General Chat

Many thanks to all who volunteered help with this one. He has upgraded some of the drivers and everything seems to be ok now. Thanks again Lisa

Hi all Who's going to volunteer to go on the computer and sit on the General board on Christmas day then, to help out all the kids and hubbies who can't get their new games to run on Christmas Day!? Lisa

Lisa I expect you are completely confused by all the technical jargon above. They are all right of course but before you do anything else I suggest the following 1. Follow Judy's advice on cleaning out the rubbish from your computer. 2. Make sure that you have a working firewall and virus filter and scan for viruses. 3. Run adaware and clear out any spyware that might be lurking. 4 Re-start the PC and then stop any programs that start up automatically that you don't need (right click on the icons in the system tray at the bottom right) Now try the game again. If that doesn't work then come back again. Merry Christmas (I bet we get more of these next Sunday LOL) Bob

If you are running XP and the game is not specified for XP it may not work at all. I found this when I loaded 'Deer HUnter" for a friend of mine. A similar game worked.

EEEK! OMG! Oh heck, quarter of a mill? Wish I hadn't asked! Thanks anyway people, your help is, as always, much appreciated. Lisa

I'm not confused!! You haven't read correctly. The point was that when you write software for the Playstation (PS2) then you don't have to worry about different configurations as you do when writing for the PC. There is no standard PC! Thats is the root of the problem. Bob

Yes that's what I meant Alan - no offence intended Robert. I was making the difference between SP2 and PS2. Mandy :)

Well Mandy there is a specific problem caused by SP2 with this game on the MS website! Type Halo Combat problems into Google and you will get quarter of a million results. Over the years I have found some new games that require one graphics driver and others that require a different one! Messing around like this is not really acceptable for most users. Anyway good luck Lisa. Bob

It could be lack of memory, some of these games are very 'hungry', make sure nothing else is running and, as Mandy says, also check hard disk space. Good luck! PS My hubby and I always fall out over PC issues, even though we're both in the IT industry!

Lisa, here's a few tips for starters: First of all, PC games are made for PCs (sorry to disagree Robert!). Service Pack 2 shouldn't have any effect on games as it is a fix for bugs, faults, etc. Check the game box to ensure everything matches with your PC - eg, graphics card, hard disk space, processor speed, etc. Although it probably does, otherwise you would have had problems starting the game up. Son might need to uninstall some of his other games first. Let me know how you get on with that little lot! Mandy :)

I learnt a long time ago that games and PC's are more trouble than they are worth. The problem is that a PS2 is a PS2 and games work. There is no standard PC they have different graphics cards operating systems etc My usual advice to PC games problems is buy a PS2 or XBOX. However you should check that your graphics card has up to date drivers. You can do this through Windows update (non-critical updates optional hardware) or the manufacturers site if you can find it. Also check you have the latest DirectX version loaded (microsoft) Bob

Cheers Mandy would be extremely grateful! (so would son!) Lisa

Hi Lisa, I'm sure you will get some help and advice soon but if not, my hubby is an IT man and will be home shortly so I will ask him. Mandy :)

He has just bought a microsoft game called Halo Combat Evolved - it keeps crashing! I've read the Microsoft webiste but its all a bit technical for me. Have just uninstalled Norton and installed SP2, don't know it that will do it. Other half has just informed my attitude is terrible, its all my fault and we should reinstall windows - don't know how he thinks that will do it! Any advice please from all you techie people for a very untechie person? Lisa