Is this a bad cd or an OS issue?

I have an old PC game that I've been trying to play. The disc is pretty scratched up but it's not horrible. Anyway, I have windows 7 and this game was made for 95/98. The installer ran fine but the install is freezing at 51% every time. I've also tried it on two other computers, both of which have windows vista. On one of them, the installer wouldn't run at all. On the other one, it ran, but stalled on this one file extraction at 51% again. Do you think this is most likely an OS issue that can be fixed by using an older OS, or is the disc just bad?

Anthony

Posted 2013-02-24T11:22:38.350

Reputation: 21

2Try to copy the complete CD data onto your hard disk and then install it from there, not from the CD. If the copy operation works, CD should be ok... – Chris – 2013-02-24T11:41:30.683

Thanks for the advice. I tried what you said and it didn't work. So I guess I've gotta get my skip doctor out. Thanks again. – Anthony – 2013-02-24T13:02:35.947

As my advice answered your question, I set it as answer instead of comment... ;) – Chris – 2013-02-24T15:09:15.510

Answers

Try to copy the complete CD data onto your hard disk and then install it from there, not from the CD. If the copy operation works, CD should be ok...

Chris

Posted 2013-02-24T11:22:38.350

Reputation: 182

I would try the following:

Run the setup executable in Win 98 compatibility mode.
If the setup gives you the option to do so, change the installation directory to "C:/Program Files (x86)/Game-Name".

Let me know if this works.

Moses

Posted 2013-02-24T11:22:38.350

Reputation: 10 813

I saw Microsoft games for Windows 98, certified for the exact configuration installed, which didn't make it past the splash screen on Windows NT. Games aren't exactly on the list of packages for which Microsoft adds bletcherous kludges "for backwards compatibility"... – vonbrand – 2013-02-24T19:28:47.437

Yes, but I've seen plenty of circumstances where old 32-bit games give newer x64 processors a hard time (despite the hardware having backwards compatibility), and compatibility mode in Win7 resolved it. – Moses – 2013-02-24T19:33:32.717

@Anthony I should have mentioned that if this game is a 16 bit game, it will not run if you have a x64 installation of Windows. – Moses – 2013-02-24T19:34:26.493

In my case it was 32 bits throughout. A pure OS problem, don't remember more details (just that I gave up in the end). – vonbrand – 2013-02-24T19:35:12.457

@vonbrand Did you try it in a VM? – Moses – 2013-02-24T19:37:33.073

VMs were a half dozen years in the future back then. – vonbrand – 2013-02-24T19:44:53.613