SH4 Won't Run!!

[Bane]

This happened to me once. I ended the process (sh4.exe) with Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) and then tried running it again. It worked fine the second time.

[7Enigma]

The fact that your drivers are up to date makes this much more complicated to diagnose (as that is usually the culprit). I second checking directX drivers to make sure they are installed from the disk. On more then 1 occassion I had a "newer" version of the drivers and didn't use the disk's which caused issues.

This is frowned upon but I would try a no-cd crack and see if the game runs. This will eliminate the possibility that the disk is somehow damaged or being picked up as non-legit. I doubt this is the case but it would be a very simple check to confirm that the disk is not the culprit.

After that there are a whole host of possible reasons, unfortunately you have the worst type of "crash", that is no noticeable errors or symptoms to start ruling out components.

Please note I do not condone the use of no-cd cracks, piracy, etc. The method described is a way to attempt to learn what is the cause of the failed load.

[Zantham]

Originally Posted by 7Enigma

The fact that your drivers are up to date makes this much more complicated to diagnose (as that is usually the culprit). I second checking directX drivers to make sure they are installed from the disk. On more then 1 occassion I had a "newer" version of the drivers and didn't use the disk's which caused issues.

This is frowned upon but I would try a no-cd crack and see if the game runs. This will eliminate the possibility that the disk is somehow damaged or being picked up as non-legit. I doubt this is the case but it would be a very simple check to confirm that the disk is not the culprit.

After that there are a whole host of possible reasons, unfortunately you have the worst type of "crash", that is no noticeable errors or symptoms to start ruling out components.

Please note I do not condone the use of no-cd cracks, piracy, etc. The method described is a way to attempt to learn what is the cause of the failed load.

Agree 100% with this post.

If your not getting the Securom spinny CD mouse pointer then its most likely a legit-CD check issue. If you can, try installing another DVD drive in your computer (different brand preferably) and try that, and if you happen to be running any virtual drive software (Nero, Daemon Tools, Alcohol to name a few) then try uninstalling those too.

And while I'd be VERY careful using a crack to diagnose this, even if it works with a crack I'd not continue to use the crack to play the game since it can/will cause its own problems affecting gameplay.

Here is a link to the Securom support site. You can generate a logfile that you can send in to them that can help them analyse if their copy protection is at issue here.

http://www.securom.com/message.asp?m=analysis