Age of Empires Gold

Hi Louise,

Before we begin troubleshooting the issue, if you have more than one
DISC player (CD/DVD/CDRW/DVDR/ETC) in your system, I've seen
this type of problem resolved by simply using the other DISC player.

Here are some other more involved solutions which have worked:

1. Before we begin, please save a restore point for your system.
How to use Windows XP System Restore:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gethelp/systemrestore.asp

2. You might be affected by problems similar to the Insert CD error.
- Try the advice and DL at: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=228985
Another trick that I found sometimes works is to make the limited account an
administrator account and run that game once. This should create the registry
settings and permissions for that user to be able to properly run the game.

3. Kazaa or Kazaa light is installed on your system.
- Uninstall the game(s) and Kazaa, and reinstall from original CD.

4. Multiple CD drives on your system including Virtual CD drives.
- Disconnect all but the main CD drive and try the game. You
might have an older drive, or a CD Writer which is incompatible
with the Safe Disk copy protection on the CD. (Contact Vendor).

5. Your antivirus or application firewall might be conflicting with it.
- Disable the software temporarily.

6. There might be a patch available for your game to correct the issue.
- Try www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_list.asp?letter=a/ or the game's site.

7. Your desktop may need to be set at least 800x600 and 16 colors.
- Click Start / (Settings) Control Panel / Click Display

8. Your Video, Sound, or Monitor drivers may need updating.
- Try updating your Video drivers using the instructions at:
http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits/Video.html#drivers

9. To see if it's a software conflict: Temporarily disable Startup
programs one at a time, starting with Firewall, Antivirus, and ad
blockers using this utility: http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
or this method: http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php

10. If you created other drive letters on your system by installing another drive,
creating partitions or virtual drives you may need to change the CD back
to the same drive letter it was originally. Usually the CD uses the letter D:
- Click Start / Run / type: diskmgmt.msc < to access the tool to change it.

11. Maybe a Microsoft Security patch is the culprit. The only way to be sure is
to Unplug from your Internet connection, and then repair Windows using
this method: http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

After you reboot, try the game again. If it works, save a new restore point.

Lastly, boot up your system, turn on your XP Internet Firewall, plug back
into your Internet connection and install all Critical and Recommended updates
from: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com one at a time. Test the game after
each update to find which is causing the game not to start on your PC.


--
Cheers, *Windows_XP_MVP_Shell/User*
Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Visit my MSN Games and Windows Gaming Help Site: www.msce.mvps.org
MS Games Help and Support Center: http://support.microsoft.com/?pr=gms
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________


Louise Wrote:
=================
| Just purchased AOE Collectors Edition. No problem installing and using AOE
| II but cannot get Gold to work. It goes through the installation process and
| shows 100% complete and then locks up. I tried to open the program from the
| disk and get a message to insert the CD that is already in the drive. I am
| running Windows XP and my computer is relatively new. Any idea what the
| problem is?