FM not working, any ideas why?

The other day I loaded up FM to carry on with my AC Milan save when I got a box saying 'the game cannot be loaded' and then the game closes.

If I try and start a new game a crash dump is created and the game closes.

I have tried uninstalling and installing again but I still get the same thing. I have not changed anything sice the last time I have played FM but for some reason it has just decided to stop working, any ideas why? Any ideas on how to fix it?

Thanks.

You have the latest patch?

When you uninstalled the game, did you also removed all registry items?

If not, press start menu and select run, type in reg edit and do a search for Sports Interactive and/or Football manager and delete all items found. Make sure you make a back up first of your registey via File - export (deleting the wrong registy items can really harm your pc). Then reinstall the game.

Any change you have updated your virus scanner/real time protection.

I had the same last week and it was caused by the update of symantec enp point protection. Updated it again and it runs fine afterwards.

You have the latest patch?

Yeh I have.

When you uninstalled the game, did you also removed all registry items?

If not, press start menu and select run, type in reg edit and do a search for Sports Interactive and/or Football manager and delete all items found. Make sure you make a back up first of your registey via File - export (deleting the wrong registy items can really harm your pc). Then reinstall the game.

Any change you have updated your virus scanner/real time protection.

I had the same last week and it was caused by the update of symantec enp point protection. Updated it again and it runs fine afterwards.

Thanks mate, but I am struggling with the back up bit, can you explain more please?

Also, should I uninstall FM again before I do this, because currently it is installed.

How to Delete your Registry Files

Windows XP:

1. Click “Start”

2. Click "Run"

3. Type in "Regedit"

4. Go into the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Folder

5. Go into the 'Software Folder'

6. Delete the Sports Interactive Folder

7. Go into the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Folder

8. Go into the 'Software Folder'

9. Delete the Sports Interactive Ltd Folder

Windows Vista:

1. Click “Start”

2. Type in the search box "Regedit"

3. Go into the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Folder

4. Go into the 'Software Folder'

5. Delete the Sports Interactive Folder

6. Go into the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Folder

7. Go into the 'Software Folder'

8. Delete the Sports Interactive Ltd Folder

They are instructions on how to delete your registry files and you need to uninstall FM first.

Thanks Jod .

EDIT: Once I have done what the instructions say above do I just install FM again and it should work?

I have done what you said and reinstalled but now I am just getting a black screen after the loading bit, any ideas why?

Have you deleted your cache files?

It can happen that savegames go corrupt, don't know if it is the case here. but a lesson here is: always save your game in two directories. trust me, i also learned that the hard way

Have you deleted your cache files?

All I have deleted is what Jod told me to. How do I delete my cache files?

It can happen that savegames go corrupt, don't know if it is the case here. but a lesson here is: always save your game in two directories. trust me, i also learned that the hard way

They may be corrupt but that wouldn't stop me from starting a new game. Therefore it must be another problem than that.

Any ideas why the screen just stays black after loading?

EDIT: I have just noticed that when I double click on Fm from my desktop, in the right hand corner near the time a yellow triangle with a '!' comes up and when I hover over it it syas 'fm.exe - corupt file'.

How to delete your Cache files

First of all you need to turn on hidden files and folders. Go to My Computer and at the top select 'Tools' the 'Folder Options'. The go to the 'View' tab and select 'Show hidden files and folders'

Windows XP:

1. Open “My Computer”

2. Navigate to : "C: Documents and Settings\<Username>\Application Data\

3. Go into the “Sports Interactive” Folder.

4. Delete the “Football Manager 2009” Folder.

Wndows Vista:

1. Click “Start”

2. Click your username on the start Menu

3. Click on “AppData” and then “Roaming”

4. Go into the “Sports Interactive” Folder

5. Delete the “Football Manager 2009” Folder.

Mac OSX

1. Open Finder.

2. Select <User>

3. Navigate to Library\Caches\Sports Interactive

4. Remove the “Football Manager XX” Folder.

Thanks Jod, just one question, there is a Football Manager 2009 folder and a Football Manager 2009 Certificate folder, should I delete both?

Thanks.

Just delete the Football Manager 2009 folder.

Okay mate cheers.

EDIT: I selected it and pressed delete and I got this message 'Cannot delete temporary: The directory is not empty.' Any ideas?

ANOTHER EDIT: I am now getting this message when I try and load up FM at the bottom right of my screen 'The file or directory C: is corrupt and unreadable. Please rune the Chkdsk utility.'

I have gone on run and search for Chkdsk and it has seemed to have done a check but the same thing happens again if I try and load up FM.

I think I have realised what the problem is. As you can see from my above post I said I got the message 'Cannot delete temporary: The directory is not empty.' when I tried to delete the FM09 folder. So I decided to go in to the folder and delete the folders inside of it one by one. I managed to delete them all apart from the 'temporary' folder which said 'Cannot delete temporary: The directory is not empty.' so how do I get rid of this temporary folder? Because I have got the feeling that its that which won't let me play FM .

When I try and open the 'temporary' folder it says:

'C: Documents and Settings/Courtney-Smith PC2/Application Data/Sports Interactive/Football Manager 2009/temporary is not accesible. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.'

Have you tried running the disk check?

Have you tried running the disk check?

No, I have ran the 'Chkdsk' but nothing seemed to change. I think it's just that 'temporary' folder that needs deleting but i'm not sure how to do it?

You usually have to restart your computer to do that. Are you sure you ran it? Have you checked the options I think to check for bad sectors and to attempt to repair them?

You usually have to restart your computer to do that. Are you sure you ran it? Have you checked the options I think to check for bad sectors and to attempt to repair them?

Yeh I ran it. And so if I restart my computer I should just be able to delete the 'temporary' folder?

Yeh I ran it. And so if I restart my computer I should just be able to delete the 'temporary' folder?

You never know but I would not say so.

You check the disk by doing this.

1. Double-click My Computer, and then right-click the hard disk that you want to check.
   
2. Click Properties, and then click Tools.
   
3. Under Error-checking, click Check Now. A dialog box that shows the Check disk options is displayed,
   
4. Select the Automatically fix file system errors check box and the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.
   

I have done that now, it took a damn long time but it's done. I then tried to load up FM but I get this message:

'fm.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for any inconvenience.'

Any ideas why?

Did you delete the file now?

Did you delete the file now?

No. Will do that now.

I have deleted the file. Still getting the same problem as my above post?

Reinstall the game.

Make sure you have all the cache files deleted which you should have now and also delete the registry entries before installing the game again.

Okay mate, will do. What are registry entries? Sorry, im sh*t on computers lol.

How to Delete your Registry Files

Windows XP:

1. Click “Start”

2. Click "Run"

3. Type in "Regedit"

4. Go into the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Folder

5. Go into the 'Software Folder'

6. Delete the Sports Interactive Folder

7. Go into the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Folder

8. Go into the 'Software Folder'

9. Delete the Sports Interactive Ltd Folder

Windows Vista:

1. Click “Start”

2. Type in the search box "Regedit"

3. Go into the HKEY_CURRENT_USER Folder

4. Go into the 'Software Folder'

5. Delete the Sports Interactive Folder

6. Go into the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Folder

7. Go into the 'Software Folder'

8. Delete the Sports Interactive Ltd Folder

Hopefully it will work then. I am off to bed now but will be on here tomorrow to see how you got on.

Okay mate. Thanks for all your help !

It worked . I couldn't load any of my games so I am guessing that they were corrupt but I have now started a new game.

Thank you so much mate! .

Have you patched the game again? If you did not then that may be why your saved games did not work.

Anyway, glad you can play again.