Solved App running on all home PCs (W7, W8, XP, etc) but one

[ADC]

Hi, so long since my last post. Not sure if it fits this section.

I'll try to be brief: I have an old program that works on every computer in my house, but one. The rebel computer is a Windows 7 x32, and the program works on other Windows 7 (x32 and x64) PCs in my house, and on two Windows 8 and 10 laptops. Even on an old PC with Windows XP.

I'm not tech savvy, not completely illiterate either, but the error message "Guru Meditation #C0000005.004FD6B4" doesn't say much.

The app works if I lower the color depth to 256 colors in the app "Properties". And the previous version of the app works perfectly. Even a spare Win XP partition in the same PC runs the prog.

Ufortunately, updating the app isn't an option, since there's no version after. Only downgrading.

I think it may be due to a faulty DLL, so I'd like to know a way to spot it. I tried Process Explorer, to see what DLL were called by the app, but it didn't help (compared the DLL list on a working computer and the faulty one, if that makes sense).

Considering all this, how can I verify why an app doesn't work? Is there some kind of debugging tool that could identify the problem in this PC? Or a step-by-step guide somewhere?

Thanks in advance.

 

[file3456]

What is the name of the program?

Have you tried uninstalling it and reinstalling? Use Revouninstaller to do so.

If you go to the start orb and in search enter dxdiag, do any of the tabs list problems?

If the programs has dependencies like .Net, that could be an issue if .Net is corrupt.

Give Dependency Walker a try. Dependency Walker (depends.exe) Home Page

 

[ADC]

Hi, thanks for your help and sorry for the delay.

1. It's an (old) online gaming system called Fightcade.

2. No install. Just unzip the files in a folder. Deleted and unzipped it again, but nothing. Copied it again from other partition/computer: nothing.

3. Did it already. No problems, system is fine.

4. Will check it out. Thanks again.

 

[ADC]

Just for the record, I figured out how to solve it. Since the app crashes even before I open it up, I concluded it had something to do with the video options. I changed it to 256 colors compatibility mode (right click > properties > compatibility), started the app, choose video option to DirectX 9 (it was set to DirectX 7), closed it and them started it again, now on normal color mode.

It seems this computer may lack some DirectX 7 runtimes, so the instant crash. As I said, it's an old app.

I'm marking the thread as solved. Cheers.

 

[file3456]

I'm curios. I've been having an issue with Command & Conquer Zero Hour and I'm now wondering if it's a DX mode. Was that option available to you in the game its self? I don't think I have that option in my Zero Hour settings.

 

[ADC]

The DirectX 7/9 option is native in the app. If I understand it correctly, it has 2 options, according the user machine (it's an old app, as I said). The problem is that it doesn't even load the interface, thus doesn't allowing me to change the settings. When I lauched it in 256 color mode, I finally could access the config menu.

The default error message was that Guru Medidation thing. However, on 256 color mode, the message is:

"Couldn't initialise 'DirectDraw7/Direct3D7 Enhanced video output' module. Try installing the Direct X End User runtimes (June 2010)."

I click "OK" but, this time, the app initialized, so I could config it.

Try running C&C in 256 color mode, so you can at least be sure it's a video problem. If you don't have a DirectX option, maybe you could install these old DirectX libraries (dunno if it's a good idea for modern systems though)

 

[file3456]

(dunno if it's a good idea for modern systems though)

Actually wouldn't matter. A game or program will use what ever DX it needs to use in your system. You can have all versions in your system32 folder believe it or not. Of course you can't have a DX higher than your OS is capable of unless the game code is specifically coded to use it internally or something. I believe that is the case with the latest world of Warcraft. Somehow this game now allows you to run Directx 12 in Windows 7, but it's only allowed for this game and maybe a few others, and at that, this may also be a Steam thing or what ever Steam comparable program it is that runs the game.

My issue in Zero Hour may or may not be DX related. What happens is that when I build my third or forth dozer, the dozers and main command building blows up and then I lose right away because all my stuff is gone. It's as if the computer I'm playing against is cheating. LOL I tried to Google the issue, but came up empty. It may be my search terms. This issue never occurred before. I may open a thread on this here in the forum, but I think I can solve it myself. Just haven't really dived into much. When I made my last post in this thread I had a gander at the game's options and there's no DX option, and I don't ever recall this game having that option. It could very well be an ini file thing in the profile folder so I'll have to experiment with that.

At any rate, glad you solved your issue. If someone else comes along with a comparable issue, they will now know perhaps it's the DirectX version that has to be used. And when I think of it, I think I had an issue like that many years ago where the choice of Directx was the issue.

 

[ADC]

Actually wouldn't matter. A game or program will use what ever DX it needs to use in your system. You can have all versions in your system32 folder believe it or not.

Good to know, I'm really paranoid about installing stuff on my systems. I only install if it's absolutely necessary.

I've asked about my problem in other environments (including the Fightcade Reddit) and, depite the users' good will, the answers were "install update x and y", "reinstall Windows", "buy another computer", etc.). I'm an old school guy, so my first choice is to dive into the settings and try to solve it "manually" (as long as my knowledge allows)

Sorry about you not finding a solution for your C&C problem. It's a dumb question but did you install the game on another computer to see if it works properly? Anyway, the problem you described is just weird, it seems more of a game bug than a OS/DX problem, but who knows?

 

[file3456]

Yeah, a lot of people especially on reddit (dumb name) don't know crap about computers and just go with the pull out an axe approach rather than a scalpel approach and just figure out the source of the issue. That's what I try to do when I'm trying to help someone figure out an issue. Even if it's OS corruption you can do an in place OS install rather than nuke the thing from orbit with a format and new OS install. But if that too doesn't solve the issue or is not possible then it would come down to OS reinstallation unfortunately. That's why periodic 1:1 disk clones are so important. I do this at least once a month and the external HDDs are stored in a $35 fireproof safe under my bed along with 25/50 GB Blu-ray optical disk data backups to further extend my backup redundancy. Even my websites are backed up to hard drives and optical media. Even the cloud. Of course all of that data is encrypted by me manually.

Another possible computer problem is the hard drive and that too can be approached from a scalpel perspective. Depending on the hard dive issue, there is software out there to hopefully recover bad sectors and mark them as bad so they're not used again. Even then you may not be able to get all of your data back, and it may be worse on flash storage like an SSD or NVMe. Then again, maybe not. It seems like flash storage may have "erased" the data, but probably still buried on the chip more so than a platter. So again, in order to avoid this madness, a 1:1 HDD clone is a good regimen. Since I use FDE (full disk encryption) the manual states that you have to be very careful with flash storage and do everything just right. They actually say don't even use flash based media at all with FDE. Since that's not gonna happen in this day and age for me unless I'm REALLY storing some above TOP SECRET data. What I do is install the OS first, then encrypt and after total drive encryption bring my data onto the now encrypted SSD drive where the copy/paste maneuver will encrypt all of that data on the fly on the SSD that's been encrypted from the start. If you transfer all that data first before whole disk encryption and then encrypt the drive you run the risk of unencrypted data being able to be extracted from the memory chips. Such is the nature of flash based mediums. Could be SSDs, NVMe, SD cards or USB sticks. If you use those you'd have to encrypt the whole thing first, then move data to it. Not as an after thought.

Like I said, I haven't really dived into what the issue is in C&C. It never happened before so it could be due to an OS setting, new program install or something in one of the ini files in the game profile folder under the documents folder of the computer username. I'm sure the answer is out there, but I need to take the time to research it more. I did try briefly researching for a solution but came up empty. As a last resort an uninstall/reinstall may fix the issue, but I'd rather try to fix the source of the issue first instead of using the axe method mentioned above.

Very interesting that when just four dozers are created and the fourth comes out of the command center everything instantly blows up. So I'm sure someone else had this issue before and it may be documented somewhere on the Internet. It's probably a Windows 7 thing. This game was created during the XP days (2003 or thereabouts) and when I ran the game in XP I had no such issue like this that I can remember. Though, a small part of me thinks it could have happened. But if so, that would have been around 2007 when I ran this game in XP almost everyday. It's where I met a guy that lived in a flat in the heart of London near the Thames river and another guy that lived in Scotland. I even made my own maps with the World Builder. I got pretty good with the script code. Now-a-days I'd have to go back and relearn everything as it's been years since I made my own maps. And try as I might to find them, I somehow lost all of my saved maps. I do have some old PATA drives from years ago that just might have my maps on there, but I have my doubts. Those PATA drives are also encrypted. HAHAHA

Anyway, rant mode -off LOL

 

[ADC]

Wow, that's clever! I do some image backups too, from times to times. My only concern would be about Blu-rays, since I have bad experiences using optical media. But, I didn't have other options at the time. Never used Blu-rays though. I don't trust flash drives either, but a few good quality ones just for redundancy doesn't hurt. Never lost any, fortunately.

Still about the C&C, did you try it on a virtual machine? Maybe another W7 flavour, or something. As I said in my initial post, I still have Windows XP on a spare partition, in order to run some specific apps (music production) which runs a lot better on the old OS. Offline, of course.

Also, maybe there are some patches done by gaming groups or enthusiasts. Altough the lack of info may reflect something about your particular combination of hardware+software.

 

[file3456]

Blu-rays or any optical media depends on the media you buy and the burner. I find optical media to have good bit integrity versus that of other media. So that's why I use it as another source of backups.

If you think that's clever. I have a webcam setup and some software so when I leave my room and movement will shut all the computers down and once they are shut down you can't get back in since the drives are encrypted with a 30+ character password committed to memory. LOL The way I turn it off is with a local only install of VNC using my phone as the key so to speak.