GTA:VC - play CD issues!

"NickD" <nickdrew90 RemoveThis @hotmail.com> wrote in news:1149443096.317880.149700
@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

> *#@^in' CD!!
>
> About 2/3 of the way through GTA:VC (up to the crazy phil missions),
> but am struggling to get my PC to recognise the play CD.
> First up, I'm playing a legal retail version of the game (no copies),
> and the issue with the play CD has been getting worse for about a month
> now. Now I can't even get the game to recognise the CD, so it won't
> fire up. Yesterday it took about 10-15 tries to get it to start up, and
> then the game freezes every time it fires up the CD. Frustrating
> doesn't even cover it.... I've cleaned the CD and removed the small
> scratches that were there; my PC drive has no problem recognising other
> CDs or DVDs.
>
> So... anyone had similar problems? Any recommendations? To be honest,
> I'm half tempted to send it back to Rockstar with a rude note asking
> for my money back. Possibly with a large piece of dog turd in there
> too, but I'm undecided on that last bit...
>
> Cheers
> Nick
>

Do you have any other troubles with your CD drive reading? In a
situation like you describe I would blame a failing optical drive rather
than a bad CD (unless you have a HUGE particulate count in your air
and/or horribly abuse your CD). I have had VC since right after it came
out and even after living in my CD drive for nearly a year it still works
fine.

Is it a burner drive? If so you should be able to set up a burn and have
your burning software do a "speed test" that should diagnose any
deficiencies. If not then I am sure a trip to google will find some sort
of utility that will test the read speed of your drive.

Of course all this assumes you don't have a virus or nasty spyware
infestation, those could cause the same problems. I know there is a copy
protection scheme that has been causeing major problems with other
applications, and I think it was Sony that had a rootkit that would
install itself from any audio cd's of theirs that you put in your drive.

If it does wind up being the drive the best suggestion I can make is to
pop the extra few bucks for a brand name drive. After going through
several of the generic ones on special at Fry's I bought a TDK that has
been serving me flawlessly for 4 machines now (granted it isn't the
speediest there is, but still more than adequate for every use I have for
it).
 >> Stay informed about: GTA:VC - play CD issues! 

"NickD" <nickdrew90 DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1149443096.317880.149700@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> *#@^in' CD!!
>
> About 2/3 of the way through GTA:VC (up to the crazy phil missions),
> but am struggling to get my PC to recognise the play CD.
> First up, I'm playing a legal retail version of the game (no copies),
> and the issue with the play CD has been getting worse for about a month
> now. Now I can't even get the game to recognise the CD, so it won't
> fire up. Yesterday it took about 10-15 tries to get it to start up, and
> then the game freezes every time it fires up the CD. Frustrating
> doesn't even cover it.... I've cleaned the CD and removed the small
> scratches that were there; my PC drive has no problem recognising other
> CDs or DVDs.

Can you make an ISO file of the CD using CloneCD or similar? I'm not
suggesting this as a solution, it's just that if you _can't_ make a byte
copy...

> So... anyone had similar problems? Any recommendations? To be honest,
> I'm half tempted to send it back to Rockstar with a rude note asking
> for my money back. Possibly with a large piece of dog turd in there
> too, but I'm undecided on that last bit...

....then this bit is complete bollocks. You can't justifiably get your money
back or send them excrement when the problem is a scratch or failing
hardware - it's your fault. It could conceivably be a bad disc, in which
case you'd be justified in getting a replacement.


If you _can_ make a clone of the CD, and you then try to use it with Daemon
tools or a no-CD crack, and it still doesn't work, then it's possibly your
PC that's at fault. Check your graphic drivers are up to date.
 >> Stay informed about: GTA:VC - play CD issues! 

"NickD" <nickdrew90.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:1149499212.582030.228960@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

>
>
>> Do you have any other troubles with your CD drive reading? In a
>> situation like you describe I would blame a failing optical drive
>> rather than a bad CD (unless you have a HUGE particulate count in
>> your air and/or horribly abuse your CD). I have had VC since right
>> after it came out and even after living in my CD drive for nearly a
>> year it still works fine.
>>
>> Is it a burner drive? If so you should be able to set up a burn and
>> have your burning software do a "speed test" that should diagnose any
>> deficiencies. If not then I am sure a trip to google will find some
>> sort of utility that will test the read speed of your drive.
>>
>> Of course all this assumes you don't have a virus or nasty spyware
>> infestation, those could cause the same problems. I know there is a
>> copy protection scheme that has been causeing major problems with
>> other applications, and I think it was Sony that had a rootkit that
>> would install itself from any audio cd's of theirs that you put in
>> your drive.
>>
>> If it does wind up being the drive the best suggestion I can make is
>> to pop the extra few bucks for a brand name drive. After going
>> through several of the generic ones on special at Fry's I bought a
>> TDK that has been serving me flawlessly for 4 machines now (granted
>> it isn't the speediest there is, but still more than adequate for
>> every use I have for it).
>
> It's a Sony DVDROM/ CDRW drive, and no, I haven't had any other major
> problems with it reading CDs. For some reason it's only the VC CD,
> despite the fact that I've used other CDs that are more scratched,
> less reflective etc. As I said, I've even cleaned/ polished the CD
> with scratch-removing stuff, but it's made no difference. No viruses/
> spyware AFAICS (unless you count Windows' various services and things
> like SonicStage as spyware...).
>
> My only other thought is that I've got something on the lens of the CD
> drive, and I'll get a CD lens cleaner in there. But it still doesn't
> really explain why it's only VC that's affected.
>
> Cheers
> Nick
>
>

Another way to chase this down is to take the CD to someone else's
machine and see if the same problem occurs.

Or.....

If you have a Walmart nearby you might check their software section, I
found GTA 3 and VC both in the section that usually houses the fish
screen saver and the mahjongg collections for about $10.

However, the best bet is probably to find a no-cd patch and just go that
way, then you wouldn't need the CD at all.

Just to check it out you might want to run the speed test I mentioned.
In Nero you can just set up a burn and when you go to burn it there is an
option to "check maximum speed" or something similar, check that box and
uncheck the "write" box and it will just test the drive for you. If it
gives you a really low number then you might still have a drive problem.
If you didn't get Nero with your drive then check into whatever package
you did get, they usually have some sort of similar drive test.
 >> Stay informed about: GTA:VC - play CD issues! 

> Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

Well the CD drive is now knackered completely, won't play anything,
including audio CDs. Fortunately I've found exactly the same drive
cheap on ebay, so will slot that in soon-ish.

Weird thing is that GTA:VC was the first CD I had problems with, and
even when the drive played other CDs fine, it did NOT like the VC one.
Personally I blame it on Rockstar....
;c)

Nick
 >> Stay informed about: GTA:VC - play CD issues! 

> >Well the CD drive is now knackered completely, won't play anything,
> >including audio CDs. Fortunately I've found exactly the same drive
> >cheap on ebay, so will slot that in soon-ish.
> >
> >Weird thing is that GTA:VC was the first CD I had problems with, and
> >even when the drive played other CDs fine, it did NOT like the VC one.
> >Personally I blame it on Rockstar....
> >;c)
> >
> >Nick
>
> wouldnt it have been more advisable to buy a different one to the
> model you were having problems with?

er..... no comment.

Yes, it did occur to me shortly after I'd paid for it. But having paid
for it, I'm trying really hard to obliterate that thought...

Nick
 >> Stay informed about: GTA:VC - play CD issues! 

In message <1150289879.667291.99370 RemoveThis @i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>
"Class-1" <Class1 RemoveThis @fastmail.fm> wrote:

> Also, many older older PS2s apparently died at the hands of SA. Neither
> of my PS2s have ever had any kind of drive problems, but then I do
> obsessively keep them spotlessly clean, esp. in relation to any dust
> around the air intakes.

I had a few problems with my old-style PS2. A few games are constantly
loading things as you move around in the game world asnd this ends up
burning out the little motor that moves the laser lens.

If you know your way around the inside of a PS2 you can buy
replacements but it's a *bitch* trying to get the correct lens
alignment. I actually had more trouble with replacement fans. It never
occurred to me that a distance of four or so inches all around the
unit would still affect the heat. Dust on/in the front grill under the
memory card/joypad ports and CD tray has been much more trouble.

SA wasn't too bad, but by then I had a network card and a harddisk, with
the added of bonus of hardly any loading long times.

> So it's quite novel to hear VC killing someone's HW for a change!!

See above, but I just know the bastard thing's gonna start giving me
hassle after I've sung it's praises ;o)


Cheers,
Rob
--
..__ __ |__ |__ .|__ __ | Rob White, Half Man Half Biscuit.
| / \| \ | | || ||| /__\ | mflt35 RemoveThis @dsl.pipex.com
| \__/|__/ |_|_|| |||__\___ | Wimbledon, London, England.
"Do sugar cubes have dots or is that a dice I just put in my tea?"

To the world you are somebody, but to somebody you are the world.
 >> Stay informed about: GTA:VC - play CD issues! 

Rob White wrote:
> I had a few problems with my old-style PS2. A few games are constantly
> loading things as you move around in the game world asnd this ends up
> burning out the little motor that moves the laser lens.
>
> If you know your way around the inside of a PS2 you can buy
> replacements but it's a *bitch* trying to get the correct lens
> alignment. I actually had more trouble with replacement fans.

My original old-skool black breeze-block PS2 still works flawlessly,
but the fan bearings are starting to cause a slight yet annoying
buzzing. Main reason I ended up buying a new silver one in time for the
SA!

I know one of the pitfalls of tinkering with them is the Ribbon Cable
of Doom.
So I'd be very interested how you went about sourcing & replacing the
fan?
 >> Stay informed about: GTA:VC - play CD issues! 

In message <1150359245.827042.171460 DeleteThis @y41g2000cwy.googlegroups.com>
"Class-1" <Class1 DeleteThis @fastmail.fm> wrote:

> My original old-skool black breeze-block PS2 still works flawlessly,
> but the fan bearings are starting to cause a slight yet annoying
> buzzing. Main reason I ended up buying a new silver one in time for the
> SA!

That was the main factor in me deciding to change mine - I just
couldn't stand that annoying whirring noise anymore. I've got a feeling
that it was a load of dust clogging up the axis it spins round on.
Plus, without taking the whole thing apart and soaking in warm soapy
water they're a pig to clean manually due to the shape.

> I know one of the pitfalls of tinkering with them is the Ribbon Cable
> of Doom.

Be VERY careful with that! It does slide out semi-easily, but you must
do this very, very slowly.

> So I'd be very interested how you went about sourcing & replacing the
> fan?

I simply did a Google search for something like 'PS2 Repair
Guides/Manuals' and picked a few of the better matches.

An awful lot of sites with a search like that are companies selling
replacement parts but there are some good detailed manuals with
pictures too.


Cheers,
Rob
--
..__ __ |__ |__ .|__ __ | Rob White, Half Man Half Biscuit.
| / \| \ | | || ||| /__\ | mflt35 DeleteThis @dsl.pipex.com
| \__/|__/ |_|_|| |||__\___ | Wimbledon, London, England.
"Do sugar cubes have dots or is that a dice I just put in my tea?"

To the world you are somebody, but to somebody you are the world.
 >> Stay informed about: GTA:VC - play CD issues!