San Andreas problems - anyone else?

My usual method is to copy the whole DVD contents in to any Temp type folder
on the hard drive ..
Then install from there..
Then go to http://www.wiretarget.com/games/gcw_index.shtml or maybe
http://www.megagames.com/cracks/ga.htm and get the games NO CD/DVD cracked
file replacement.
Luv mouse
@@@@@

stePH wrote:
> "JoeSmooth" <f RemoveThis @ke.net> wrote in
> news:42a8fc88$0$3458$4d5ecec7@reader.city-net.com:
>
> > I was able to install from a DVD drive which was not lettered E or F.
> > No issues.
>
> I don't think that's quite the point. Do you have another optical drive
> that precedes your DVD drive in the chain? If no, then your situation
> doesn't apply.
>
> After hard drives "C" and "D", I have a CD-RW drive "E" and a DVD-RW drive
> "F" so this would probably be an issue for me.

Thanks Steph, quite right... Reinstalled the whole PC and the problem
remains... The DVD drive is actually SCSI while the CD-RW is IDE so
maybe that's the problem?

I'm not keen on resorting to cracking methods - it's hardly the point!

Gav

Trimble Bracegirdle wrote:
> My usual method is to copy the whole DVD contents in to any Temp type folder
> on the hard drive ..
> Then install from there..
> Then go to http://www.wiretarget.com/games/gcw_index.shtml or maybe
> http://www.megagames.com/cracks/ga.htm and get the games NO CD/DVD cracked
> file replacement.
> Luv mouse
> @@@@@

Hope that works, because I have no DVD drive in my desktop computer,
so I'll be copying the DVD from my laptop via network to my desktop.

Anybody know where to get a cheap SCSI DVD drive? They don't seem to
exist.

<gavin.ayling.TakeThisOut@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118423730.625636.316130@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> stePH wrote:
>> "JoeSmooth" <f.TakeThisOut@ke.net> wrote in
>> news:42a8fc88$0$3458$4d5ecec7@reader.city-net.com:
>>
>> > I was able to install from a DVD drive which was not lettered E or F.
>> > No issues.
>>
>> I don't think that's quite the point. Do you have another optical drive
>> that precedes your DVD drive in the chain? If no, then your situation
>> doesn't apply.
>>
>> After hard drives "C" and "D", I have a CD-RW drive "E" and a DVD-RW
>> drive
>> "F" so this would probably be an issue for me.
>
> Thanks Steph, quite right... Reinstalled the whole PC and the problem
> remains... The DVD drive is actually SCSI while the CD-RW is IDE so
> maybe that's the problem?
>
> I'm not keen on resorting to cracking methods - it's hardly the point!
>
> Gav
>

Had a similar problem (not with a game but with MS briefcase). I got around
that by renaming the drives. Worth trying maybe?

To do it (I'm presuming you have XP) right-click on 'My Computer', select
'Manage', click on 'Disk Management'. On the right hand side you'll see
your drives listed. Right click on the drive you want to change and select
'Change Drive Letter and Paths'. Click on 'Change', select 'Assign the
Following drive Letter', choose the drive letter you want and then click
'OK'.

HTH.

Shawk wrote:
> <gavin.ayling RemoveThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:1118423730.625636.316130@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> > stePH wrote:
> >> "JoeSmooth" <f RemoveThis @ke.net> wrote in
> >> news:42a8fc88$0$3458$4d5ecec7@reader.city-net.com:
> >>
> >> > I was able to install from a DVD drive which was not lettered E or F.
> >> > No issues.
> >>
> >> I don't think that's quite the point. Do you have another optical drive
> >> that precedes your DVD drive in the chain? If no, then your situation
> >> doesn't apply.
> >>
> >> After hard drives "C" and "D", I have a CD-RW drive "E" and a DVD-RW
> >> drive
> >> "F" so this would probably be an issue for me.
> >
> > Thanks Steph, quite right... Reinstalled the whole PC and the problem
> > remains... The DVD drive is actually SCSI while the CD-RW is IDE so
> > maybe that's the problem?
> >
> > I'm not keen on resorting to cracking methods - it's hardly the point!
> >
> > Gav
> >
>
> Had a similar problem (not with a game but with MS briefcase). I got around
> that by renaming the drives. Worth trying maybe?
>
> To do it (I'm presuming you have XP) right-click on 'My Computer', select
> 'Manage', click on 'Disk Management'. On the right hand side you'll see
> your drives listed. Right click on the drive you want to change and select
> 'Change Drive Letter and Paths'. Click on 'Change', select 'Assign the
> Following drive Letter', choose the drive letter you want and then click
> 'OK'.

I should probably have mentioned that I tried that too:
If I tell I reletter the drive it just asks for the CDRW's new drive
letter;
If I disable the CDRW it asks for "drive ?";
If I uninstall it works for that session until it rediscovers the CDRW.

Aside from that, however, I have a GeForce 4 MX 440 which I think is
the cause for it freezing on the EAD (or something) sound splash
screen. I also tried to install Empire Earth II today and had the same
trouble. There's probably something wrong that would take some time to
diagnose (Event Viewer talks of a dodgy IDE cable going to the CDRW
which I haven't bothered to replace yet) so I bought a new computer!

Thanks for your help. Any thoughts before the new PC arrives would be
massivley appreciated! Gav

<gavin.ayling DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1118487377.548824.154230@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Shawk wrote:

>> To do it (I'm presuming you have XP) right-click on 'My Computer', select
>> 'Manage', click on 'Disk Management'. On the right hand side you'll see
>> your drives listed. Right click on the drive you want to change and
>> select
>> 'Change Drive Letter and Paths'. Click on 'Change', select 'Assign the
>> Following drive Letter', choose the drive letter you want and then click
>> 'OK'.
>
> I should probably have mentioned that I tried that too:
> If I tell I reletter the drive it just asks for the CDRW's new drive
> letter;
> If I disable the CDRW it asks for "drive ?";
> If I uninstall it works for that session until it rediscovers the CDRW.
>
> Aside from that, however, I have a GeForce 4 MX 440 which I think is
> the cause for it freezing on the EAD (or something) sound splash
> screen. I also tried to install Empire Earth II today and had the same
> trouble. There's probably something wrong that would take some time to
> diagnose (Event Viewer talks of a dodgy IDE cable going to the CDRW
> which I haven't bothered to replace yet) so I bought a new computer!
>
> Thanks for your help. Any thoughts before the new PC arrives would be
> massivley appreciated! Gav
>

I'm no expert so a couple of guesses....

Do you have to uninstall/reinstall game so that it recognises the new drive
letters? (a number of games 'remember' which drive they were installed
from)

Possibly a daft one .... swap the IDE cables and master/slave set up for
your two optical drives? (If they're both on secondary). Would it find the
right one first that way?

(I'm from the old school of pressing a button to see what it does rather
than read a manual I'm afraid) - anything on SA's website/forums?

On 10 Jun 2005 16:16:07 +0200, stePH <acetheta.TakeThisOut@earthlink.net> wrote:

>"JoeSmooth" <f.TakeThisOut@ke.net> wrote in
>news:42a8fc88$0$3458$4d5ecec7@reader.city-net.com:
>
>> I was able to install from a DVD drive which was not lettered E or F.
>> No issues.
>
>I don't think that's quite the point. Do you have another optical drive
>that precedes your DVD drive in the chain? If no, then your situation
>doesn't apply.
>
>After hard drives "C" and "D", I have a CD-RW drive "E" and a DVD-RW drive
>"F" so this would probably be an issue for me.

It wasn't an issue for me and my setup is the same as yours Hard
Drives C and D, CD drive E and DVD drive F.

--
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability
of the human mind to correlate all its contents." - H.P. Lovecraft

No, one of them is SCSI so swapping the cables isn't an issue.

I have tried relettering the drives and reinstalling (and both in
combination). I will stick with Uninstalling the IDE CDRW each time I
want to play (though that's a pain).

Have found the problem with my graphics card - the latest NVidia
drivers don't work with my Winfast A180 graphics card... Ah well, at
least I can play it now!

Thanks for your help, Gav

I have decided that the fact that my DVD is SCSI and my CDRW is IDE has
something to do with it... Unless your's is the same in that respect
too?

Gav

On 12 Jun 2005 06:29:44 -0700, gavin.ayling RemoveThis @gmail.com wrote:

>I have decided that the fact that my DVD is SCSI and my CDRW is IDE has
>something to do with it... Unless your's is the same in that respect
>too?

No, sorry, both mine are SCSI. If all else fails, just power off,
unplug the power to your CDRW and do the install.

--
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability
of the human mind to correlate all its contents." - H.P. Lovecraft

Replying to my own message, copying the DVD via network to my PC and
then installing worked fine. However, when I tried to run the game it
of course complained it couldn't find the disc. A no-CD patch fixed
that.