Computer Hard Locks

[masterllama]

I just bought this game and now whenever I try to play it it hardlocks and I have to manually hold down the button and power down my comp.

My specs:
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
1 gig of RAM
160GB HD
Geforce 6600 256mb with latest drivers
400W PSU

[Sir. Tasty]

Hmm is your anti virus blocking access to it?

[masterllama]

I don't belive so because my anti virus is never on

[is_don_is_good]

i bet theres other corrupted programs blocking it. my sister has the vista transformation pack that won't let her shut down. a nice reformat will fix it

[masterllama]

I don't think reformatting is gonna fix it

[is_don_is_good]

it will but it is the last resort strategy and it will take time to get your computer back to your standards. it not a hardware failure, more like software failure. so if you have xp, do a restore to a particular date before you had that problem

[AeroTow]

I think its related to your processor, the minimum recommended processor is an AMD Athelon 2.0GHZ.

[is_don_is_good]

my lil sis can run it fine on her sempron 1.8GHz! lol

[AeroTow]

my lil sis can run it fine on her sempron 1.8GHz! lol

Certain AMD processors have more efficiency, so each clock cycle is more efficient. So even though the speed is lower, the efficiency allows it to run demanding programs. This is the case of the new Core 2 Duo processors.

[is_don_is_good]

like how a core 2 duo at 2.4 GHz is more efficient than a 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 :D

[AeroTow]

like how a core 2 duo at 2.4 GHz is more efficient than a 3.6 GHz Pentium 4 :D

Correct :D

[DGutierrez32]

I have this same problem, I have to manually shut down by holding down power button, then restarting in Safe mode, then restarting again. Also, I've had this problem with another game, Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs. Coincidence that they're both "Games for Windows" titles?

This is what I'm working with:
Vista Home Premium
AMD Athlon 64 x2 5400+
3GB DDR2 RAM
radeon x1950 pro 256mb graphics card

It completely disables my computer, no mouse clicking, no ctrl+alt+delete, and the monitor starts acting like the computer isn't even turned on. Very frustrating...

[is_don_is_good]

ouch, tough luck. and that is a great system as well. a reinstall or updating drivers?

[DGutierrez32]

I updated my graphics card drivers, as well as my motherboard and processor drivers. I don't know what else to do, I tried re-installing with age of empires and the same thing happened.

[BoDyBaG2224]

Sounds like memory issue. What backround tasks do you have running? Try lowering your graphics to the bare minimum and see if the issue still happens. Try contacting Relic they will try to help you, unlike other companies *cough* EA *cough*

[DGutierrez32]

I found something that works for me. I put the DVD in the drive, select "Explore" and I run the "AutoRun" file as an administrator, it has yet to crash. Hope I didn't just jinx myself...

Bodybag, I wasn't running any background tasks at the time.

[BoDyBaG2224]

Hmmm, I would say contacting Relic if things don't improve.