HP DV7-6015TX Help! Dragon Age/Oblivion

Hey all i've just purchased this HP notebook and I absolutely love it but no matter what I do I just can't seem to get Dragon Age Origins or Oblivion (the only two games i've tried so far, heh) to run. Dragon Age crashes as soon as I start it up, I get the whole "Dragon Age: Origins has stopped working. Windows can check online for a problem. Check online for a solution. Close the program." , along with the following error message..


Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: daorigins.exe
Application Version: 1.1.9363.0
Application Timestamp: 4ae9d52d
Fault Module Name: daorigins.exe
Fault Module Version: 1.1.9363.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4ae9d52d
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0037adf0
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 5129
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Oblivion does pretty much exactly the same, only it goes through the Bethseda intro video things then freezes on the text credits, it doesn't even get to the main game menu.

I thought that I was quite good with computers until now.. it's rather disheartening, spent a few grand buying this PC and just can't seem to get my two favorite games working. In case anyones wondering the relevant hardware specs are as follows:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Intel i7 2630QM 2.0GHZ
4GB DDR3
Radeon HD 6770m 1.0GB GPU

I've spent possibly 20 hours non stop now trawling the net searching for anything that could help me.. i've been through different command paths in shortcuts, all the compatibility modes, running as administrator, changing processer affinity, all the simple things.. just nothing seems to work If anyone reading this has any experience with these HP notebooks or could possibly help me in any way please take the time to help me, I would appreciate it very very much as I am rather lost.

Thank you all in advance

 

I've also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the latest drivers for my gpu, to no avail.. surely somebody has some idea?

 

If youre using the pre installed os, i would advice to wipe it and install a clean os.
Obviously something is wrong with it, specially if you tried new drivers/patches and so on.

 

Ok cool, Well I tried to patch my radeon gpu with the correct catalyst driver from the AMD website, but when I ran it, it came up with an error saying that my gpu wasn't supported. would it help to do a clean install of my OS from recovery discs? as I purchased this HP with OEM win 7 so do not have the disc. im quite hesitant to just wipe the hard drive as i've just spent over a years hard savings on this HP and yeah.. what exactly would you reccomend, how should I go about it?

 

Ok lets go by steps.

Amd drivers you need are mobility catalyst, so be sure youre running the last version. If the amd installer doesnt find your gpu, then you need to stick to the hp ones. Check if their versions online are at least recent.

Second be sure that both games have been patched to latest version. You can find the patches on the developer website or by googling them if the game doesnt support an auto update function.

As for the os, reinstalling using a recovery disk makes the same crap happen, since is the same bloat-ware windows version.

What i advice is to download and burn a legal windows 7 iso, theres a thread here, then use the license serial printed below your laptop (or somewhere else) to activate it legally.

Microsoft does distribute their oses for free as part of the MSDN project.

 

Ok so I would need to download all the drivers for this pc off the hp website? Would that be enough to get everything running properly once I do a clean install? Sorry if I seem ignorant, but.. well.. I pretty much am, i'm about 10 years off the pace when it comes to modern gear. I'll have a look for that thread now

 

So i've found the thread, would I just burn an iso then restart the computer then the disc will get through everything else, without having to worry about formatting the drive first? And um this may seem like a stupid question but would it be ok to burn the drivers i'm downloading to disc or would windows not read it without having the drivers installed once i've got through to the clean OS?

 

Mate, burn your iso first and keep the disc away.
As for the drivers, you need only the gpu drivers/video ones nothing more afaik.
But since youre going to reinstall everything get all the drivers then manually install them.
Be warned tho: i see youre not an expert user, so i will avoid to attempt to reinstall the os all by yourself.
Reinstalling the os needs a good knowledge and you need to do some manual steps like managing partitions and stuff like that.

Again before attempt a clean reinstall, download only the video drivers from hp website and see if theyre updated.
Otherwise check the posts here. There should be a catalyst mobility thread, get those drivers.

Also, again, patch your games. You cant be sure that your os or pc is the culprit if youre games arent up to date.

 

Dragon age patches here : Choose Language | BioWare Social Network
Oblivion patches here: Bethesda Softworks
Mobility catalyst installer: ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

 

Yeah, i've patched the games and it hasn't done anything to help. Well I wouldn't call myself an expert but I have a fair idea of what i'm doing. I set up dual boot vista/xp on my old vaio a while back so I pretty much know what i'm in for with regards to partitions etc. would it be better to burn the drivers to a disc or copy to a usb key, would the OS read that after clean install?

 

Yeah mate i'd already got all three of those and they didn't really do jack. Updating my gpu was pointless as i've just noticed the driver version is exactly the same. So that hasn't really helped.. would you advise that I go with the clean install, is it likely to fix these problems?

 

If its related to the os, mostly it will.

Just wipe the primary windows partition and leave the recovery one untouched. Then install Win7 cleanly, upgrade to SP1, then move on and do all the windows updates left.

Then install Chipset Drivers (<-- IMPORTANT! Intel Chipset Software Utility, grab them directly from intel!), then Audio if windows already didnt installed it, and GPU drivers.

Btw as for the chipset drivers, i give you a tip: Download the zip version.
Extract it, then create a shortcut to "setup.exe".

Go into proprieties of Setup.exe shortcut and in the path add the line "-overall" without quotes.

It should be like: C:\Downloads\Infist\setup.exe -overall

In this way youll be sure that every component will be upgraded.

 

Ok mate would the chipset drivers off the HP page Software & Driver Downloads HP Pavilion dv7-6015tx Entertainment Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (New Zealand - English) not be good enough, should I still go for the Intel site or would these do?

 

There's a whole bunch of others on that site, too, would I not really need all of them?

 

I think not, worst case scenario just browse the hp site with your fresh 7 copy.
And not, those chipset drivers are outdated. Grab those at intel website.

 

Okay so i've been on the intel website and am unsure of which chipset drivers to get? theres a utility on there to identify it but it says that it doesnt work on win 7 x64? My CPU is a i7 2630QM 2.0GHZ..

 

Uh? You sure?
Here it is, first google result
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...hipset+Software+Installation+Utility&lang=eng

 

Ouch thats evil. D;
Do you got the disc version or a download copy?
(Steam or EA Download Manager)

Il try help you out when i get home, because there should not be any problems with specs.

 

Thanks DEagleson, that would be very much appreciated I've got the original disc, which wasn't cheap either, makes it double frustrating!

Kingpinzero, damn I must have had too much caffeine (perhaps not enough?) thanks mate i've got all the files and going to do a fresh OS install in the morning i'll let ya know how I get on soon once i've reinstalled the games and given them a looking over

 

I forgot to mention that my partners bloody Sims 3 installed fine for her and is running silky smooth on maxed out detail without a hitch.. I don't know whether to laugh, cry or just shake my head in plain disbelief. Perhaps a mix of the three?

 

You could try installing EA Download Manager, register an account and tie your cd key to it.
Its just like Steam.

I dont really think there is a problem with your GPU since it did launch The Sims 3.
Maybe its a DRM issue?

I would also uninstall any PhysX software installed by Dragon Age: Origins, reboot and install the latest version of PhysX.
Then reboot and launch game.
You did update the GPU drivers?

 

Dragon Age origins requires quite an old version of Nvidia PhysX to be installed in order for it to work properly on some ATI GPUs ... you can try that ... the version is PhysX_9.09.0010 ... download it ... uninstall the current PhysX version ... Install it & pray ... Start the game

 

Okay, i'm going to do a clean OS install anyhow, i'll try downloading that download manager then if the game won't run. Yeah I tried the latest PhysX but it didn't solve anything. GPU drivers... i've tried half a dozen different versions

Okay, i'll give that a shot, cheers

 

PhysX_9.09.0010 won't even install, tried to run the setup and it just displayed a tiny dialog box saying nothing, completely blank, with 'Install' as a header and 'OK' the only button to click.. that didn't prove very eventful hehe worth a shot though

 

Well, then my only solution is to clean install Windows 7 x64.
You can find legal links here at NBR, and if you need driver support PM me and il look for it.

Btw do you got switchable graphics on your notebook?

 

Yeah it's switchable graphics.. would that possibly be causing a problem? I've already downloaded the iso, patched and burned, about to do the install. Drivers i've got plenty of, got everything that I need

 

Ok.
Seems you may need to install the HP AMD drivers first if you want to keep the switchable graphics.

 

Ok. Would there be any point in keeping it, really? I doubt that i'd ever use it much. Would performance drop at all by leaving the Intel graphics uninstalled?

 

+1 for that ... I think this system is crying for a windows reinstallation

 

You wont lose performance, only the ability to switch to the Intel IGP for more time when on battery power.
But since you want to game then i think you can abandon it.
And if you need it back then you bet NBR can help you out.

 

Ok cool, that wouldn't worry me as i'll barely ever use the bloody thing unplugged anyhow. Going to reinstall windows now, i'll let you all know how I get on soon as it's done

 

No luck doing a clean install of win 7. I burned the .iso I download with PowerIso, booted up with it and all seemed to be going well. Until like the third screen, just after clicking 'Install now' it kept asking me for a CD/DVD driver, worded as follows...

"A required CD/DVD device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now. Note: if the windows installation media is in the CD/DVD drive, you can safetly remove it for this step."

There is three options on this box: browse, ok, cancel.. First thought was to copy the driver from system32/drivers onto my USB drive, tried it and it didn't work. So I tried the whole USB drive OS installation as well, but that didn't work either. No drivers that I locate on my system will accept. All it repeatedly says is "No device drivers were found. Make sure that the installation media contains the correct drivers, and then click ok." I followed the directions perfectly, I just don't understand why it isn't working? I tried disabling the DVD drive in the BIOS and dropping it to the bottom of the boot order, before doing both methods, but nothing's working.

Any possible solutions? I am starting to develop a strong hatred for HP, heh.. not good for my fourth day owning this laptop!

 

Oh, and forgot to mention i've played around with changing everything AHCI, SATA and IDE, that's the number one solution that seems to be working for everyone else, but nope, not I. It seems that i'm mean't to change to or disable AHCI in the BIOS but there is no option to do anything like this, it's just a simple cut down version of everything. Is there any software that can fix this, or any other way around it??

 

I found your notebook on HPs site.
Could not find any drivers for the CD/DVD rom.

Are you sure that the .iso file was not corrupted or something?
(Guess you looked here)
Usually you only need to use extra drivers when installing on hardware with some kind of raid controller or whatever.

My suggestion would be to try with a Windows 7 version with SP1.
Looking at the source for the download links posted in the thread linked i found another link for Windows 7 SP1.
Just remember to remove "ei.cfg" from the .iso so that you can install the same Windows 7 version as the one included with the HP notebook.
That way you should be able to activate with the key.
My guess would be that your notebook shipped with Home Premium SP1?

Wish you luck.

 

No Im sure the ISO is fine, as it was the correct file size, the same as named on the link on that first page. I've been looking on My Digital Life Forums , they have a large BIOS modding community there, am hoping that somebody there may be able to help me. I need the hidden menu to disable AHCI enabled in order to remove that CD/DVD driver dialog.. hopefully someone can help me. Meantime I might just try downloading that Win 7 SP1, it's worth a shot at least.. oh man.. this is getting tiresome! Oh and yeah it;s Home Premium SP1 I have.

Cheers mate

 

Just talked to someone, appears that my BIOS is unhackable. I'll give that download a try, if it doesn't work then it seems that I will be stuck with the standard Win 7 installation, with recovery discs as my only option for reinstall :/ Unless there is some other way than BIOS to disable AHCI? Anyone?

 

Most HP notebooks have switched from BIOS to UEFI.

Why your notebook wont even accept a simple Win 7 install is beyond me, and whats strange is that they dont even list any post install drivers for CD/DVD rom on the support page either.

You may want to ask in the HP subforum, maybe you can get some advice from someone who experienced a similar issue.

 

You need the raid/ahci controller driver unzipped on a usb stick, then give it to the os when it asks so.
You can try to download it from hp site, extract it on a usb pen and browse for it when the installation asks so.

 

The HP site did not show any links regarding a special raid/ahci. D;
Maybe try asking HP support on someone in the HP subforums about this.

It could be that HP used the faulty intel chipset but added a new sata card to fix it.

 

Kingpinzero... tried that.. several dozen times

DEagleson, sure I guess it wouldn't hurt to try that. Thanks for the advice