Re: Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries hanging on startup
From: Jimmy S. (Private)
Date: 03/07/04
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Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 17:22:13 -0500
Hi Scott,
I applaud your tenacity. Here's some information you can use.
I hope you find it helps you resolve your issue. Good Luck! :-)
The most common causes for that problem can be solved with
these few steps. If the problem persists after you've tried these,
please post back and we'll try some more solutions. Good luck! :-)
1. To see if it's a software conflict: Temporarily disable Startup
programs one at a time, starting with Firewall, Antivirus, and ad
blockers using: http://new.jtsoft2001.com/windows/startup.php
You can lookup what a program does before you disable it here:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm
2. Run a virus scan at: http://housecall.antivirus.com Afterwards
Download & Run Spybot from: http://security.kolla.de to find any
Trojans, Adware, or Spyware which could clog up your system.
3. Click My Computer / Rightclick the Drive & Choose Properties
/ Run the "Disk Cleanup..." / Next Click the "Tools" Tab and run
the "Error-Checking" and "Defragmentation" utilities.
4. Go to the Windows Update site for everything under Critical and
Recommended: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5. Update DirectX and your Chipset, Sound, &Video Drivers:
For all Video / DirectX / Game and Hardware Issues, I have a
Checklist of Solutions at: http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk
6. If your system restarts by itself as a result of a STOP error, use the
steps in this article to stop that behaviour and identify the cause:
http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/windowsxp/bsod.htm
7. Click Start / Control Panel /Administrative Tools / Event Viewer /
Click the Applications listing on the left / in the right pane look for
yellow or red symbols and doubleclick them to identify any problems,
and they often have a link to a KB article you can read for the solution.
8 Allow Windows to control your pagefile at a "system managed size".
Be sure there's enough space for the pagefile size to = 1.5 * your RAM
Here's a tip: Set the pagefile to it's own partition or hard drive if possible.
References: http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php is a good site about this as is:
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/columns/mcfedries/03june16.asp
9. Test your RAM using: http://www.memtest86.com/memt30.zip
after you extract that zip file, click on the README.txt file for the
instructions on how to create the boot floppy to test your RAM.
10. Click Start / Run / then type: sfc /scannow and press ENTER
to replace any damaged system files -or- Run Setup.exe on your
Windows 98/Me/XP/2000 CD to reinstall Windows over itself without
erasing your programs and data. Once everything works fine reinstall
updates one at a time from: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com while
testing the game after each update, in case an update caused the problem.
11. If you have room on one of your partitions, use it to install another
clean installation of Windows which you can gradually update with the
appropriate chipset, video, and sound drivers, as well as Direct X, but
with no extras including themes, firewalls, antivirus, etc. You may have
to reinstall the game(s) for use with that partition, but it's well worth it.
12. If you don't have enough space for step 11 I suggest you at least
create a new administrators account with no themes, firewall, antivirus,
or any other software or startup programs installed for that account. If
this solves the problem, then you should switch over to the new account.
Hopefully these will solve the problem Scott, if not go back to the steps
you may have skipped over thinking that you had either done them before,
or that they don't apply to you, just in case one of them is your solution. :-)
-- Cheers, Windows XP MVP Shell / User Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com Game FAQs: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call / Contact MS Support at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=sz;en-us;top My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights. _________________________________________________________ "Scott E. Selke" <scottselke@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:eUPVOR9AEHA.212@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl... | Jimmy S: | | This is a continuation of a post that you had replied to previously. | Unfortunately, your earlier suggestions were not useful. Here is my reply | to your suggestions: | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | | Jimmy, | | Thanks for the suggestion, but it isn't a viable choice. I did make a Ghost | image of my system prior to embarking on the "Great Update", but that was | just in case I missed an important file, not as a fallback to a prior | installation of my system. I was having a lot of other issues with my | system which is what prompted me to "scrape it" and start over again. To | date, all the other problems have been cured by my effort, and the only | program that isn't working is Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries, so it just isn't | worth it to fall back just for that one game. If I REALLY get desperate I | have another PC I can play it on. I just don't want to do that because the | other system is really being used as a server and I don't want to "pollute" | it with games. My first choice, by far, is to get it working on my game | system. | | Scott | | | "Jimmy S." <Private> wrote in message | news:%23Qpb6wf$DHA.3536@TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl... | > Hi Scott, | > | > I extracted this quote from your posting: | > | > "This game has worked on this hardware combination in the | > past, before I made the foolish decision to update | > everything. " | > | > Perhaps you have a restore point from before you made those | > changes which you can use to recover with? | > -- | > How to use Windows XP System Restore: | > | http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gethelp/systemrestore.asp | > | > -- | > Cheers, Windows XP MVP Shell / User | > Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com | > | > | > Game FAQs: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms | > Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call / | Contact | > MS Support at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=sz;en-us;top | > My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any | rights. | > _________________________________________________________ | > | > "Scott E. Selke" <scottselke@hotmail.com> wrote in message | news:36b501c3fdbd$98cb6a60$a501280a@phx.gbl... | > I've just completed a complete "refresh" of my system. | > Up-to-date EVERYTHING: System BIOS, CD-Burner BIOS, | > latest drivers for all hardware, and a completely new | > install of Windows XP Professional with all patches. | > Installed Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries, applied the patch, | > tried to run the game....and.....NOTHING! I get the | > Autoconfig screen, then the EULA, the video card resets a | > couple of times, a 640x480 windows titled "Mechwarrior | > Mercenaries" appears on the screen, and the game hangs. | > Task Manager shows a process called "MW4MERCS.ICD" | > consuming 40,96K of RAM, and MW4Mercs.exe consuming | > 2,400k of RAM. Neither one is clocking any CPU time. | > All other processes are normal. | > | > If I tell the PC to reboot at this point, I get a message | > saying an ActiveMovie process hung. If I simply kill | > the "MW4MERCS.ICD" process, the 640x480 window goes away | > and I can continue normally, I just don't get to play my | > game. I've done the following troubleshooting, all of it | > with no effect whatsoever: | > | > I have an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro AGP with 128mb of RAM. | > I've tried disabling the Secondary Display, tried all | > available combinations of color depths and screen | > resolutions, running the program in compatibility mode | > for Win98/ME, 2000, in 640x480 mode, 256 color mode, | > disabling sound acceleration in DXDiag, disabling AGP | > Texture support in DXDiag, all of the suggestions in | > KB228985, KB813712, and KB329560. I've lowered the AGP | > speed through all it's steps (off, 1x, 2x, 4x), lowered | > the Hardware acceleration setting through all it's steps, | > disabled write combining, disabled Fast Write. | > | > I ran each of the movies from the Content directory in | > Windows Media Player. At first, the .AVI files wouldn't | > play until Media Player downloaded a codec, then they | > worked fine. | > | > I've disabled my anti-virus and firewall sofware, stopped | > every unnecessary service there is, and killed any | > processes that aren't necessary. | > | > This game has worked on this hardware combination in the | > past, before I made the foolish decision to update | > everything. Here's my hardware: | > | > Gigabyte 8PE667-Ultra motherboard | > Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.66Ghz | > 1Gb 333Mhz memory | > Promise 20267 RAID controller | > Western Digital 120Gb ATA100 hard disk | > Western Digital 200Gb ATA100 hard disk | > Intel Pro/100VE integrated LAN | > Realtek AC97 integrated audio | > ATI Radeon 9700 Pro w/128mb RAM | > Plextor PX-W2410A CD-R/RW | > Toshiba SD-M1202 DVD-ROM | > | > I've installed Mechwarrior 4 Vengeance and Black Knight | > w/current patches and they both start up just fine. Only | > Mercenaries won't start. As you can see, I've done some | > EXTENSIVE troubleshooting on this problem. Please keep | > this in mind before considering a reply like "Update your | > drivers". I've also scoured the ATI website and found it | > nearly devoid of any information at all. What I did find | > was nearly always "Update your driver". Last but not | > least, I've included a complete "DXDiag.txt" at the | > bottom of this post. | > | > Ideally, I'd LOVE an e-mail reply to this. | > Realistically, I know you may not have the luxury of time | > so I'll check the newsgroup. I hope you can help, | > because I am flat OUT of ideas. | > | > Don't let me down! | > | > Thanks, | > | > Scott E. Selke | > scottselke@hotmail.com | > | > ---------------------------------------------------------- Diagnostics Removed
- Next message: Jimmy S.: "Re: Freelancer"
- Previous message: whosnext: "Re: Halo recordings"
- In reply to: Scott E. Selke: "Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries hanging on startup"
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