Why did my games stop working?

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Level 1

15 points

Why did my games stop working?

Hello Everyone:

Up until recently, my Sims 2 worked fine. I tried to play today and it won't open. When I double-click it, the little icon bounces at the bottom for a couple of seconds and then disappears. I've tried to uninstall and reinstall, but that hasn't helped. I've restarted the computer. That didn't help. I have a new game (Spore) and tried to install it, but it will not install. I double-click the install icon, but nothing happens. DVD movies will play however.

I've seen references to security updates and Quicktime updates, but I don't know how to check and/or uninstall those....

Any ideas? I'm clueless and frustrated.

Help!
Thanks in advance for any help...

Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jan 24, 2009 7:57 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Jan 24, 2009 9:27 PM in response to Kristi Foulk

Hi Kristi,

Lets try this first...

Then Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it finishes.

Does anything work better yet?

If not...

It appears to be time for An Archive & Install, which gives you a new OS, but can preserve all your files, pics, music, settings, etc., as long as you have plenty of free disk space...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

Be sure to use Preserve Users & Settings.

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2009 4:09 AM in response to Kristi Foulk

Hi Kristi,

Have you recently updated Quicktime? If so see this thread:

Problems Loading Programs

Good luck,

Adrian

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Answer 3

Kristi Foulk Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 25, 2009 11:14 AM in response to Kristi Foulk

I've not had any luck and I'm afraid to do the reinstall thing on my own. 😟 Would an upgrade to Leopard fix this? I heard some buzz about that. How can I tell if my system meets the specs to upgrade? Ack! Please help!

Thanks!!

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Answer 4

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Jan 25, 2009 12:13 PM in response to Kristi Foulk

Leopard requirements...

* Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor

minimum system requirements

* 512MB of memory
* DVD drive for installation
* 9GB of available disk space

Although it's not anymore likely to fix it than doing an Archive & Install, which is fairly quick and Painless if you have enough Free Space on your Hard Drive & it Verifies as OK.

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Answer 5

Kristi Foulk Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 25, 2009 12:24 PM in response to BDAqua

Hi BDAqua:
Thanks for the quick response. I'm afraid I'm a Mac illiterate. How can I find out if my system meets these specs? When I had my Dell, it would automatically check for me, so I guess I'm unsure of myself. I've looked at the "about this mac" and it says this:

Processor: 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 1 GB 667 MHZ DDR2 SDRAM
Startup Disk: Macintosh HD
Hardware Overview:
Capacity: 232.57 GB
Available: 151.9 GB
Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: IM51.0090.B09
SMC Version: 1.8f2

Does this meet the specs? If I can upgrade to Leopard, I'd like to go ahead and do it and if it will fix the problem - that would be a bonus! I'm afraid to do it myself - I have to admit I've never even done a backup and I feel overwhelmed! I don't want to lose any of my iTunes or photos or documents. The instructions for the reinstall scared me. I thought I could take it to the Genius bar for an install, but they can't see me for several days. I'm just so confused by all this.

ACK!! Sorry to be so Mac-illiterate! I even went and bought Mac for Dummies! Any advice?

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Answer 6

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Jan 25, 2009 12:38 PM in response to Kristi Foulk

Does this meet the specs?

Yes it meets the requirements fine, more RAM would be a boon though.

Which Games are they again... some likely won't work in Leopaed that do work in Tiger, so let us know which ones.

I thought I could take it to the Genius bar for an install, but they can't see me for several days

I really think you could do it, but I strongly recommend that you get a good Firewire drive to Clone your Internal drive to ASAP!

http://eshop.macsales.com/search/firewire+drives

Many of those come with Backup SW, or you can get one at the Apple Store...

Get carbon copy cloner to make an exact copy of your old HD to the New one...

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

SuperDuper...

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/

Or the most expensive one & my favorite, Tri-Backup...

http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html

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Answer 7

Kristi Foulk Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 25, 2009 12:49 PM in response to BDAqua

Hi Again - Thanks for helping me!

The games are The Sims 2 and Spore. Will they work on Leopard?

Thanks!!!

I'm going to check out those links for the backups...

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Answer 8

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Jan 25, 2009 1:45 PM in response to Kristi Foulk

Hi Kristi, I don't have either of those to try, but with caveats...

http://atinyblip.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/how-to-run-the-sims-2-mac-in-windowed- mode-in-os-x-leopard/

Can't find the old one, but the new Spore only runs on IntelMacs with Leaopard I guess...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10030886-52.html

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Answer 9

Kristi Foulk Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 25, 2009 2:01 PM in response to BDAqua

Thank you for your help! I never thought this would happen with a Mac!

Thanks again for all the advice and support!

🙂

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Answer 10

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Jan 25, 2009 2:25 PM in response to Kristi Foulk

Good luck Kristi! 🙂

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Answer 11

Kristi Foulk Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 25, 2009 2:35 PM in response to Kristi Foulk

Thank you - You have been so helpful and patient!

🙂

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Answer 12

Kristi Foulk Author

Level 1

15 points

Jan 31, 2009 6:05 PM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua -

Just to follow up - I went ahead and upgraded to Leopard so I could play Spore. I followed your advice and everything went so smoothly!

Thank you so much!

🙂

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Answer 13

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Jan 31, 2009 6:28 PM in response to Kristi Foulk

Great news, thanks Kristi ! 🙂

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Answer 14

Kristi Foulk Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 4, 2009 3:45 PM in response to BDAqua

Hi Again -

You mentioned that more RAM would be good. I've been looking at adding more memory, but I can't tell which machine I've got or which one would be best - can you tell from the previous specs? When I had my Dell, I installed the memory myself - is it easy for Macs, or should I take it to the Geniuses?

Thanks...

🙂

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Answer 15

BDAqua

Level 10

238,961 points

Feb 4, 2009 4:36 PM in response to Kristi Foulk

Hi Kristi,

Sure can, any of this RAM... it's even easier on yours than a DELL!

http://tinyurl.com/aagt8r

But I'd go for this one...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/53C4DDR2P4GB/

It'll mean throwing away your 1 GB, or trading it in for a few bucks, but well worth it. 🙂

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