Possible connection between win2000 not booting and EU2?

[ForzaA]

I'll admit that my new PC ("new" is february here) has been a problem all the time, but as far as I can tell, the only constants are 1) the hardware (or most of it) which has been checked, double checked, triple checked by the company AND 2) the instalation of EU2.

Ofcourse, I find it more likely that there IS a hardware malfunction somewhere, however, the company is convinced that the problem is indeed with EU2. Which isn't really strange for them to think, as the PC works fine when they reinstall win2k there, and check the PC for a while (days to weeks) and I manage to get it not to start EVERY time.

The question is, has there been ANY report of EU2 causing windows (win2k) to not boot any longer? [search turned up nothing, but someone might remember]
If there are such reports, what was the solutions, and if there weren't, would someone know of any proof that EU2 is NOT the cause?

 

[ForzaA]

Have they actually swapped out any hardware?

AFAIK they replaced the HD with a new one, don't know if they swapped (if only for testing) any other hardware

What are the symptoms - does it just BANG stop booting after working fine, or deteriorate in some way?

Got it back from repairs on Friday, installed EU2,Norton AV,Adaware rebooted when requested etc. etc. shut down the PC after a bit of gaming.
Attempt to boot next day, fails.
No deterioration of any kind spotted

Have you or they done a thorough check for viruses, trojans, and worms? Use at least two different apps for this purpose.

Checked, not double checked, this last time.
Also quite well protected/checked the times before.
Although I would find it quite curious that I would have a virus each and every time, after the HD is formatted (or a new one placed)

And pardon me for asking, but are you 100% sure your EU2 CD is legit? If someone's given you a pirate copy it may be infected itself.

Sure as can be, that is, bought it from a respectable store, in a box/casing/... that looks legit, CD looks legit, I even have the ever-so-usefull manual
Ubisoft Dutch edition (english game/CD, Dutch manual)

What are the specs of the machine?

AMD Athlon 64 3000+
Seagate baracuda 80GB harddisk (originally, and new)
2x 512mb Dane-Elec PC3200 400 Mhz (originally Twinmos dual channel 1024Mb PC3200 400 Mhz)
MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R
..and some other stuff (Could post picture of original order, which has the Twinmos still)

 

[ForzaA]

try reinstalling again and this time don't install euii, but all the other usual programs and games.

problem is, up until now the crashes were NOT the boot after I installed any specific program (I kept lists).. which would mean I can basically NEVER install EU2

I asume you have upgraded your windows as much as possible as well as your sound card drivers and your graphics card drivers.

indeed

You also try to check your RAM with this little program - you need a floppy to run it.

I would *hope* that a computer store with ~20 nerds in the back room knows either this program, or a better alternative

 

[Castellon]

Please run a DirectX Diagnostic:
Start menu –Run - then type Dxdiag, then select each tab across the top of the window, and run the tests on each tab. Then select “Save All Information” button in the lower right of the window. This will bring up a dialog box to allow you to select a name for the file where the information will be saved. You can save it right on the desktop as this will make it easy to find. Then copy the contents of that file from the start to the heading that says “DirectX components” then paste what you have copied into a post in this thread.

 

[ForzaA]

Please run a DirectX Diagnostic:
Start menu –Run - then type Dxdiag, then select each tab across the top of the window, and run the tests on each tab. Then select “Save All Information” button in the lower right of the window. This will bring up a dialog box to allow you to select a name for the file where the information will be saved. You can save it right on the desktop as this will make it easy to find. Then copy the contents of that file from the start to the heading that says “DirectX components” then paste what you have copied into a post in this thread.

currently am at the shop.. Win XP has now been installed instead of win2k.. is it still usefull?

 

[ForzaA]

UPDATE:

After 5 months, win2000 suddenly is NOT meant for games AND has trouble with a 64bit processor, I wonder why that was not a problem all the other times it was in repair.
However, installing EU2 DOES cause the problem to surface; clean install of win2k, updates drivers etc. shut down and reboot works fine. install EU2+1.08 patch, play for a bit, stop playing, shut down and reboot doesn't work....

 

[ForzaA]

varies, have had several Blue-Screen crashes during Windows boot (ie. it seems to be loading fine, and halfway *poof* blue screen of death)
And another "version" is (or was) that during load a few error messages (white on black) pop up and dissapear almost instantly...

 

[Castellon]

Could you boot from a disk drive or CD drive and look at the boot log?

And yes DxDiag in XP is still valid if you are still having trouble.

 

[ForzaA]

problem is, winXP doesn't (yet?) display the problem, and the HD was formatted after the last crash, so I don't have much information ATM, unless it starts to crash on winXP aswell...

 

[ForzaA]

EDIT: As for the incompatibility itself causing boot failures, that may very well have something to do with this:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/25759.pdf
of which a short version can be found here:
http://www.theregister.com/2004/06/22/amd_opteron_glitches/

Jan Peter

ehm, could you translate that into "normal" English? I'm clueless :wacko:

Anyway, the problem will *most likely* be circumvented by installing winXP instead of win2000, although the shop is currently *somewhat* reluctant to give me my money back for win2000

 

[Castellon]

Sticky with the XP and in future buy only Intel stuff.

 

[Castellon]

No one said the bleeding edge was, well, bloodless.

 

[Castellon]

But let's get back on topic.

 

[ForzaA]

But let's get back on topic.

Well, it looks like the problem will be solved/circumvented by installing winXP instead of win2k...
And I'm not particularly keen on reinstalling win2k (or having it reinstalled) to determine the exact problem

 

[Castellon]

Okay sounds good.

 

[ForzaA]

yet another update

winXP did not solve the problem....

The question remains, what causes the crash.. according to them, all hardware is fine..

 

[ForzaA]

Have you tried my suggestion about not installing EU2 after a reinstall of the OS?

If the EU2 directory tree is intact after an OS reinstall, it is not necessary to reinstall EU2. Just double click on the EU2.EXE, and it should fire up. What you do lose is EU2's knowledge about being installed, which can cause troubles if (and when) a new official patch arrives.

Jan Peter

untill now, the HD needed to be formatted (or they did, anyway) so no directory structure available. I could, when I get my PC back after they've convinced themselves that the PC is in top shape copy the directory structure from another PC, but it might not help as they currently have EU2 and installed it.. but we'll see what happens.

what complicates the problem, and makes it somewhat unlikely that the OLE automation DLL's are the cause is that it is not (or wasn't this time) the reboot after EU2 is installed that goes wrong

@Devil: helpfull

 

[ForzaA]

the shop test-ran for 3 days.. lets see what happens when I fire it up at home

is it possible to make partitions AFTER installing windows etc. without losing information?

 

[ForzaA]

yet another update- computer crashed for the umpteenth time (they installed the game this time...) Have now NOT installed it, lets see if it lives past 1 week

 

[Castellon]

You may have a lemon there.