Windows 7 Walkarounds (Halo 2 for Windows Vista)

[MetaRidley15]

Hello.

I know this thread's been dead for a long time but I have tried all of these methods on my computer and halo 2 won't run.

Now when I try to run the game using windows program compatibility troubleshooting, the following message comes up:

"Initialization failed. Either insufficient system resources were found to run the game, or game data is missing or damaged. Reinstalling the game may fix this problem."

I've reinstalled 3 times now and no luck. But I think I know what the problem is.

When I ran the installer it told me that my graphics were not up to scratch, saying that I had 64MB of intel integrated graphics. Now that's all well and good expect for the fact that I have a Alienware m11x and my graphics card is a 2.0GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M.

This isn't new to me; dxdiag can only see my integrated intel graphics too, but msinfo32 can see my NVIDIA card. Other games such as crysis 2 and starcraft 2 are run at max settings so I know its there. So basically halo 2 won't start because it THINKS my graphics aren't good enough but they certainly are.

I've tried the methods in this thread that apply to me and they haven't worked so I'm sure that this is the problem.

Is there any way for me to run Halo 2 without it having to check my system's graphics? Or can I get it to recognise NVIDIA at all? (I have made sure I've selected to “run with NVIDIA high performance graphics processor” when I click on it)

Other specs
Windows 7 Home Premium (service pack 1) 64 bit
8GB DDR3 RAM
Intel i7 2617M 1.5GHz processor (overclocks to 2.5GHz)

Any help would be appreciated

Edit: I've also made sure the drivers for both graphics cards have been updated (integrated required update, NVIDIA didn't).

[Resinball]

Have you tried disabling the integrated Intel GPU?

[MetaRidley15]

Yes I thought of that after I posted actually, but that didn't work. Dxdiag couldn't find any graphics card and halo 2 still wouldn't run. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[supersniper]

the issues above are for the error where it says an instance of LIVE is already running.

but if dxdiag couldn't find any graphics card then there's your problem.

[MetaRidley15]

Ok. Well do you know of any way that I can make dxdiag recognise it? Or Halo 2? Or can I trick Halo 2 into thinking my integrated graphics are better?
Thanks again for any help.

[MetaRidley15]

I should also note that I reinstalled the driver from the CD that came with the computer and that didn't work either. Perhaps I should disable the integrated graphics, THEN reinstall NVIDIA drivers? Maybe that would get dxdiag and other programs (like Halo 2) to recognise the card.

[supersniper]

what kind of card do you have?

[MetaRidley15]

NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M, 2GB

[Resinball]

1) First download the latest drivers for your NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M, 2GB here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us.


2) Then disable the integrated GPU. Sometimes you need to enter the BIOS to do this correctly.


3) Then uninstall the old NVIDIA drivers (drivers from CDs are almost always outdated) and restart the computer.


4) Now install the new drivers you downloaded in the first step.


Success?

[MetaRidley15]

I swear I replied to this before but thanks for the advice.
Unfortunately it didn't work, dxdiag still couldn't see anything and Halo 2 didn't do anything. Interestingly, I couldn't access NVIDIA Control Panel with just the NVIDIA card activated; it said
"You are currently not using a display attached to a NVIDIA GPU."
This implies to me that the NVIDIA card works through the intel integrated GPU, and when I look up the m11x on alienware's site it says the card set is a "dual" set so I guess one can't work without the other.

Any other ideas?

If not which support people should I contact, Alienware (for GPU) or Microsoft (for Halo 2)? I'm thinking Alienware.