# Bioshock Will Not Start



## Diev (Oct 9, 2007)

After buying Bioshock on the release day, I spent $120 on a new dvd drive, because my old one couldn't read the disc. After doing that, it was able to install, but when I tried to start the game, the disc starts spinning and the Bioshock.exe process shows up in Task Manager. But it soon disappears and the disc stops spinning and nothing else happens.

I have contacted 2k games many times about this and I have been on the phone with tech support for hours. The problem has been sent to advance tech support where it has been for the past month and a half. Someone with the exact same laptop has been able to play the game flawlessly. My processor is rated with higher speeds than a 2.8ghz desktop processor, so my computer meets all of the requirements. I have also sent an analysis to securom and they didn't find anything, so its not the protection that wont let me play.

I am really looking forward to this game, so thanks for looking at my problem.


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## dj24966 (Jun 23, 2005)

Diev said:


> After buying Bioshock on the release day, I spent $120 on a new dvd drive, because my old one couldn't read the disc. After doing that, it was able to install, but when I tried to start the game, the disc starts spinning and the Bioshock.exe process shows up in Task Manager. But it soon disappears and the disc stops spinning and nothing else happens.
> 
> I have contacted 2k games many times about this and I have been on the phone with tech support for hours. The problem has been sent to advance tech support where it has been for the past month and a half. Someone with the exact same laptop has been able to play the game flawlessly. My processor is rated with higher speeds than a 2.8ghz desktop processor, so my computer meets all of the requirements. I have also sent an analysis to securom and they didn't find anything, so its not the protection that wont let me play.
> 
> I am really looking forward to this game, so thanks for looking at my problem.


The other laptop could be the same brand, but could also have been changed when he/she purchased it. My guess is that you have a stock video card.


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## Diev (Oct 9, 2007)

That laptop is the exact same one that I have. I've looked into all of that before. I have a geforce go 6600 256mb graphics card, which meets the minimum requirements. It is mxm type II so it can be upgraded, but the other laptop had the same one that I currently had.


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

Click Start->Run, type in 'dxdiag' without quotes, and hit OK. When the progress indicator on that program is done, click the 'save information' button, save it somewhere, and then paste it into your thread.

This will give us more specific information about your machine that will be helpful in solving this.


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## Diev (Oct 9, 2007)

My dxdiag is attatched.


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

I've had problems like this before with applications not starting, and just sitting in the task manager, but usually, a restart fixes them. Doesn't seem like this is the case though.

Have you tried closing all other background applications before you play? It seems like there's something interfering with Bioshock starting.


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## Diev (Oct 9, 2007)

Yeah i tried that. I've done all sorts of things. I've even disabled all startup programs and then ended any unnecessary processes.


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

Do other games work correctly?


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## Diev (Oct 9, 2007)

Yeah. They all work perfectly.


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## Diev (Oct 9, 2007)

Is there anything that I can try with this?


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

I'm not sure how your laptop works, I'm just looking at the product page...but it says that when VGA is set to OFF, the Intel integrated graphics is on, which uses 128MB shared memory, and when VGA is ON, it uses the GeForceGO 6600, which has 256MB dedicated memory. Now, is there an option that has both of those turned on? Because that would cause this problem, are those VGA settings accessed through Windows, or through the BIOS? I would double check them and make sure that only the GeForce is on.


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

Diev said:


> Is there anything that I can try with this?


It might be a bit tedious, but have you tried downloading the
Bioshock demo? That might help to better determine if the problem
is related to the DVD and/or drive or something to do with the laptop
video drivers (which would be my guess).


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## Diev (Oct 9, 2007)

I definately only have the geforce on. I just got Portal and it works fine on fairly high settings. I've tried three different video drivers, so it's probably not that. I'll try the demo.


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## Diev (Oct 9, 2007)

Nevermind. I managed to fix it on my own. I found this weird log in the exe folder that was called alkylog. That name instantly reminded me of this direct x 10 for xp thing that I downloaded that was made by alky something. So i redownloaded the file and found out what i needed to delete in system32. Now it works!!! I cant stop playing.


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