NationStates Jolt Archive

There seems to be few pc problem threads popping up lately, so I thought I may as well join in.

I finally got round to installing ES:Oblivion tonight.

Or rather, I should say, tried to install.

It doesn't autoplay, and when I click on D: drive, I get the following error message:

D:\ not a valid Win32 application

I can open D: drive and everything's there but again when I doubleclick on setup or autoplay (and indeed any .exe file) I get the same "not a valid Win32 application" msg.

The DVD drive works for an old CD-Rom game I bought recently (Myth II) and worked previously for DVD games (UFO:Aftershock, which I bought in Jan this year). It's still playing DVD movies, but I tried to copy some files onto a blank DVD recently and it's not recognising that neither.

I have a Lite-on SOHW-1653S DVDRW. I've updated the drivers and have tried uninstalling and reinstalling them. But still same prob.

I also just unistalled WIn XP sp 2 just in case this was causing some probs (as I understand it can screw things up) but to no avail.

I've googled and microsoft just says its a problem sometimes with old programs and/or corrupt downloads. Obviously Oblivion isn't either of those. Oblivion forums and help doesn't cover this either.

I'm stumped, other than reinstalling WIndows XP again, which I don't want to do unless it's a last resort.

I really want to play this game! I've been waiting 6 weeks now! First I had to wait for them to order it in. Then they finally got it in the day before I went on holiday for 2 weeks. Then when I got back home, my monitor went on the fritz, and that took a further 10 days in the shop to get repaired. I got it back on Thursday but went out on Friday and didn't get home til Saturday evening. I sat down 3 hours ago all excited and pysched up looking fwd to putting in an all-nighter and now this!
Arghhhh!
It's like someone doesn't want me to play it!

You'll be doing yourself a favour if you give up. The main quest lasts about 5 minutes, and after that the side quests and guilds suck.

Could be the DVD. Try installing it on another PC.

You'll be doing yourself a favour if you give up. The main quest lasts about 5 minutes, and after that the side quests and guilds suck.
That's not quite the answer I was looking for.

You'll be doing yourself a favour if you give up. The main quest lasts about 5 minutes, and after that the side quests and guilds suck.
Youre lying. oblivian is a great game!

There seems to be few pc problem threads popping up lately, so I thought I may as well join in.

I finally got round to installing ES:Oblivion tonight.

Or rather, I should say, tried to install.

It doesn't autoplay, and when I click on D: drive, I get the following error message:



I can open D: drive and everything's there but again when I doubleclick on setup or autoplay (and indeed any .exe file) I get the same "not a valid Win32 application" msg.

The DVD drive works for an old CD-Rom game I bought recently (Myth II) and worked previously for DVD games (UFO:Aftershock, which I bought in Jan this year). It's still playing DVD movies, but I tried to copy some files onto a blank DVD recently and it's not recognising that neither.

I have a Lite-on SOHW-1653S DVDRW. I've updated the drivers and have tried uninstalling and reinstalling them. But still same prob.

I also just unistalled WIn XP sp 2 just in case this was causing some probs (as I understand it can screw things up) but to no avail.

I've googled and microsoft just says its a problem sometimes with old programs and/or corrupt downloads. Obviously Oblivion isn't either of those. Oblivion forums and help doesn't cover this either.

I'm stumped, other than reinstalling WIndows XP again, which I don't want to do unless it's a last resort.

I really want to play this game! I've been waiting 6 weeks now! First I had to wait for them to order it in. Then they finally got it in the day before I went on holiday for 2 weeks. Then I just didn't get round to it in the last 2 weeks, until now. I sat down 3 hours ago all excited and pysched up looking fwd to putting in an all-nighter and now this!
Arghhhh!
It's like someone doesn't want me to play it!
I think you just have a crappy computer.

Youre lying. oblivian is a great game!

No. It's the black mark on the reputation of the Elder Scrolls games. It's got nothing but graphics, and occasional AI goofs, which are sometimes funny.

Sounds like a bad DVD to me.

To check if it's not the DVD drive, install another game from same DVD drive. If that works, it's your game DVD .

No. It's the black mark on the reputation of the Elder Scrolls games. It's got nothing but graphics, and occasional AI goofs, which are sometimes funny.
Enough of this Slander! Its a great game!

Enough of this Slander! Its a great game!

Why? It has none of the humour of Arena or Daggerfall, is less immersive than Morrowind, and the Main Quest can be completed in a day.

I think you just have a crappy computer.
I have a Pentium 3200 with 1 gig ram, 512 meg vid card, 200 gig HDD, surround sound, wireless kb + mouse and a 19" LCD monitor. So no, I don't think I have that crappy a pc.

Sounds like a bad DVD to me.

To check if it's not the DVD drive, install another game from same DVD drive. If that works, it's your game DVD .
I wish I knew someone nearby that I can check this with, but I don't think it is the game. I think some installed software since Feb (when I last played UFO, before giving it to a mate) has screwed up my DVD drive settings somehow. As I mentioned, I tried copying a movie onto a blank DVD and it can't anymore.

Bloody frustrating!

Update:
I uninstalled Nero and the DVD player now works properly. I didn't realise it, but my pc only came with a demo copy of Nero and when it ran out, the bloody program went and locked my DVD player from being able to write to and apparently read .exe files from.

bloody Nero.

My advice is still to set fire to the computer and sacrifice it to C'thulu. Then buy a new one.

Finally, someone with a modicum of sense!
Thank you, I'll do just that!

Hold on for a moment!

You mentioned having UFO: Aftershock installed. It uses the most intrusive and harmful copy protection system in the market: StarForce. You might still have its drivers installed in your computer. Plus, it's known to cause problems with CD/DVD drives and burning software. I think your best bet is to find these drivers and get rid of them.

To detect them:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/detect.php

To remove them:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/remove.php

I hope that helps. :)

Why? It has none of the humour of Arena or Daggerfall, is less immersive than Morrowind, and the Main Quest can be completed in a day.

incidentally, morrowind can be completed in under 8 minutes. I shit you not, theres a speedrun somewhere on the net. ive played oblivion for a few hours most days since it came out, and i only even started the main quest and met sean bean yesterday. to be fair though, I only did that cos id run out of stuff to do.

I agree with the guy that sez its starforce. they prevent piracy by breaking everyones computer. what next? prevent DVD piracy by smashing everyones TV?

I have a Pentium 3200 with 1 gig ram, 512 meg vid card, 200 gig HDD, surround sound, wireless kb + mouse and a 19" LCD monitor. So no, I don't think I have that crappy a pc.
Then maybe the disk you purchased was damaged or you put it in the wrong drive. I am really confused. or maybe youre computer has the virus called starforce (even though its supposed to be copyprotection, i think of it as a virus because of the harmful effects it can have on your computer.)

Hold on for a moment!

You mentioned having UFO: Aftershock installed. It uses the most intrusive and harmful copy protection system in the market: StarForce. You might still have its drivers installed in your computer. Plus, it's known to cause problems with CD/DVD drives and burning software. I think your best bet is to find these drivers and get rid of them.

To detect them:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/detect.php

To remove them:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/remove.php

I hope that helps. :)
Makes me glad that oblivian doesent use starforce. :D

Why? It has none of the humour of Arena or Daggerfall, is less immersive than Morrowind, and the Main Quest can be completed in a day.
Actually, its more immersive then morrowind. and morrowind had a horrible plot.

Hold on for a moment!

You mentioned having UFO: Aftershock installed. It uses the most intrusive and harmful copy protection system in the market: StarForce. You might still have its drivers installed in your computer. Plus, it's known to cause problems with CD/DVD drives and burning software. I think your best bet is to find these drivers and get rid of them.

To detect them:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/detect.php

To remove them:
http://www.glop.org/starforce/remove.php

I hope that helps. :)
Yuck!
I just checked and I do have starforce installed. THe page you linked makes it sound pretty nasty, especially this bit:
ne of the common problems brought by Starforce: under Windows XP, if packets are lost during the reading or writing of a disk, XP interprets this as an error and steps the IDE speed down. Eventually it will revert to 16bit compatibility mode rendering a CD/DVD writer virtually unusable.
Which is pretty much what has happened to my DVDRW player.

Just got rid of them.

Cheers for that.

incidentally, morrowind can be completed in under 8 minutes. I shit you not, theres a speedrun somewhere on the net.

Morrowind can be completed without running the actual main quest.

Oblivion is horrible. I really regret getting the collector's edition. Yuck.

Update:
I uninstalled Nero and the DVD player now works properly. I didn't realise it, but my pc only came with a demo copy of Nero and when it ran out, the bloody program went and locked my DVD player from being able to write to and apparently read .exe files from.

bloody Nero.

Funny, mine's never locked but then I punched in the serial number from my Sony burner version.

Update:
I uninstalled Nero and the DVD player now works properly. I didn't realise it, but my pc only came with a demo copy of Nero and when it ran out, the bloody program went and locked my DVD player from being able to write to and apparently read .exe files from.

bloody Nero.
I don't trust Nero. I has rendered too many disks (even rewritables) unusable.

You sound like a British person!

I advise the proposed firy sacrifice of death and destruction to C'thulu solution.

Youre lying. oblivian is a great game!

God. If you love it so much, spell it write. Seriously, all of you !!!OBLVION!!! fans can't seem to spell it right...

God. If you love it so much, spell it write. Seriously, all of you !!!OBLIVION!!! fans can't seem to spell it right...
Neither can you. :p