SimCity4 crashing at game start

[Faunz 0]

I hate it when games decide to do this.  I know there's nothing wrong with the game itself, as it worked on another computer of mine awhile ago (now that computer is dead) so I tried installing it on current comp and it installs fine, but when I try and start the game it gets to the EA logo then returns to desktop and that's all the farther I can get.  I've uninstalled, restarted, reinstalled in every possible combination and this is still all I get.

I don't know exactly where to get all the specs that people usually post with these types of problems but this is what I'm running as far as my computer and graphics card

OS Windows XP (on a Dell, if that makes a dif, OptiPlex GX260)

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.00 GHz

766MB RAM

DirectX version 9.0c

Ati Radeon 9550 gphx card, total mem 256MB

I have the updated drivers for the card... and yeah sorry not too much more computer savvy beyond knowing this so if you need more info you'll also have to explain to me how and where to find it.

[Faunz 0]

I've been googling for hours and found another thread that mentioned something about logitech mouse point utility or something interfering with the game and I am using a wireless logitech keyboard and mouse but I don't know if that's the problem and if it is, how to fix it. I downloaded the patch from the official website that's supposed to help with graphics issues and crashing issues but it's not helping.

[ruennsheng 0]

Actually, my Dell Dimension E520 also faced some problems loading the game, and the game can suddenly 'go off'.

It sucks man!

[Faunz 0]

UGH! I always seem to ask for help when I myself am a step away from figuring it out! Turns out that I needed to re-install the driver for the sound. It's always something simple . . . I forgot when I put the new gphx card in I had to disable the onboard one (this is a custom machine) and somehow the sound driver was deleted. Ahhhh.... now I've spent so long trying to get it to work I don't even want to play it anymore. Goodnight, and thanks anyway guys.

[ruennsheng 0]

Re-instal the driver?!!!

Such is the complexity of the game we love

[Geronimo 4]

You should check out the Bugs & Technical Issues thread where issues like this should be posted.

Quote from The top most reported issues:

5)If SC freezes upon displaying the intro, and then crashes, it's most likely due to a plugin conflict. Remove your plugins and replace them one by one until you have found the issuequote>

As you have an ATI graphic card the problems could be related to this or a driver issue, search the forum for ATI as there as several threads on this problems here.

Hope this helps 

[Darth Apple 54]

its the sound card!!! fix it up! I had the exact same problem once - we ended up buying another sc4 and reinstalling only to find that the problem was still there! after I found the sound card wasn't working - I fixed it and simcity worked just fine after that. check your sound card very closely - theres probably a glitch somewhere.

***edit: oops! I just realized that you already got an answer , sorry. ***edit

[ruennsheng 0]

So many technicalities --- sigh!