games install but won't run

[PaulG]

A friend asked me to format and re-install 98 on his Packard-Bell PIII 500
Mhz, 192MB ram. His main problem was that games that once ran on the
machine, and were presently running on his laptop, (XP), weren't running any
longer even after uninstalling and reinstalling them. I discovered that his
video card was no good, but even after changing it to a GeForce4X 64Mb, and
doing the format and reinstall, we still have the same problem. I
reinstalled directX 9 in Safe Mode; uninstalled directX 9 and reinstalled
8.1; reinstalled the new video card and drivers; reinstalled windows ontop
of windows; and last but not least, I upgraded to XP. All with no
improvement. The games will install, but when it comes time to play, they
won't run. The screen goes black, (in the case of 98, the screen actually
turned off and necessitated a reboot), and then nothing happens. The games
all ran at one time on the PC. These are also NOT the latest heavy duty
graphics games. When trying to run DXdiag, the direct draw test jams on
full screen mode, and the 3D renderings don't work at all. That's why the
mucking about with directX at the beginning. I am at my wits' end. Does
this sound at all familiar to anybody? Is it possible that a bad soundcard
would cause the games to hang?

[Buffalo]

"PaulG" > Is it possible that a bad soundcard
> would cause the games to hang?

Since you did all the other stuff, it wouldn't take you long to uninstall
the sound card drivers, shut down and remove the sound card physically.
Reboot and try the games without the sound card. This should give you the
answer to your question.
While you're at it, do a complete virus check, including the MBR.

[Donald Link]

You installed XP on this machine with 192 megs of memory?? Did you format
the hard drive and do a clean install of Win98.



"PaulG" > wrote in message
...
> A friend asked me to format and re-install 98 on his Packard-Bell PIII 500
> Mhz, 192MB ram. His main problem was that games that once ran on the
> machine, and were presently running on his laptop, (XP), weren't running
any
> longer even after uninstalling and reinstalling them. I discovered that
his
> video card was no good, but even after changing it to a GeForce4X 64Mb,
and
> doing the format and reinstall, we still have the same problem. I
> reinstalled directX 9 in Safe Mode; uninstalled directX 9 and reinstalled
> 8.1; reinstalled the new video card and drivers; reinstalled windows ontop
> of windows; and last but not least, I upgraded to XP. All with no
> improvement. The games will install, but when it comes time to play, they
> won't run. The screen goes black, (in the case of 98, the screen actually
> turned off and necessitated a reboot), and then nothing happens. The
games
> all ran at one time on the PC. These are also NOT the latest heavy duty
> graphics games. When trying to run DXdiag, the direct draw test jams on
> full screen mode, and the 3D renderings don't work at all. That's why the
> mucking about with directX at the beginning. I am at my wits' end. Does
> this sound at all familiar to anybody? Is it possible that a bad
soundcard
> would cause the games to hang?
>
>

[Peter Hutchison]

On Sun, 29 Jun 2003 17:24:51 +0200, "PaulG" >
wrote:

>A friend asked me to format and re-install 98 on his Packard-Bell PIII 500
>Mhz, 192MB ram. His main problem was that games that once ran on the
>machine, and were presently running on his laptop, (XP), weren't running any
>longer even after uninstalling and reinstalling them. I discovered that his
>video card was no good, but even after changing it to a GeForce4X 64Mb, and
>doing the format and reinstall, we still have the same problem. I
>reinstalled directX 9 in Safe Mode; uninstalled directX 9 and reinstalled
>8.1; reinstalled the new video card and drivers; reinstalled windows ontop
>of windows; and last but not least, I upgraded to XP. All with no
>improvement. The games will install, but when it comes time to play, they
>won't run. The screen goes black, (in the case of 98, the screen actually
>turned off and necessitated a reboot), and then nothing happens. The games
>all ran at one time on the PC. These are also NOT the latest heavy duty
>graphics games. When trying to run DXdiag, the direct draw test jams on
>full screen mode, and the 3D renderings don't work at all. That's why the
>mucking about with directX at the beginning. I am at my wits' end. Does
>this sound at all familiar to anybody? Is it possible that a bad soundcard
>would cause the games to hang?
>
Try reducing the hardware acceleration in the Display control panel on
Advanced settings and turn off some of the extra features until dxdiag
can do its tests ok.

Peter Hutchison
Windows FAQ
http://www.pcguru.plus.com/winfaqs.html

[PaulG]

I will check the BIOS settings and reset to default. Who knows maybe
that'll do something. As I mentioned, I installed a brand new card and
drivers, and there're no conflicts in the device mgr. The XP was installed
as an upgrade over a format and clean install of 98 when that clean install
didn't solve the initial problem with the games not running.



"Donald Link" > wrote in message
...
You installed XP on this machine with 192 megs of memory?? Did you format
the hard drive and do a clean install of Win98.



"PaulG" > wrote in message
...
> A friend asked me to format and re-install 98 on his Packard-Bell PIII 500
> Mhz, 192MB ram. His main problem was that games that once ran on the
> machine, and were presently running on his laptop, (XP), weren't running
any
> longer even after uninstalling and reinstalling them. I discovered that
his
> video card was no good, but even after changing it to a GeForce4X 64Mb,
and
> doing the format and reinstall, we still have the same problem. I
> reinstalled directX 9 in Safe Mode; uninstalled directX 9 and reinstalled
> 8.1; reinstalled the new video card and drivers; reinstalled windows ontop
> of windows; and last but not least, I upgraded to XP. All with no
> improvement. The games will install, but when it comes time to play, they
> won't run. The screen goes black, (in the case of 98, the screen actually
> turned off and necessitated a reboot), and then nothing happens. The
games
> all ran at one time on the PC. These are also NOT the latest heavy duty
> graphics games. When trying to run DXdiag, the direct draw test jams on
> full screen mode, and the 3D renderings don't work at all. That's why the
> mucking about with directX at the beginning. I am at my wits' end. Does
> this sound at all familiar to anybody? Is it possible that a bad
soundcard
> would cause the games to hang?
>
>