So I wanted to play C&C Generals again...

[Saturn]

... and then I put the CD into the drive and it doesn't even recognize the file system. All I can find with Google is tips like "right-click blabla compatibility mode blabla, run as admin blabla"... yeah, great. IF I COULD ACTUALLY READ/ACCESS THE CD! T__T

I'm using Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 64-bit. I'll try running Windows Update (it's been a while since last time; maybe there was a fix for that) this evening, but I kinda doubt that will help. Any other ideas?

[Shen Cheng]

So is it not recognising the cd at all in the drive or can you see that there is one in explorer?

[Saturn]

Uhm well, it tries to read it, but fails to do so. I can't open the drive, and if I right-click it, the explorer will get stuck until I press the button to open the (physical) drive. If I try to access the drive with the cmd-console, it will just (after a while) say that it's an unknown file system.

[Shen Cheng]

Is it only that one cd or have you tried others with same result? This it what happened to mine.

Have you updated the drivers?

Only other option would be to get a cracked copy, apparently they will work fine online, though I would normally not recommend doing it.

[Saturn]

Well, it can read the CD for Age of Empires II without any problems, and that game is much older. As for the drivers, unless they update with Windows Update, I didn't update them.

Maybe it has to do with the copy protection used on those CD's... I remember in the past, there used to be games where older drives weren't able to read them (C&C Generals might have been one of those; not sure). I've luckily never had any of those problems, and THIS drive should be much newer than the one on my old PC.

[Cao Cao]

should work with those settings you've listed yes 





no compatibility mode chosen

[Saturn]

Q.Q

Soooooooo... the issue really is the disc-drive itself. I wonder how I can solve that? I mean I could try to get an external one, but who knows if that one will work better xD. Uhm... another option would be to check for newer drivers, although the Asus-webpage doesn't list any new ones (everything else like new BIOS, new driver for the mouse etc., but no disc-drive driver).

Or maybe there's some software somewhere that allows my disc-drive to actually read the CD.

[Xiahou Hui]

Q.Q

Soooooooo... the issue really is the disc-drive itself. I wonder how I can solve that? I mean I could try to get an external one, but who knows if that one will work better xD. Uhm... another option would be to check for newer drivers, although the Asus-webpage doesn't list any new ones (everything else like new BIOS, new driver for the mouse etc., but no disc-drive driver).

Or maybe there's some software somewhere that allows my disc-drive to actually read the CD.

Try to do this in Device Manager:

It's called "Update Driver Software..." in English.

You can get to the Device Manager by searching for it in the Control Panel, or using the code devmgmt.msc

Could you make some screenshots of what you see (with the filesystem of the CD-ROM, etc.).

You can use Greenshot or "Prt Scrn"+"Microsoft Paint" to make screenshots.

[Saturn]

According to that option, I'm using the newest available driver already. The drive is an "ATAPI DVD A DH24ACSH" apparently. Uhm, what exactly do you want me to screenshot? I didn't quite get it.

Oh, on a sidenote; according to Google, the copy protection used for C&C Generals is "SafeDisc 2.90.040".


Edit: The driver I'm currently using is version 6.1.7601.17514 from 21.06.2006. Didn't find any newer one with Google either (at least not for Windows 7). Though I didn't search very long, since I'm not an expert after all.

[Ling Cao]

Think he means showing screenshots of the errors you're getting.

[Saturn]

Think he means showing screenshots of the errors you're getting.

Well, I can't. Because like I said, I don't get any errors. I put the CD inside the drive and I hear it tries to read it, but nothing happens. As soon as I click the CD-drive in the explorer, the explorer gets stuck (program not responding). Then, if I try to be sneaky and access it via the cmd-console, I get (after some waiting) the message that it's an unknown file system... hold on; here a screenshot of that:

[Cao Cao]

How many scratches does the cd have?

The amount of unplayable and unrecoverable cd's/dvd's has increased for me since we have 2 kids running around and playing with those

[Saturn]

How many scratches does the cd have?

The amount of unplayable and unrecoverable cd's/dvd's has increased for me since we have 2 kids running around and playing with those

CD 1 has some, but they are only visible if the light falls on them just right. CD 2 has maybe one or two of those. Both CD's can't be read by the drive.

For comparison; the CDs for Age of Empires 2 and the expansion (aka Age of Kings/Age of Conquerors) have more and better visible scratches and I could install from those CDs without any problems (although I couldn't even get the game to start with compatibility mode... whereas others with Windows 7 just complain about colors bugging out lol).

And uhm, kids are definitely not the problem in my case. Maybe in a couple years, depending on if I've found/stumbled over the right lady for that until then.