Age of Empires II: Computer Stops Responding When Loading the Age of Kings (303027)

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to start Microsoft Age of Empires II THE AGE OF KINGS, Microsoft Windows may stop responding (hang) when the Age of Empires II THE AGE OF KINGS Loading screen appears.

As a result, you cannot start Age of Empires II.

CAUSE

This behavior can occur if Direct Memory Access (DMA) is enabled for your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive.

Note This issue can also occur if an Ultra DMA Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE) device is connected to the same IDE controller as a non-Ultra DMA IDE device.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, disable DMA for your computer's CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
In Control Panel, double-click System.
In the System Properties dialog box, click the View devices by type option on the Device Manager tab.
Expand CDROM, click the CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive that you want, and then click Properties.
In the drive name Properties dialog box, click to clear the DMA check box on the Settings tab, click OK, and then click Close.
Click Yes to restart the computer.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about how to troubleshoot CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive issues, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

218617 How to Troubleshoot CD-ROM Read Errors