Trouble Installing HD v1

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

I'm trying to re-install HDv1 onto a newly-bought PC (woohoo!) but after the file extracts, and dialogue box starts asking me where I want the files installed, etc., it looks up irretrievably.

I'm running Win XP Pro on a 3.2 Gig Athlon machine, and the only applications I'm running that might be causing trouble are Norton Anti-Virus and Norton Internet Security.

Any ideas as to what the problem might be? Thanks in advance!

John

[Teflon Billy]

I don't know if this is the same problem I had, but what you describe is exactly what was happening when I was first trying to install HD v1 back in the day.

The problem turned out to be corrupted fonts (at least that seemed to be the most likely thing). I just reformatted and reinstalled. But that may be a little extreme for you.

Does anybody know how to completely reinstall the fonts onto Win XP (or any windows version for that matter)?

TB -- I killed Cardinal Richelieu (Hey, I'm not all bad ;-))

[Spideyguy]

Billy,

I guess that could be it, but this is a brand-new, just-out-of-the-box PC, so I hate to think that it could be corrupted fonts at this point. Also, formatting C: and starting over would be a major drag at this juncture.

If anyone else has any other input, that would be great. Thanks!

John

[Simon]

A couple of things to try:

1. Go to java.sun.com and install the latest JVM. There were some early copies of XP that shipped without Java before M$ thought better of their tactics.

2. If (1) doesn't help, copy all of your font files from your system font directory to a temporary location (CD or whatever) and then delete the font files from the system directory. Run the install and then put the font files back.

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

Just so I don't make things worse, do you happen to know what the latest version number is?

John

[Simon]

Sure...1.4.2_04 is the most recent stable releast (1.5 beta 1 is out as well, but go with 1.4.2 for now...until you're setup).

You can get it here:
http://www.java.com/en/download/windows_manual.jsp

If that works, delete the "jre" directory from your HD installation, as the java that you'll have on your system will be more recent.

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

OK, I burned all of my font files to CD, and have deleted all of them from my c:\windows\fonts directory with the exception of the following fonts: Franklin Gothic Medium, Franklin Gothic Medium Italic, MS Sans Serif, Modern, Script, Tahoma, Tahoma Bold, Verdana, Verdana Bold, and Verdana Bold Italic.

The system won't let me delete those files because it gives me a "file in use" error, and replaces those fonts when I try to delete them. I've d/l the version of Java that you recommended, and still can't finish the install.

What should I try next? Can I rename the font folder to something else to make the installer think they're not there? Anything else I can try?

Desperately yours,

John

[Simon]

Is there any error message at all that you're getting when you try to install?

This is not sounding like any of the normal issues. Possibly a bad installer.

1.4.2_04 should take care of any font issues for you.

Make sure you reboot your system, and then see if you can get a bit more information on why the installer is dying on you.

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

I downloaded the Java update again, re-installed it, rebooted, and tried to run the install again. No error message, no nothing, just total lock up.

This is a downloaded copy of V1 that I burned to a CD-R when I knew I was going to get a new system. Is there any way that my purchase could be verified, and a new download path opened for me?

Other than that, I'm completely out of ideas. Thanks, in any event.

John

[Simon]

You'll need to talk to Ben on that (benseeman@herogames.com). That's not something that I deal with ;)

A good indication that the problem is, in fact, the installer would be to try it on a different computer, if you can get at one.

[Teflon Billy]

The main problem I had when I was having this problem was how catastrophic this crash was. It was a hard BSOD crash. No error messages, no lockup, no nothing. Just straight to a hardware error blue screen, saying something about a kernel error or some such.

Again, this may be a different problem than what Spideyguy is having. But it does sound similar. And I'm pretty sure it was related to the installer part of the program.
Not the installation file, I was installing from a retail CD, it was the installer itself.

TB -- I tried to kill Archbishop Desmond Tutu (alright, I am bad.)

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

Sorry to be a pain, but Ben was kind enough to allow me download a new set up file, and I'm still having the same problem. The file extracts, the installer starts, and when I start telling it where to install the program, the whole thing freezes like Walt Disney.

I'm desperate!! What else can I do?

John

[Simon]

Where are you telling it to install the program to?

What happens if you stick with the default installation directory?

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

I guess that I meant I'm getting to the point where it's showing the install directory, and that's the point (after I click Next) at which it's freezing up.

On this latest attempt, the install directory was C:\Program Files\Hero Designer.

[Simon]

OK, have you shut down Norton Antivirus and Norton Internet Security before running the installer?

In particular, Norton Internet Security has a tendency to hork many systems pretty badly....

[Spideyguy]

No, I hadn't done that. I'll try it again with those two disabled, and let you know how it goes.

Thanks for your continued patience and support.

Dan :hail: Dan :hail: Dan :hail:

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

I disabled both applications, and tried again. Freeze up at same point.

I uninstalled both applications, got one screen further, and froze up at the Choose Shortcut screen.

If the problem is in the fonts, how do I get my system to "release" the ones that it says are in use, so I can get this installed?

Sorry to be such a bother, but I certainly appreciate your expertise.

[Simon]

The problem does not sound like a font issue.

The problem sounds like Norton Internet Security has horked your system.

I would recommend NEVER installing that software. Antivirus is fine, but Internet Security has screwed up more systems (permanently, barring a complete reformat) than I care to think about.

You may want to try playing around with settings in Norton to see if you can muscle it into allowing the install.

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

I hate to even ask this question, but what if I've uninstalled both of the Norton Applications, and it's still locking up?

Certainly they wouldn't still be having an effect if I've uninstalled them, would they?

[Simon]

Dan,

I hate to even ask this question, but what if I've uninstalled both of the Norton Applications, and it's still locking up?

Certainly they wouldn't still be having an effect if I've uninstalled them, would they? Yes, it most likely would be. Internet Security horks a system. Badly. Much like the earlier versions of AOHell.

[Spideyguy]

Dan,

I've tried almost everything, and no matter what I do, I can't get the file to install. The only thing I know to do now is format the C: drive and do a clean OS install.

Hypothetically, if I do that, and try to install HDv1 prior to any other (Norton) software, and it still won't install, do you have any other suggestions for me?

John

[Simon]

First, burn the Norton Internet Security CD. It's for the best.

After the reformat/reinstall of your OS, if you want to be very safe, hit java.sun.com and install the current JVM (1.4.2_04). Then run the installer and all should be fine.

Norton Internet Security is basically just a virus. That you pay for.

[Spideyguy]

Anyone here have a good walk-through for formatting a hard drive and re-installing Windows?

[Teflon Billy]

Make sure you have all of the drivers for all of the hardware in your computer. This also includes downloading the windows service pack 1a from microsoft(download the network installation file, it's around 100 MB. You need this version to do an offline installation of the service pack) and the newest virus definition for your anti-virus software and burning to CD. This is essential if you have a high speed internet connection. If you don't, you will almost immediatly be infected with the blaster worm if you connect to the internet. Before you even have a chance to download the updates.

When you are sure that you have all of this, back up all of the personal data you have on your computer. Look in all of the usual places (My Documents, My Music, etc...) and some of the not so usualy places (Program Files, Other User Accounts under Documents and Settings, etc...). Make sure you back up everything that is stored on partitions on this same physical hard drive. If you have a C: and a D: partion all on the same physical hard drive, back it up. But if you have two hard drives you can just move everything over to whatever partition you have on the second hard drive instead of burning the date to CD.

When you have all of the backed up. Make sure that your computer's BIOS is set to boot from the CD-ROM. Go into your BIOS settings and make sure that the CD device (DVD, CD-RW, whatever you have on your system, try to use the more generic device which will more likely not have driver issues after you reformat) is first in the boot order, it should go CD-ROM, Hard Drive, Floppy for the order of boot up.

Place you Windows XP disk into the CD-ROM and reboot.

When you get to the partition table area of the install menus, delete the C: partition (assuming you have only one partition on the drive, if you have more than one partition on the same physical drive, I'd recomend deleting them all. Might as well use this as an opportunity to choose different sizes for the partitions). Then create a new partition with the empty space created. Then choose to format the partition, not the quick format option.

Then after that's done continue reinstalling. Make sure that you install the windows updates. And reinstall your device drivers.

When that's done, go online and download all of the windows updates. This'll take a while, but just keep downloading them and rebooting (it'll tell you when to do this) until all of the updates are installed.

Then, install HD. Once I got it installed I never had any problems with fonts or crashing. So I chalked it up to an instability with the installation program.

TB

[Spideyguy]

Billy,

Thanks for the great info! Due to my system having a lot of components that I wasn't familiar with (like an ATA hard drive, that caused a variation in the instructions you give above), I hauled it back to the vendor and asked them to format the drive and attempt to install Hero Designer v1.

Dan,

One of the things that the vendor said might be causing problems is the fact that my system is 64-bit architecture. Do you have any idea if that would cause conflicts in the installer HD is using?

Thanks to all for their time, patience, and input.

[Simon]

It shouldn't cause any conflicts.

Make sure that the vendor does not put Norton Internet Security back on the machine.

[Trailblazer]

I don't know if this is useful, but I happened to notice a warning on the download page of the new java 1.5.0 kit that "At this time, J2SE 1.5 Beta 1 does not include support for Windows or Linux on Intel Itanium 2 systems (Intel IA32 support for both Linux and Windows is available). Sun intends to release a J2SE 1.5 Itanium 2 download bundle at a later date." However, the download for 1.5 does list "32-bit/64-bit for Windows/Linux/Solaris SPARC" and "32-bit for Solaris x86".

That got me to wondering about 1.4.2 on a 64-bit platform, so I checked their "supported systems configuration page" at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/system-configurations.html. They do mention support for 64-bit systems, but with Windows Server 2003, not with XP, and only for the SDK, not the RTE (J2RE). There is also a note at the top of the page that "Note for Itanium 2, only the Java 2 SDK is released.".

Could this be a problem?

Daryl

[Simon]

I don't know if this is useful, but I happened to notice a warning on the download page of the new java 1.5.0 kit that "At this time, J2SE 1.5 Beta 1 does not include support for Windows or Linux on Intel Itanium 2 systems (Intel IA32 support for both Linux and Windows is available). Sun intends to release a J2SE 1.5 Itanium 2 download bundle at a later date." However, the download for 1.5 does list "32-bit/64-bit for Windows/Linux/Solaris SPARC" and "32-bit for Solaris x86".

That got me to wondering about 1.4.2 on a 64-bit platform, so I checked their "supported systems configuration page" at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/system-configurations.html. They do mention support for 64-bit systems, but with Windows Server 2003, not with XP, and only for the SDK, not the RTE (J2RE). There is also a note at the top of the page that "Note for Itanium 2, only the Java 2 SDK is released.".

Could this be a problem?

DarylPossible, but doubtful, since Java was working on his system (he had started the installer, which uses Java). It was only when it went to write out files that he was running into a problem, which tends to point to Norton....

[Spideyguy]

All,

Took this to my computer dealer, and he was able to get HDv1 to install in Safe Mode (why didn't I think of that!!??) and was then able to run it in Normal Mode. Apparently something running in the background wasn't playing nicely with the installer.

I've taken him my backed-up copy of the HDv2 upgrade to try and install, so we'll see how that goes.

Thanks to all who put in ideas to try and get this working. I appreciate it very much.