• 0

not a valid win32 application error with 64 bit

Asked by bishbashbosh,

 Share

Question

Neowinian

bishbashbosh

Posted
Posted

Hi everybody i'm new on this forum, a alot of people on here seem to know what they're talking about after reading through some of the posts.

I have a problem at the moment which i'm sure will crop up more often as more people move on to 64-bit systems. i keep getting a 'd:/is not a valid win32 application' error message when i try and install games such as 'act of war' 'battlefield 2' and 'GTA San Andreas' amongst others, also when i right click on my dvd drive letter and 'explore' the contents to find the setup.exe file and run it i get another error messgage saying 'd:/setup.exe is not valid win32 application' . :angry:

I have however managed to install and run 'Half Life 2' and 'Quake 4' without any problem, my system has just been recently built and is all new components except the ATX case, PSU, sound card, graphics card and tv card, my spec is:

Windows XP professional 32bit SP2

AMD Athlon 64 4000 2.4ghz 1mb L2 cache s939

MSI K8N neo 2 mainboard

300GB Maxtor SATA 2 16mb cache hard drive (into 3 partitions)

1GB corsair 3200 DDR ram dual channel

256mb pny Ge force 6600 AGP graphics card

Creatvie SoundBlaster Audigy 2 zs platinum pro sound card

Haupaugel WinTV GO! TV tuner card

I have all the latest drivers for my hardware and my games are shop bought that worked great on my old 32-bit AMD XP2600 machine, but now only a few will install. I haven't got Windows XP64 because i am waiting for SP1 to be released before i get it. :rolleyes:

I am the administrator of my computer so there are no limitations, every other piece of software i have seems to work such as Cubase SX 2 and all my VST instruments and plug-ins, i know my DVD drive works coz it's brand new and was installed briefly on my old machine before i upgraded.

Do you think it has something to do with the fact i have 64 bit drivers for my graphics card and sound card on a 32 bit os and i need to roll them back to 32 bit drivers?

I have heard of similar problems with Windows XP64 from other forums ie: games do not run so i can't see much point in using XP64 untill the service pack is released, i have seen patches for some of the games i have but they seem to only update the installed version and only for Win XP64 nothing for Win XP 32, i need something that can fix the way Windows XP SP2 treats 32 bit applications in a 64 bit PC.

If any one has had a similar problem and fixed it or knows how to get my games installed and runnig on my current set up please let me know i need to frag! :D

6 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0
Grand Master

Brandon Live Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Wait - you're running 32-bit Windows? Then this has nothing to do with 64-bit at all, unless you're trying to run a 64-bit application, which will generate that message since your system isn't 64-bit.

  Quote
Do you think it has something to do with the fact i have 64 bit drivers for my graphics card and sound card on a 32 bit os and i need to roll them back to 32 bit drivers?

There's no way you could possibly be using a 64-bit driver (or any other 64-bit code) on a 32-bit Windows installation.

And what do you mean by:

  Quote
can't see much point in using XP64 until the service pack is released

There have been no announcements about future service packs for Windows 2003.

  • 0
Grand Master

Brandon Live Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
  Smit said:
When trying to install? Isn't this when the installers are still using 16bit code which Windows x64 doesn't support?

You could try extracting the 16bit setups and running the proper 32bit setup thats usually inside.

He says he's runnig 32-bit Windows, which supports 16-bit code just fine.

  • 0
Grand Master

jamend

Posted
Posted

Check your event log: right click my computer > manage > event viewer > system. Look for warnings or errors from a "cdrom" or "atapi" source. I'm guessing your optical drive isn't working properly (I think you have a bit too much faith in brand-new items). Try the drive from your old computer to see if that works. Less likely but still possible is that you have a bad IDE controller or cable. If you find any other warnings or errors, feel free to post them here (although ignore sources such as W32Time, DHCP, and DCOM). It's certainly not a 64/32-bit issue though. When the CPU is in 32-bit mode (which it would be with normal Windows XP), nothing that is 64-bit can run, and it will behave like any other 32-bit CPU. When you installed those 64-bit drivers for your sound and graphics card, they were probably just a driver pack and the installer correctly installed the 32-bit drivers.

  • 0
Neowinian

bishbashbosh

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  Cephas said:

those 64-bit drivers for your sound and graphics card, they were probably just a driver pack and the installer correctly installed the 32-bit drivers.

good point there, the drivers did say they were for both 64 and 32 bit so your right coz i'm running Xp pro then my computer is running in 32 bit mode so there for it has nothing to do with my processor being 64 bit.

i guess my best bet is probably to get winXP64 and have dual os on my system which would probably be more convenient, i've got plenty of space to add a free partition for XP64 and if there's no talk of a service pack for XP64 then i've just got to make sure my security is up to date and look for patches and fixes in the future.

as for running the 32-bit setup.exe, i have tried all the setup options on my games to no avail i even tried going to 'run' in the start menu and typing it in.

i don't have good faith in new equipment lol i've had stuff over the years that i've had to take back or get fixed nothing is perfect especially with computers but i can't see why my DVD drive is faulty as literrally everything else works , all formats CD DVD DVD-R DVD+R CD-R and all RW's and Dual layer DVDs work it's just certain games. i have my hard drive set to master on SATA 1 and is my first boot option then it's my DVD drive that is the second boot option but that's set to master as well, what if i changed my DVD drive to slave would that make a difference?

Also as for checking my error log in the event viewer there is nothing that ralates to either ATAPI or CDROM at least no errors anyway.

thanks for all your replies so far :)

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to question listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Tesla instructor reportedly said staff leave with a 'negative taste in their mouth'

      By pmrd · Posted

      What is Elon doing to their mouths?
    • Tesla instructor reportedly said staff leave with a 'negative taste in their mouth'

      By Hamid Ganji · Posted

      Tesla instructor reportedly said staff leave with a 'negative taste in their mouth' by Hamid Ganji Tesla has been making the headlines over the past few months due to Elon Musk's controversy in the Department of Government Efficiency, aka DOGE. People have been marching to the streets, boycotting Tesla, and even setting their already-bought Tesla cars on fire. Tesla temporarily shut down its factory in Austin for the week of Memorial Day, and employees could either take paid time off or attend a series of training sessions. Business Insider now claims to have obtained a recording of the sessions that reveals some interesting details about the Tesla culture and how its employees feel about the company. The Tesla instructor reportedly asked employees to respond if they ever felt "I can't work under these conditions" and were uneasy about the company's constant change. "I know I have," the instructor said. "A lot of people leave this company, and they have kind of a negative taste in their mouth," the Tesla instructor added. "They think: 'Man, it was terrible. It was bad. I got burnt out. I feel like I didn't get anything done, nobody listened to me.'" Hundreds of Tesla employees allegedly attended the meetings, where they were asked to take more responsibility for improving the company's culture. "Leadership has kind of another level of responsibility for trying to guide and direct that culture," the instructor told Tesla staff. "But at the end of the day, it's us as the people on the ground that are the reflection of the culture." Tesla's factory in Austin produces Cybertruck and Model Y. The staff said shutting down the factory for the sake of Memorial Day has been unusual for the company. Elon Musk recently announced that he would leave his position at the White House and added that he'll remain Tesla CEO for another five years. In the meantime, the latest data shows Tesla sales in Europe have dropped 49 percent, and the company's profit in Q1 2025 declined by 71 percent.
    • Another disappointing rumor: iPhone 17 won't get a ProMotion display

      By adrynalyne · Posted

      More like you took offense to the letdown and I find it hilarious. Most people aren’t reading tech blogs, and for those that do, they know what the difference is. So really it’s a non-story to YOU, because you don’t like what it says.🎻
    • Bill Gates says he'll donate 99 percent of his wealth to Africa

      By cyberhash · Posted

      Building 100 hospitals around the world would have spent his fortune easily. But that would not keep him at the table with the elites in the world for the rest of his life. Or keep him from chanting about how good he is to the poor people around the globe to the media.
    • Asus joins Microsoft, AMD, Dell, urges you to "prepare for mandatory Windows 11 upgrade"

      By ThaCrip · Posted

      Exactly. that's what I use when I do use Windows 10 on my Linux through QEMU/KVM VM (the 'activation' is tied to the UUID of the VM) and, like you said, that Jan 2032 version of Win10, even if decent program/game support ends earlier than Jan 2032, I suspect, for a conservative figure, that we got at least 2-3 years from now (so call it 2027-2028) before Win10 may start to become more of a legitimate issue. but for general usage I suspect we got a 'easy' 2-3+ years. because like you say, as long as browsers don't start to become a issue, all the more reason to continue using Win10 for many, probably most, people. even when it comes to browsers, you mentioned Firefox supports Win7 until end of August etc... but I think it's just ESR releases which, while I get it technically works, are when browser support is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth. but as long as the standard Firefox release is still supported, then one is still easily well within the 'good support range', which my comment basically plays inline with what Werct said, which I suspect comes back to my 2027-2028 estimate before Win10 'starts' to legitimately fade off into the sunset

  • Recent Achievements

    • Dedicated
      jbatch earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Week One Done
      Leonard grant earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      portacnb1 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      portacnb1 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • First Post
      m10d earned a badge
      First Post

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      270
    2. 2
      snowy owl
      158
    3. 3
      +FloatingFatMan
      145
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      141
    5. 5
      Xenon
      131
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!