Win32 Application problem

Hello all, this is my first posting .. can you help me please?

This is what appeared on my screen, when I tried to load Sims2 on my new computer...:

Error executing 'D:\support\thesims2_uninst.exe' %1 is not a valid Win32 application

... followed by a blue screen.
Does anyone have any suggestions please?

Regards, Sarah

Signature to follow

 

Welcome aboard PeanutButter.

I am assuming that D: is your cdrom drive, from where you are installing the program.

One way of doing it could be to copy the program onto hard disk and install it from there. Sometimes, some file cannot be read from the cd, resulting in errors.

Second could be some virus etc. in your computer. Update your anti virus and scan your computer.

Run a chkdsk while logged in Administrator account.

 

rsinfo, many thanks for your input.

You are correct in assuming that D: is my CD drive, and that I am trying to install the game from there.

I have just remembered that there are four CDs needed for instalation ... how do you suggest I should download them onto my hardrive and install the disks (one at a time) when they're needed?

Sims2 is tricky, I know. But any further suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.

Regards, Sarah

 

Below from Lockergnome Pro - The Sims 2 Installation Problem


To copy the Sims 2 installation files to your hard drive:

1 - Go into My Computer.
2 - Open drive C.
3 - Right-click inside the window and select New, and then Folder.
4 - Name the folder as Disk Images (it is important that the name has a space in it).
5 - Open the disk images folder.
6 - Right-click inside the window and select New, and then Folder.
7 - Name this folder Disk1.
8 - Repeat steps 6 and 7 while substituting Disk1 for Disk2 and so on until there are 4 'Disk' folders followed by a number 1 through 4. it is important to note there must not be a space between "Disk" and the number.
9 - Insert Disk 1 of The Sims 2 into your CD-Rom drive and if the autoplay starts, cancel it.
10 - Go into My Computer.
11 - Right-click on your CD-ROM drive and choose Open.
12 - When you see the contents of the disk in the Window, click on Edit at the top of the window and choose Select All.
13 - All the contents of the disk should now be highlighted, click on Edit at the top of the window again and choose Copy.
14 - Open the Disk1 folder you created under C:\Disk Images; click on Edit at the top of the window and choose Paste. This will copy the contents of the CD into the Disk1 folder.
15 - Repeat steps 9 through 14 for the remaining disks until you have copied each disk into its appropriate folder.
16 - Once all the disks have been copied, remove ALL CDs from any drives.
17 - Open the Disk1 folder under Disk Images and double-click on autorun.exe to start the installation.
18 - To save disk space, you can delete the Disk Images folders after the installation is complete.

 

Dennis L, thank you very much for your very detailed suggestion. I greatly appreciate it.

I shall follow your steps tomorrow and post back how it goes.

Thank you, again. *hugs*

Regards, Sarah

 

Your very welcome.
*hugs* most appreciated

 

Dennis L,

I completed steps 1 to 13 and they were successful. But when I tried to copy the contents of the CD into the Disk1 folder, it stopped, saying:

Error Copying File and Folder:
Cannot copy dxnt: Data error (cyclic redundancy check)

Some of the contents did copy, though: Autorun (1.07MB) CSBin (10.9MB) and DirectX (22.9MB)

What do you suggest I do next?

Regards, Sarah

 

For some reason your reader is having difficulty reading parts of the disk. With luck, we can use a simply solution. Your original CD has a smear, dirt, scratch. Remove the disk and gently clean the read side of the disk (directly breath on disk, wipe with a soft, link free cloth .. repeat a number of times).
Suggestion ...
If you are comfortable what did or did not copy over, continue to use the same folder. I would prefer you re-name problem target folder Disk1 to Disk1-old, create a new target Disk1 folder. Now try to copy over contents from source CD. Once you get a complete working copy of Disk1 on your harddrive, delete Disk1-old.

 

Dennis L,

Thank you for your suggestion ... I wouldn't of thought of that ...
I shall have a clean and get back to you.

Regards, Sarah

 

Sarah, want to make sure we are on the same page.
Quoting from your first POST ....

Is the above error occurring when you try to install Sims2
or after install and
you are trying to Load / RUN the program?

Also, I just noticed you are running 64-Bit machine. Are you installing/loading Sims2 64-bit version. I am not a gamer, don't know if 32-bit version is backward compatibly with 64-bit OS.

 

Dennis,

That's an AMD Athlon 64 chip Sarah is running, I believe she is running 32 bit Windows XP pro. That won't cause a problem... you can run 32 bit programs on a 64 bit chip.

B

 

Good Morning Mr.B

I am guilty of poor communication. My one question was really two choices concerning AMD ATHLON 3200 64 Bit system ....
If running XP-Pro 64 you can run Sims 2 in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
If running XP-Pro 32 you could only run Sims 2 in 32-bit version.
I maybe wrong, (which according to my wife is always ), is my understanding of the choices. With XP-Pro 64 still at trial version, I assume Sarah is at 32-bit. But some gamers live to be on the edge. So hopefully I have not spooked Sarah. Let us know if you got the CD's moved to your HDD.

 

Dennis L,

The error occured when I tried to install the game ...

 

Dennis L and Mr. B,

Thank you for your help!

I wiped the disks and tried to copy them again and it worked!! I shall try to install it now, and I'll tell you what it does later.

Regards, Sarah

 

Dennis L & Mr. B,

It worked perfectly!

Thank you very much for all your help and guidence. I'm really greatful

Regards, Sarah

 

Thank you...

Thanks for posting back and letting us know your problem is taken care of, but your undying gratitude belongs to Dennis.

B