I don't think it's the CPU. My guess would that the GPU (or the video driver) is not that compatible.
Perhaps you could try some newer driver, if HP doesn't offer one you could look for other notebooks with that GPU, or maybe an Omega driver could work?

It is most likely the driver and knowing how HP manages turn everything they make into pure crap I wouldn't be surprised that only a limited set of drivers work compared to others that use the same chipset. For vintage gaming on laptops some Dells and Thinkpad works better and has better build quality.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Windows XP Service Pack 3, which is known for its backward compatibility problems with older games.

Is it now?

From my experience, ATI/AMD video cards have terrible backwards compatibility so I'm going to guess that could be a factor. :P

It's also possible you may simply be using the wrong video drivers. Not necessarily that your drivers aren't up to date, just that they're the wrong ones. Quite often with these older systems the most up to date drivers are actually worse for backwards compatibility than older drivers, so you'll want to grab some driver releases that are timed better with when those games you're trying to play were released and see if that helps.

For example, there was a point in time when I was still using my old Windows 98 system where I updated my drivers and suddenly the particle-based force fields in System Shock 2 stopped rendering. Everything else was still working perfectly fine though. It would then be over a year and numerous more driver releases later before they finally started rendering again. :P

Gemini000 wrote:

From my experience, ATI/AMD video cards have terrible backwards compatibility so I'm going to guess that could be a factor. 😜

It's also possible you may simply be using the wrong video drivers. Not necessarily that your drivers aren't up to date, just that they're the wrong ones. Quite often with these older systems the most up to date drivers are actually worse for backwards compatibility than older drivers, so you'll want to grab some driver releases that are timed better with when those games you're trying to play were released and see if that helps.

For example, there was a point in time when I was still using my old Windows 98 system where I updated my drivers and suddenly the particle-based force fields in System Shock 2 stopped rendering. Everything else was still working perfectly fine though. It would then be over a year and numerous more driver releases later before they finally started rendering again. 😜

I had a similar issue with Geforce Detonator drivers. The character selection rings in Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment would simply not display with a particular official driver so I had to downgrade the drivers or find a workaround. I am not sure if the functionality was ever restored.

Something's wrong here, how can the installation program be a compatibility problem? The installation crashing screams RAM problems to me or just stability problems overall.

I'd urge you to check those RAM DIMMs and do a clean install of Windows XP. Hopefully, it is not RAM related.

F2bnp wrote:

Something's wrong here, how can the installation program be a compatibility problem?

I've had installers crash in the past because they're testing the hardware capabilities of the system in question but fail to take into account integer overflows due to the way they perform their tests... or sometimes just the nature of how they test the hardware causes issues.

TBH: I have no idea if Red Alert 2 would be affected by this as I've never played it, but if its installer is anything like the installer for the original C&C it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's trying to do lots of fun special effects which Kreshna's laptop just doesn't like for whatever reason. :P

Gemini000 wrote:

F2bnp wrote:

Something's wrong here, how can the installation program be a compatibility problem?

I've had installers crash in the past because they're testing the hardware capabilities of the system in question but fail to take into account integer overflows due to the way they perform their tests... or sometimes just the nature of how they test the hardware causes issues.

TBH: I have no idea if Red Alert 2 would be affected by this as I've never played it, but if its installer is anything like the installer for the original C&C it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's trying to do lots of fun special effects which Kreshna's laptop just doesn't like for whatever reason. 😜

Good idea, but I don't remember RA2 doing any tests during installation. 🙁

I don't know the other game, but RA2 doesn't need 3D - I've run it successfully on Intel "Extreme" Graphics with no problems. RAM or disk or OS would be what I'd check regarding that one (I'd agree with F2bnp). With 3D I wouldn't be surprised if the Xpress 200 were giving some issues with old games - I don't remember the ATi chipsets ever being paragons of stability, and the IGPs tending to be worse off (coupled with ATi cards tending to be less than perfect when it comes to old titles). Maybe there's an application/driver associated that's causing some problems though? Additionally, what "version" of RA2 are you installing? (original discs, digital download, C&C X, etc)

Thanks for the replies, folks.

My RA2 version is original discs. My Privateer 2 version is original discs too, patched with the Deluxe patch.

I'm not sure what happened. Yes, this one laptop comes with a lot of HP software. And yes, RA2 is 2D. I don't understand: does ATI driver have problems with 2D games as well?

F2bnp wrote:

Good idea, but I don't remember RA2 doing any tests during installation. 🙁

The RA2 installer is animated with the same backend the game uses. Westwood did this for quite the while (and it was AWSOME!!), and if the installer freaks, the game will.

Have you tried installing the latest drivers you can for your graphics core with the ATI Mobility Modder tool to patch the driver package?

I feel it important to quickly point out that just because something is 2D does NOT mean it's not using hardware accelerated graphics functions!

leileilol wrote:

F2bnp wrote:

Good idea, but I don't remember RA2 doing any tests during installation. 🙁

The RA2 installer is animated with the same backend the game uses. Westwood did this for quite the while (and it was AWSOME!!), and if the installer freaks, the game will.

Have you tried installing the latest drivers you can for your graphics core with the ATI Mobility Modder tool to patch the driver package?

Not yet, though I already have the latest ATI driver provided by the laptop's vendor.

Will I do better with latest driver, or earlier driver? nVidia backward compatibility problems come from newer drivers.

Gemini000 wrote:

I feel it important to quickly point out that just because something is 2D does NOT mean it's not using hardware accelerated graphics functions!

So even 2D acceleration in ATI has backward compatibility problems? 😵

Kreshna, did you test the RAM with memtest86+?

Gemini000 wrote:

I feel it important to quickly point out that just because something is 2D does NOT mean it's not using hardware accelerated graphics functions!

I don't think anyone was stating that. However the "hardware accelerated graphics functions" required by RA2 are pretty lightweight for anything remotely modern - if an IEG2 can run it at max settings in-game, Xpress 200 or anything else from a few years later shouldn't even be a discussion unless there's a problem with the software/hardware on a specific configuration.

Kreshna: have you, or can you, download the drivers from AMD directly? Sometimes OEM bundled drivers have problems of their own (but sometimes with integrated solutions you're stuck with them). And +1 to F2bnp - have you tested the memory?

obobskivich wrote:

Kreshna: have you, or can you, download the drivers from AMD directly? Sometimes OEM bundled drivers have problems of their own (but sometimes with integrated solutions you're stuck with them).

Still downloading...

You could always install RA2 on a different PC and copy across. Its been awhile but don't remember it needing anything special in the registry. Plus you get rid off the westwood chat.

Although for newer systems I have more luck installing the first decade and running Nyerguds unofficial first decade patch then using the original media. While he's patch does focus more on the original C&C/RA games it did seem to help out the later games as well.