Alienware Aurora will not play games

List the games that will not run. List the CPUs, memory, video card, video card driver for both PCs.

Chris,   I had Links 2001 and Links 2003 and several Nascar versions that worked on a HP M9250F I had used both Vista Home Premium(64) and Win 7pro. It had Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66ghz    8gb ram Corsair  (PC2-6400/800 mhz)  and I had used both a Nvidia 8600GT 512ram and replaced it with a ATI 4850 1gb gddr3. I don't remember the drivers, but I always kept them updated. The last time I played on the machine was in June, so the update for the ATI would have been the most recent for that time frame.The games all worked with no problems on both cards. When I purchased this AW it came with the dual ATI 5670. After several weeks of trying to get them to work with no luck at any compatability setting and  running as an admin, I tried the two different cards with the drivers after removal and re-installing drivers with no luck. I had googled and found quite a few other people were having the same problems with recent AW purchases similar to mine. A number of people on a links 2003 website had the same cards on different types of machines and were having no problems. I no longer have the HP, so I can't switch things back with it to try them. Here is what I purchased from AW:

2- ATI 5670 1 gb video cards with bridge

Aleinware Aurora

Intel I-7 930 2.8ghz

12gb Triple channel 1333mhzddr3

Thanks

In relation to gaming, there is really nothing special in the AW desktops that make them any different than any other new machine.

With those old games, it's likely the Intel i7 or the fact that you are running CrossFireX (dual videos cards) ... or possibly even Win7 64 bit.

 Yes, try Compatibility Mode set to Win-XP or even Win2000.

If you think it's the Intel i7, try RunFirst.exe or just manually assign Processor Affinity to Core 0.
http://www.activeplus.com/Products/RunFirst

To see if it's the ATI cards, I think you can disable the CrossFireX ... possibly even with a Profile.

Some old games also have problems with strange resolutions (back then 4:3 was the norm.)

When installing your old games, if it asks about installing DirectX-9... go ahead and let it. It may or may not actually install anything, but you must let it if you want it to run. Don't worry ... it won't mess up anything with your current DirectX-11.

You say they don't work ... what exactly happens?

Thanks for the reply,    I have disabled the crossfire, removed 1 card from system and even swapped them to run singly, no go. I removed them and installed the old ATI and Nvdia cards from my other computer and it still wouldn't work. FSX is the only thing that has worked no matter which cards or set-up is in the system. I have also tried every compatability mode with no luck. The games start to load and then I get a message there were problems and asks me if I want to trouble-shoot. When I do it just brings up the compatability mode screen, I change it and then it still crashes. I have installed the DirectX-9 and they still don't run.

It can be tricky ... Google is your friend. To be clear, I was talking about the Direct-X9 updates that come with the game installers. It's likely the amount of memory installed in machine (some games don't like so much) or the 64bit OS in general (they want pure 32-bit).

If these games require the original disc be inserted all the time, do you think it might be having a problem finding or reading the "disc check" right before it starts up?

Compatibility Mode Notes:

I've noticed that sometimes you have to set the Comp. Options on the game installer .exe itself (before install) and also on the main game .exe (after install) ... not just the game's shortcut.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/using-windows-vista-compatibility-mode/

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/easily-disable-vistas-aero-before-running-an-application-such-as-a-video-game/

Thinking back, some of the oldest games I've got running on Win7-64 are:
Command & Conquer Generals (2003)
Rise of Nations (2003)
Far Cry (2004)
Doom 3
Hidden and Dangerous 2
Battlefield 2

... going back much further than that and you get into some really old graphics.

You can also try one of the many Virtual Machine solutions (most are free) but they are really only for desktop apps. The free Microsoft VM solutions have always worked fine for my needs.

Other Options:
1. Get an old Pentium 4 from an office dumpster or friends garage.
2. Use an old XP laptop. Or, setup a Win-XP Dual Boot on it

Accept defeat and join the Dark Side:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sports/tigerwoodspgatour08/index.html?tag=result%3Btitle%3B6
Note free DL demo

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168167063900SF&cm_re=tiger_woods-_-167063900SF-_-Product
less than $10 ... Even if games are only Vista compatible, there is a 98% chance they will work fine in Win-7.

Links 2003 on Win7

Be sure you have installed the 1.07 patch

Run with only one card or turn off CrossFireX in ATI-CCC

http://www.vistax64.com/gaming/162729-vista-links-2003-a.html

This is suppose to be a good forum for Links help:

http://linkscorner.org/forum/index.php

Thanks all for the help. I have tried all of the suggestions suggested so far and no luck. I have been on several of the Links forum boards and tried everything they suggested. This is where I had a couple of others tell me they were having the same problem with identical AW systems they had recently purchased. I was hoping it was something in the system and we could all get it solved. Anyway.......I went back to square one, minus the dual cards. I had installed an Nvidia GTS450  1gb card and decided to start from there. I made sure I had all of the patches installed and then all of the drivers updated for the card. I started the game, it checked the disc and then went to desktop. It asked if I wanted to troubleshoot and I said yes. It started the compatability test and I went through it starting at Vista SP2 and working backwards from there. Imagine my surprise when it loaded and started to work on Win95 mode. I had done all of this before several times with no luck. Now it decides to work and I was in and out of it several times yesterday and last night playing a complete round with no crash. I will check back after I have used it for several days and let you all know if this has fixed it this time.

Thanks again for the help!

You are welcome. Glad to hear it worked out for you.

Yes, strange Win95 mode works but whatever ... as long as it works. Win2000 is another settings that makes old games work. Sometimes, it seems to like to be set on the oldest version of windows that the game originally supported.

I think you will like the single more powerful GPU card over the dual slower cards... especially if you are looking for max. compatibility with older games.

ATI introduced a bug in their recent CCC drivers that affects compatibility with older games. There is a hot-fix for 10.9 and will hopefully be rolled into 10.10. That might have been what was stopping your single ATI card configs from working.

The nVidia 8600 should have worked, however ... it's fairly under-powered these days and might have Win7 Aero performance problems. Plus, it gets left behind with the older cards in nVidia driver architecture series. It's the 8800 and newer cards that use the newer unified driver.

After 9 days of being able to play Links 2003, it has started crashing again. I have not done any updates or changes other than the Windows Defender updates. It played fine this morning, then this afternoon when I tried, it quit. What could be causing?

After 9 days of being able to play Links 2003, it has started crashing again. I have not done any updates or changes other than the Windows Defender updates. It played fine this morning, then this afternoon when I tried, it quit. What could be causing?

After 9 days of being able to play Links 2003, it has started crashing again. I have not done any updates or changes other than the Windows Defender updates. It played fine this morning, then this afternoon when I tried, it quit. What could be causing?

Umm ... One post is fine . Just click the Post button and wait (I know, it's slow). The Edit button is the little green pencil at the bottom.

Well, something has changed ... have you tried:

1. Rebooting
2. Other Compatibility Modes (Win2000, etc.)
3. Check the 3 options Disable Visual Themes, Disable Desktop Composition, Run as Admin.
4. Various combinations of the above options
5. Temporarily disable Microsoft Security Essentials "Real Time Scanning" option while playing Links2003.
6. Check for new background Processes or Services that might be interfering  (run Links2003 by itself)
7. Reinstalling game and patches.

Sorry about the multiple post. It kept locking on me. Anywa

1. Did multiple times with no luck.

2. Tried with no luck on all modes.

3. did and that didn't help. Even tried to load it while FSX was reduced to desktop and no go.

4. Done all of the above until I don't even remember what I have tried and not tried.

5.6.7.  Done, done and done still with no luck.

Just don't have any other ideas. Even everyone at the links blogs are out of ideas. Only thing I haven't done is a restore to earlier time. Will try that next.

I don't get it. I went back before I did a restore and tried the game after being sure the settings were like I remembered from before. Without changing a thing, now it works again. The same settings an hour ago wouldn't work. Any ideas??????????

I think it might be the protection. The real problem is that the game is old and not actively supported any more.

It's a stretch ... but you might want to try Microsoft Virtual PC.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/tags/gaming+under+virtual+pc/