I just brought my second copy of Emergency Room (DOS game, my first copy of traded in at EB games at the local mall some 10 yrs ago or so, have regretted this, so got this 2nd copy) - well - have tried installing this game in 2 laptops (a macbook pro under DOSbox 0.72 win32-installer, & a Dell Inspiron netbook under DOSbox 0.73 win32), and when I try to install the game, it goes smoothly until the CD Speed Check part - this is when it locks up. This 2nd copy I bought from Amazon.com; it was listed as "like new" - disc is clean, scratch-free. However, when I installed my first copy of this game on my old Packard-Bell computer (a desktop PC running DOS 6) 10 -15 yrs ago, the installation went smoothly and completed quickly without locking up on me. I googled for info on "game install: desktop vs laptop" and I found this page on GameSpot: (link)
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26134486

So I'm wondering if the reason I cannot install Emergency Room in DOSbox (i.e. it locks up) is simply because of the different hardware in my 2 laptops and if I might have better results if I install the game in my Dell Dimension 8200 under DOSbox?

(Images of the game in question and the Packard-Bell computer can be seen at this link)
http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd225/KellySt10/My%20latest%20Game%20problems/?action=organize

I can't get your photobucket link to work properly, but I assume you're talking about this game
http://www.mobygames.com/game/emergency-room

Since it's a CD Speed check that's failing, you might try slowing your drive down with something like Nero CD/DVDSpeed
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/

CD drives were probably something like 2x speed back in 1995, nowhere close to as fast as they are now.

I can't either - and hi Kelly

I was going to recommend the CD speed program myself (on the other web site). If it's an issue with the drive speed this ought to correct the problem.

Yes, Jenny, that's the game.

Yes, I was using the Asus external DL optical drive with the netbook to install the game in DOSbox which was running at CpuCycles 3000, Frameskip 0 (whatever that means) ? This external drive runs CD-R's at 24X, and my macbook pro's optical drive runs CD-R's at - umm, it doesn't show the read speeds, but here is the info on my macbook pro's built-in optical drive:

MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-868:

Firmware Revision: KB19
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, DVD-DAO
Media: Insert media and refresh to show available burn speeds

Will d/l this CDspeed program you recommended (thanks!) - might I still have to go into DOSbox's config file and enter a different value in place of the "3000" for CpuCycles? - anyway, the game's directions call for a CD drive with a 300K/second transfer rate or at least double speed (600K/second transfer rate), and the game was published in 1995, so to quote Jenny thus -
- am starting to wonder what is the value (to slow down DOSbox) in CpuCycles for 2x speed? And if I slow down DOSbox, will I also have to slow down my optical drives in addition?
Thanks for the input.

Jenny, I went to the CD Speed slowdown utility download page from the link you provided, but it says I'll have to buy it - what gives? I thought there were free ones out there.

EDIT - just googled for Nero CD/DVD Speed (freeware), tried to download, but links were either broken or they ended up at this CDspeed2000 site where you have to pay if you want the full program. EDIT 2 - Did some more searching/surfing for Nero CD/DVD Speed and found this - page (link) http://www.brothersoft.com/nero-drivespeed-59629.html and I was able to successfully d/l it at from this page (link) http://www.brothersoft.com/nero-drivespeed-download-59629.html

No. CPU cycles aren't affected by the read speed.

Don't try to slow down DOSBox for a CD reading test. You only need to slow down the CD drive.

Your CD drives may be too fast for the "speed test" to detect, so it thinks their speed is zero.

Have used the Nero Drive Speed to reduce my macbook pro's original 24X speed (selected 2X but Nero lists this as 6X), started up DOSbox with the game disc in the drive, typed E: (DOSbox's CD drive is successfully mounted), but when I type install, I get an "Illegal command" - wait - have restarted Nero, restarted DOSbox with game disc in drive. Am now waiting for the game's installer CD speed check to finish - it's still checking, nothing's happening, it still seems to be taking a very long time/maybe it's locking up as before?

new link to images of my Packard-Bell PC (Gave this to my friend's kids), the game, and the game's CD speed check after reducing the optical drive speed in Nero. http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd225/KellySt10/My%20latest%20Game%20problems/?action=organize

I fixed the link you couldn't access before by putting in this new link.

Still not working for me - for some reason it takes me to MY photobucket account. Very strange.

I really don't know that much about photobucket - fixed (see my latest post)

We'd probably have to be logged into your photobucket account in order to see that particular page.

Can you give us links to the individual pictures?

How exactly do I do this short of posting the images in this thread - will I have to have an album for each photo?

Click the individual picture so you get the enlarged image.
To the left of the picture under where it says "Share this Image"
Copy what it says next to "Direct Link" and paste that link into your message.

speed check (Nero running, CD set at 2X but is listed as 6X) still hangs, even a half-hour after I tried again to install the game. (link to image below)

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd225...lltakeslong.jpg

Maybe you need to set the affinity of DOSBox to a single processor.

Is the 2x CD speed or DVD speed?
2x DVD speed is faster than 2x CD speed.

How to do this?


How to I determine if it's CD speed or DVD speed?

Start DOSBox (windowed)
Control-alt-delete to bring up Task Manager.
Processes tab.
Right-click on the DOSBox exe.
The bottom option in the screen that opens should be: Set Affinity.
Open this and uncheck all the CPU's except one.
Close the Task Manager.


Doesn't the program tell you?
What is the fastest speed it allows? That should give you an idea. If it's around 52x, it would be CD speed. If it's around 20x or less, it would be DVD speed (unless you have an old drive or a laptop drive).

Try manually setting the speed (see below):

Manually Setting Drive Speed

Enter the speed, and press Add.

I guess I shouldn't mention it in this thread but last night I tried to burn some data files onto a blank DVD in Windows XP with Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 Free (a program I d/l about a month ago) and several times it couldn't recognize the blank disc in my macbook pro's optical drive (this happened after I d/l Nero Drive Speed and used it to change the speed of my optical drive from the default 24X to 2X, which was listed as 6X by the Nero drive control panel, and before inserting the DVD into the drive and starting up Ashampoo Burning Studio, I used Nero to change my optical drive speed back to 24X) and then after I kept trying, restarting Windows XP, Ashampoo finally recognized my optical drive, I started the burn process but it didn't finish the burn - it spit the disc back out and gave me a message that the burn failed. I tried to burn 2 more discs, but apparently I had data on them that wasn't burned properly because 1) Ashampoo said there wasn't enough free space on the discs - they were both DL, and 2) although I was able to successfully burn 1 disc last night, when I reinserted the disc in the drive and tried to access the files, my drive saw it as a blank disc. Then earlier today I tried to burn 2 more discs, the burn failed 1/4 finished and spit the discs out. In total I ruined 3 DL Memorex blank DVD's this way - could this problem I'm now having with Ashampoo Burning Studio 6 be because I used Nero Drive Speed to change the speed of my optical drive?

I never had this problem prior to d/l Nero Drive Speed and using it to alter the speed of my optical drive - all data DL DVD's were burned successfully every time and the data could be accessed at any time (before using Nero).

Any help would be appreciated but maybe I should take this problem elsewhere (but who/where?) and just stick to getting Emergency Room to install fully in this thread.

Nero drive speed only affects the read speed - I don't see how it could interfere with burning.

Do you have the same problem burning with the Mac software?
This may be an "XP on a Mac" specific problem.
Intel Mac hardware is supposed to be compatible with Windows using Boot Camp, but it isn't identical to PC hardware.

No, all the burns using OS X work fine.

Then it isn't a hardware problem.
Were you able to burn from Windows before now?

Yes, all the burns in Windows completed successfully, and I was able to access the data on the discs after the burns.

I wonder if there could be a software conflict between Nero and AShampoo. Have you tried uninstalling Nero to see if your ability to burn comes back? Have you tested the built-in Windows capability of copying files to a CD without using AShampoo? Have you tried adjusting the burn speed from within AShampoo? Are you using a batch of CDR or DVDR discs that worked previously?

Removing it completely may require restoring to a point prior to installing if it adds filter drivers to the registry. They can be manually removed - but restoring is the simplest approach.

You can test for the existence of any additional filter drivers using the DevFilter utility -

busTRACE Utilities

I tried to uninstall Nero Drive Speed but there was no such entry in Add/Remove Programs in my Win XP Control Panel, in fact no option to uninstall from within Start > All Programs, nor R-clicking its desktop icon, so I simply R-clicked it and deleted it. Am now looking to see how you do a System Restore - went into Control Panel > System, System Restore tab, "Ok" but it won't do the system restore.

Stumped