Hi guys, I'm new here. One of the reasons I joined was for some expert support on troubleshooting a big problem that I have. I probably will post quite frequently here.

My Computer:
-AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1.7GHZ)
-Windows 2000 Pro
-Vintech 50x CD-ROM(Vin 50a) [I think Vintech shut down]
-8x/4x/32/ CD-RW(Broken I believe)
-2 seperate hard drives (both Maxtors at 5200rpm one is 80 GBs and one is 20)
-nVidia GeForce 4 MX 440 64 MB
-Soundblaster Live! Audio Card
-Gigabite GA-7VKML MOBO

Well here's my problem, I bought Madden 2003 a week ago and it's never worked and I've been trying hard to fix it ever since. After installing it and pressing PLAY on the auto-play menu screen, nothing seems to load and I just remain at my desktop. NOTHING happens. No flash screen or anything. Just end up looking at my desktop. I don't get any error messages.

I've called Tech Support and they believe it's a CD-Rom firmware problem. It might be but then again you never know. I can't figure out because Vintech's website keeps getting 502 errors. I think I'm going to goto a computer store and try out brand new CD-Roms to run the game on my computer. But before I drive all the way there with my computer, I want to make sure it's a CD-Rom problem so I call for your knowledge.

Is it a problem of my CD-Rom not being able read and get through the copywrite files on my Madden 2003 CD?? That would be my guess.

Please help.

does any other cd work in that same cd-rom. If others work i believe i would trade the disk from wherever you purchased it, or wherever you got it.....

i doubt your cdrom drive is defective so i wouldn't get a new one yet.
windows 2000 as far as i know is no good for games,try the web site of the game manufacturer to see if there's a patch to run it in win2000.
if the game is a copy then test it on another machine to see if it works.
as for upgrading the firmware on your drive - don't do it as it invalidates any warranty.
windows 98,ME,XP are ok for running games on.
hope it helps.

i noticed you've got your cdwriter listed as broken,what are the problems your having with it.

Originally posted by jasev
i noticed you've got your cdwriter listed as broken,what are the problems your having with it.

Well, when I press the eject button, it doesn't come out. I manually took it out with a paper clip but it doesn't do anything to fix it. I've tried EJECT on My Computers.

You know what, a burner could probably run it because it would probably run over the copywrite protection thing.

Madden 2003 is compatible with Windows 2000(says so on the box).

I've took it back to the place I got it from and it worked fine on their computers.

I don't think my CD-Rom is defective. It's just old(4 years) and needs a new driver. I doubt it has any warranty left.

you can try and run the game with the no cd patch get it here

http://www.megagames.com/cgi/download/download.cgi?action=search&category=cracks&search=MADDEN.NFL.2003.10.US.NOCD.ZIP

or from

www.gamecopyworld.com

this will let you run the game from your harddrive ,so you'll see if this is a cdrom issue or not ,thats provided the game is fully installed.

btw the patch is for nfl

http://mysite.freeserve.com/sickmanofasia/images/0-picture.gif

Originally posted by sickmanofasia
you can try and run the game with the no cd patch get it here

http://www.megagames.com/cgi/download/download.cgi?action=search&category=cracks&search=MADDEN.NFL.2003.10.US.NOCD.ZIP

or from

www.gamecopyworld.com

this will let you run the game from your harddrive ,so you'll see if this is a cdrom issue or not ,thats provided the game is fully installed.

btw the patch is for nfl

http://mysite.freeserve.com/sickmanofasia/images/0-picture.gif

DUDE!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD YOU'RE THE SAVIOR OF MY FUN LIFE LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE MY FRIEND LOL!

seriously, I've tried everything man. if i have to use a crack to make this work, well thx to you I will and I will have fun. thanks a ton man.

let us know if this works m8 ,it might not