Civilization III - Win2K - Compaq Presario 1800 laptop

[oosik]

Firstly, the game runs fine.
Secondly, it's the only game I play on this laptop and only when I deploy.
Thirdly, the problem is with the dvd/cd-rw.

example:
I have a data cd in the drive for whatever reason. I remove it and put in Civ3 CD, I get the autostart screen for the game, I select start game and i get a message to eject the cd and re-insert it because the game can't find it.......even though it auto-started. When I do that, the same thing happens.

If I exit from the auto-start screen and click the icon I get the same message, can't find CD.

The only way to run the game is to reboot eiither with the cd in the drive or with nothing in the drive. then when in Win2K, put the cd in and it will start fine.

If I put any other cd in after playing the game, then put civ3 back in, I have to reboot to play.

Also, the eject button doesnt work most of the time, i have to right click on cd drive then select eject. tho the button has worked on occassion.

Any case, my big question is how win2k doesn't see the civ3 game, even tho i get the auto-start screen?

One more thing, where is the option in WIN2K to turn off auto-start. I've looked all over and don't see anywhere to deselect that option?

oosik

[Doobie]

That happens when your playing a pirated games Nuff Said

[oosik]

but what about my store bought game you friggin einstein!

[Nuclear Krusader]

Calm down oosik, he was just joking.

Anyway, how long have you had this machine? Those are the kind of problems I see in drives that are going south.

Does it do that with this CD in particular, or with others as well?

[oosik]

Calm down oosik, he was just joking.

Like mom always said, if you don't have anything useful to say, don't waste the bandwidth!

Anyway, how long have you had this machine? Those are the kind of problems I see in drives that are going south.

It's a Toshiba drive and before I installed Win2K i was having funky things going on in WinME like not being able to eject the CD, tho I never tried to eject in explorer, and would have to use the "pin" method of ejecting the the drive.

I've had the machine under a year.

Does it do that with this CD in particular, or with others as well?

With other CDs, sometimes they will eject with the button sometimes not. As for "seeing" the cd, such as data, not a big deal. Like I said, this is the only game I play on it, also the only program that i use that needs the CD in the drive. When I get home maybe I'll install something else and see what happens, since I have nothing to compare it to.

I bought this laptop at compUSA for not wanting to have to order one, and seeing as though I can't build a laptop like a desktop, it was only option at the time. Besides the price wasn't too bad, even if it is a comcrap.

Now that I think about it, there is the occassional CD that won't read. Actually, it happened a lot under WinME.

You think the CD drive is starting to go TU already?

thanks
oosik

[Nuclear Krusader]

Well, that is what happens when CD and DVD drives are bad. I just returned my DVD last week coz it was doing things like those. I put the FIFA CD and the autoplay started but then the disc stopped halfway thru the installation, then you hear the whistling sound of the drive attempting to read the CD, and the lite turned from ambar to green, and after a minute or so the CD was ejected and the blue screen appeared saying that the CD needed to be cleaned. But when I put the CD in my old 6x4x24x burner it was read ok and no probs. It never refused to run a DVD but after having that same prob with most of my CDs I came to the conclusion that the drive was bad.

If you could test the CD in another machine perhaps you'll find out who the culprit is. If your laptop is still covered by the warranty I'd suggest you use it.

[oosik]

Nuc~
Thanks! Iwas trying to avoid the whole "RMA" thing seeing as though I've been lucky enough to escape it for so many years, but I guess this is what I get from Compaq. Can't imagine how long it's going to take to get it back.

Certainly not like building your own!

[sdkfz]

Co worker of mine just had his copaq rma'd and it was back in his hands within a week (Boston area mailing from) BUT the extra ram he put in did not come back. THAT took a little explaining. I would make sure that if you added anything removable to the machine you make sure you get it listed somewhere so they can include it in their testing or pull it before you send it.

[glc]

1. Try cleaning the lens on the drive with a soft brush and some canned air.

2. Doobie: Don't come out with accusations like that out of the clear blue sky.

3. oosik: Don't flame here - if a post offends you, report it to a moderator and don't reply in that fashion. We will handle it appropriately.