DirectX 9.0c issues

[vskagentsmith]

I've recently purchased The Sims 2. To my misfortune, DirectX 9.0c just doesn't want to install.... Period.

It'll run the setup, say it's all ready (1 nano second later, having clearly not copied or installed anything), and good to go. But when I run dxdiag it comes up as 9.0b, which just won't cut it.

Then when I run 9.0c required games, well, no dice. The game brings up a DirectX error, nothing to do with my video card being incompatable, just that DirectX 9.0c might not be installed.


I ran a DX 8.0 converter, that, in theory, was supposed to revert to a DirectX 8.0 installation, but it didn't work out, not sure whre it ran wrong, it was little more than a batch file.

It seemed to partially work, but failed extracting one file, then a pop up window said it failed to install. But when I restarted Windows (did this all in Safe Mode), well, still no luck... The version didn't change, and DX9.0c still didn't update it.

I've been scouring the net for a definitive fix, and it appears a lot of people are having this problem, but there's been no real solution...

Here's my system specs:

AMD Athlon64 3700+
2GB PC3200 DDR
250 GB Hdd (2x)
GeForeceFX 5600
Soltek SL-K8ANE-GR



While I appreciate everyone's efforts to come up with an answer, please don't refere me to The Sims 2 technical support portion of their website, as I've been through it, there's a similar problem listed, but it's specifically for incompatable video cards, mine is one of the listed compatable video cards.

Also, drivers are out of the question, as I've already updated my drivers to their latest versions and the error doesn't seem to be driver related.

Again, thanks to everyone who would care to give this one a shot.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Have you checked in the EVENT LOG for any clues?
(post SOURCE and EVENT ID if you find anything)

 

[vskagentsmith]

Where about what I find an event log?

If it helps narrow it down, DirectX acts as though it's already got 9.0c installed, but it doesn't.

 

[Cheetah8799]

In XP: control panel - administrative tools - event viewer

 

[vskagentsmith]

Well, I'm gonna throw this out because I think it's worth mentioning...

I think it's bad CD keys that are causing this, unless someone can confirm that it's definately not related. DirectX 9.0c will just not install on a pirated copy of WindowsXP, period. It'll run setup, it'll start, but it won't copy any files or modify the registry, it just stops and says it's done.

I've tried about everything I could think of. I've tried deleting the old DX registry keys and reinstalling, I've tried removing the old DX files, I've tried using a variety of tools to delete all the old DX files and install an older version, such as 8.1 or so. Nothing has worked, DX9.0c just won't install at all.

I can promise you that there is a fix for this, and that a workaround will be made. Mainly because all the DX9.0c files can be downloaded from Microsoft, and you can manually install them, then patch the registry, but that's beyond me right now...

If anyone else can confirm or deny any of this, please feel free to do so.

Either way I'll probably just pick up a legit copy of WindowsXP, not that I really want one, especially sinse there are newer versions of Windows coming out soon, especially the 64 bit edition.


Oh well, any thoughts?