Issues Since New Hard Drive Installation

jhayes27 · October 25, 2011 07:31 PM

I wasn't sure how well this would fit into the other technical help threads, so I made this new one. If there is a thread under which this fits, my apologies and please feel free to merge, though if you do I'd appreciate being informed.

I got NTW sometime in the Spring of 2010, and played it a lot. I later got the NOW2 mod and played a lot of that. However, this past May, my hard drive was running out of space, and the game would freeze during a battle, so I decided to do what I had thought I'd do for sometime: install a new, larger hard drive.

Unfortunately, every time I try to open NTW, even the vanilla version, I don't even get to the menu screen. After the initial screen with all the developer and copyright info, I get the dreaded Blue Screen of Death, with the following info:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_EQUAL

STOP: 0x00000001 (0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0xAC67E12A)

CHDAU32.sys

And then the address and datestamp; I'm not sure how important those are for this, but I did write them down in case they are.

This is on a Lenovo T400 laptop, with the following specs:
Windows XP Service Pack 3
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
T9400 @ 2.53GHz
2.53GHz, 2.98GB of RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HS 3400 Series (3470, if I recall correctly)
1280x800 display

I admit, those are less than superb, but a) trying to go larger than 1280x800, while possible, is bigger than the laptop's actual screen itself, and b) I've been able to play fine for over 700 hours of game time with these specs. In addition, every time I verify the Steam files, there's always at least one file that can't be verified. The only possibilities I can think of are:

1. The minimum specs have upgraded since (I had to reinstall the game after more than a year, after all)
2. That file that can't be verified is causing the problem
3. There's some other issue with my computer that's causing this

If the only solution is getting a new, more advanced computer, then so be it, though that won't likely happen for some time. I guess I just want to know if that's the case, or if there's some way to be able to play the game on this computer again.

Thank you in advance for your help.

irishron · October 25, 2011 07:54 PM

Two thing s would be nice:

1. A pic of the error message. and 2, post your dxdiag since hardware has changed.

jhayes27 · October 25, 2011 09:45 PM

Below is a picture of the BSOD I get:

And here's the contents of a text-file summary of my dxdiag:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

One other thing which I probably should have mentioned in my initial post - when I first got the game, I had a broadband connection; after replacing my hard drive, I had to do with a wireless one. It's possible that the potential download speed for each makes a significant difference.

I hope what I've provided here is enough for an answer.

irishron · October 25, 2011 10:02 PM

The driver is your sound driver. It's listed in the dxdiag.

Try disabling the AMD HDMI sound drivers in Device Manager if loaded. They do conflict.
If this does not work, try disabling the Conexant HD sound drivers in Device Manager.
Try http://download.cnet.com/SlimDrivers...ml?tag=mncol;1. Maybe they know more than we do.

Internet connection would not affect this.

jhayes27 · October 25, 2011 11:09 PM

Thank you, irishron!

I looked up disabling AMD HDMI, and found this tidbit: Do regedit, and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\servic es\HDAudBus\, and change the "start" setting to "4" (it was "3" on mine). I did this and I got to the menu screen. I'll report back when I make sure that the whole game is working, but I've got my hopes up. Again, thank you irishron.

jhayes27 · October 26, 2011 12:02 AM

OK, so I think I replied a bit too soon.

After my last reply, I opened NTW and noticed that there was no sound. I checked and realized that my whole computer had no sound.

I couldn't figure out a way to disable AMD HDMI from the device manager by the whole graphics card, which essentially reduces me to an 800x640 resolution, and the only way I could figure out to undo that was a System Restore. I then disabled the whole Conextant software from the Device Manager (irishson did mention it and I could locate it in the device manager), but that also caused all sound to go away from my laptop.

I'm still thankful for irishson's post, because it indicates that I can still possibly play Napoleon Total War on this machine, and more specifically let me know that the most likely problem is with my sound drive, but unfortunately I'm uncertan how to resolve the issue. I do realize that irishson posted a link to different software, but I'd rather only download entirely new software as a last resort. I guess I'm trying to see if there's a way to disable AMD HDMI from the Device Manager which doesn't kill all sound period which I haven't seen yet.

irishron · October 26, 2011 07:38 AM

With Lenovo originally being made by HP, and still XP, I wonder if older sound drivers may work.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...tem=ob-40619-1 from HP's website.

jhayes27 · October 26, 2011 09:21 PM

I downloaded the software irishron linked to, but whenever I tried to install it, it came up with an Error Message that said that the MEDIA device was missing. I saw on a tech forum that downloading Windows UAA; I followed a link therefrom and downloaded something called Realtek Azalia - still the Error Message.

In the meantime, I saw something in the sound drivers listed in the Device Manager which said there was a conflict. I tried disabling it, but that killed all sound; I haven't seen it since. My forays into disabling Conexant have also led to an overall loss of sound; I never even tried opening NTW for all this because I'm not willing to make my computer silent just so I can play.

Unless someone has another idea, I'm stumped. I might bring it to a shop and explain the situation, see if they know what to do; otherwise, I'll just have to stick to my earlier plan of waiting until the day I get a new machine to play NTW once again.

irishron · October 26, 2011 09:46 PM

Did you, a shop, or HP install the new harddrive?

jhayes27 · October 26, 2011 10:30 PM

A shop where I live currently (Portland, OR, US) called TechScaler installed the new hard drive; it's also where I initially purchased the laptop back in January 2009. It might be worth noting that, because I forgot to initially specify that I wanted XP and not Vista, they installed Vista, and when I took it back for downgrading, it took a while because of "driver issues." To be honest, that's really all I know about the hard drive's installation, they never clarified what the driver issues were.

In case it matters, I have a number of other games on this new drive, and NTW has been the only one giving me problems. Then again, the other games don't take up as much space as NTW, and therefore might be less complicated and therefore prone to these sorts of errors.

irishron · October 26, 2011 11:06 PM

Maybe something to try. http://drp.su/drivers/notebooks/?v=L...&id=32638&l=en

It is definitely a driver problem.

jhayes27 · October 27, 2011 03:45 PM

I downloaded the Conexant drive in the link, but every time I open it I get an error - "Non 7z archive."

irishron · October 27, 2011 03:50 PM

Try Winrar and Winzip. There are free copies of both.

jhayes27 · October 27, 2011 06:22 PM

I already have WinZip, and the thing wasn't even zipped. I figured out that instead of just clicking the "download" button at the left, I had to click on the "find more" and jump through a couple of more hoops, then download it as a zip file.

When I tried installing it, I got a message saying the Conexant HD SmartAudio 221 "has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows XP," then asked if I wanted to continue or stop. This leads me to wonder if the problem might be that the sound driver was installed back when the shop thought I'd go with Vista, and if I need a different type of drive for XP. I stopped in case that's what's been going on. If the message means something else, I'll go ahead with the installation.

irishron · October 27, 2011 06:55 PM

There is no breakout of different versions as in XP or Vista on the site.

I've used many drivers over the last twenty years Microsoft's labs never touched.

The decision is yours. Presonally, I'd do it knowing full well I might end up disabling it afterwards.

Did the Lenovo come with an install disc? Some do with the drivers on them.

jhayes27 · October 27, 2011 07:07 PM

OK, so I went ahead and did it, and IT WORKED!

Thank you for your help and patience, irishron. I hope it wasn't too much an inconvenience.

irishron · October 27, 2011 07:57 PM

No inconvenience. Enjoy the game. And you're welcome.

Issues Since New Hard Drive Installation

Issues Since New Hard Drive Installation

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