Halo 2 refuses to play

I bought another copy of halo 2 from a local store that has a whole bunch of old and new games and consoles, as a notorious admin deleted my previous thread about a problem with a torrent even though I already had the box set and everything, on grounds that what I was doing was illegal. Well, the way I see it, as long as I have my own copy then it shouldn't matter if I obtain the actual game from another source right? Yes of course! As long as I'm not taking a brand new 'product installation code' then I'm not doing anything wrong. So what's my problem then? My old halo 2 disk was scratched beyond recognition as I let someone borrow it ( a mistake, I know =_=). The problem with the new game is I'm freshly installing it on a new windows 7 64-bit laptop. When I attempt to play after activating it, it says:

LIVE Gaming on Windows failed to initialize. This may be because another LIVE Gaming on Windows application (such as the Halo 2 dedicated server) is running on the same machine. Otherwise, reinstalling the game may fix the problem.

Well reinstalling didn't do anything. I even tried uninstalling completely and then installing again - nothing. I refuse to just let the game go to waste. If anyone who views this had the same problem and fixed it, please lend me your time.


My specs are as follows:

• Windows edition Windows 7 home premium
• System Manufacturer: Dell model: Studio 1747
• Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU Q720 @1.60 GHz
• Installed memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
• System type 64-bit Operating System

AstaLaVista said:

Without knowing your specs it will be hard to help you but... I'll ask a few questions?

1.- Are you sure your laptops meets or exceeds the game requirements? if so...
2.- Have you updated your video & audio drivers?
3.- Did you install the game with Elevated Admin Rights?

lol... yes the computer is solely owned and operated by me so privileges is not the problem as for my specs? Oh yeah definitely overkill in that area. As for udates, I cannot say if I'm completely up to date.

I tried playing halo 1 on here and I can't view the online multi-player text chat in-game, and was hoping it was because it's meant for a different windows platform. I realize now It's probably because I'm missing a visual update of c maybe? I downloaded using the auto update icon in my taskbar though I don't think that it gave me all I needed. Is there a way to fully update my pc?

Edit: I scanned the forums and even google and yahoo for a method of updating windows 7 and haven't found a decent way to fully update my windows 7 and my drivers..merely a bunch of articles on the auto-update function, that I already used to update my pc.

sygnus21 said:

Have a look at my Troubleshooting guide in my signature. And I agree with AstaLaVista, system specs would go a long way in troubleshooting your issue.

- Tips on Troubleshooting Game Issues -

Good luck.

My problem it seems is that I need to update.. but I seem to be completely up to date... Do you have links to the things that I would need to have on my system for running halo 2? My laptop and os is rather new. Edit: I read your thread before I posted this comment and Like I already said: there is no problem with my computers specs, however there might be a(n) issue with older components not installed... where do I find those? Do I have to hunt those things down? How do I know I have them all installed once I've gotten the .....? =_=....