent someone from playing a game. Sounds rather like a driver problem. And I don't advise flashing your BIOS either unless you have a low-level hardware problem you want to see solved.

Re: Help (?)
 

I wont to ask one question too.
So I have original copy of Counter-Strike 1.0.
After that I update it to CS 1.5.
When I start to play all is ok but after I restart my computer and try to run CS 1.5 again the Windows XP give me a error mesege with SEND and DON't SEND. After that I must reinstall my CS to run again and after I restart my computer I must do this thinks again :(.
I have Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 .NET.
Maybe this is from the debuger?
If is that the reason how I can shut down this debuger?
If is not? - My hardwere configuration is :

Intel Celeron P4 1700 MHz.
256 RAM
HDD 40 GB Maxor
Nvidia GeForce 440 with AGP 8x
VIA chipset