# Why won't my computer game work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653 "2002-07-18T17:03:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/1 "2002-07-18T17:03:54Z")
It’s too late to get my money back, and the company’s help site hasn’t been helpful, but perhaps someone here might know what the problem is. The game is Black and White, which is an EA game produced by Lionhead studios. It installed correctly on my computer (windows ME) but the game won’t load. I can get the opening screen, then I get a black screen with an hourglass, which should mean its loading. I’ve left it like that for as long as three and a half hours, but it never progresses past that point. (I had this problem with ThemePark by EA- not the bullfrog original-and after leaving it for two hours it finally loaded, but no such luck this time.) I have more than the minimally required RAM, the correct version of DirectX and besides my initial trouble with Themepark, every other EA game I own works perfectly. Anyone care to troubleshoot? ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/2 "2002-07-18T17:19:50Z")
I was in the same boat you were. B&W installed fine but wouldn’t load. I couldn’t find any patches or updates on the company website. After about two days I just regulated it to the junk drawer in my office. It was a waste of $20. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/3 "2002-07-18T17:21:55Z")
This is actually pretty common. It’s been a while since it came out (and I personally don’t have a copy), but I recall there being something of an uproar because of the game’s shoddy stability. You might want to see if EA has a patch for it you can download from their web site. ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/4 "2002-07-18T18:21:26Z")
I have Black and White on mine. It runs, but barely - every 5 minutes I have to quit and reload the game or it crashes. And it didn’t install properly the first time. Try uninstalling and re-installing from scratch. Great game, but very unstable - so much so that I got frustrated and gave up about halfway through the plotline. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/5 "2002-07-18T18:32:01Z")
Yeah, I’d suggest going online and making sure you have all the patches/drivers necessary. When I got Diablo 2 it installed fine, began to load, flashed the Blizzard logo on the screen, might or might not start running the movie, but then gave me the blue screen of death. Ultimately I got the right drivers and stuff to fix it. Check out drivers for your 3d card. Also, are you running on a Pentium or AMD processor. I’ve got an AMD which I love, but sometimes requires different drivers. ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/6 "2002-07-18T21:06:05Z")
I had problems with the game when I got it, but downloading the latest patch fixed the problem, I believe. I think I also had stability problems using the drivers that came with my Geforce2 card which were fixed when I used NVidia’s latest Detonator drivers. Try doing both of those and see if it still locks up. Finally, whenever I have computer problems, doing a search on Google groups is usually very very helpful. Some problems are specific to a given configuration or component, but have already been solved on the newsgroups. Best resource in the world for troubleshooting computer problems. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/7 "2002-07-19T08:23:49Z")
I had this problem myself. Turned out to be ZoneAlarm had popped up a warning in the background but I couldn’t see the dialogue box and the game wouldn’t progress beyond the startup screen if it detected that you had an IP address. I had two options: Turn off ZoneAlarm while playing the game or unplug my cable modem and release my IP address before starting the game. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/8 "2002-07-19T14:49:43Z")
It sounds like a video driver problem. Check see if your driver works with the game. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/9 "2002-07-19T16:01:58Z")
Get the latest patch for the game. [www.avault.com](http://www.avault.com) is where I usually go, as they keep remarkably complete and up-to-date patch lists and links to them. You mention having the latest DirectX, so that’s good. But no mention of the state of your video card drivers, so that’s bad–make sure you’ve the latest there. Ditto for soundcard. If that still doesn’t work, another possibility is that you may be one of the lucky winners of the small percentage of cdrom drives certain forms of SafeDisc copy protection has "issues’ with. Unfortunately, pointing to soultions to fix that kind of problem on these boards is a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/10 "2002-07-19T16:30:43Z")
Well, I found, downloaded, and installed the latest offical patch. Instead of getting a black screen with an hourglass, I get a black screen with a white pointer. \ ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-computer-game-work/119653/11 "2002-07-19T21:17:45Z")
I had the same problem. What solved it for me was, strangely enough, getting the no cd crack. I don’t think the mods would appreciate a roadmap, but I’m sure you can find such a thing for yourself.