Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Having hardware or software problems related to Links? Other forum members may be able to help you here.
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Danny D
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Location: SE Missouri

Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by Danny D »

Adelade wrote: September 14th, 2021, 11:33 am I have absolutely no clue or guess about any of that. Only C D (local discs) and E (DVD drive) show up for me at standard, my USB mouse doesnt take up one, nor my non-USB headphones, never had an issue. I would only know how to fill it up to H by removing the mouse and filling my 3 USB ports with a camera and two USB sticks, I could certainly try that, is that what you mean?

P.S. Dan, did you at any point start using the custom RUKSHUK.exe as detailed by pmgolf above? I believe I have it, but my memory is foggy about whether I used it or not when I did a sort of reinstall about half a year ago.
I meant to fill up enough drive letters to where the only ones left are "F" or above, and then see if Links will launch..

I'm using the same RUKSHUK.EXE that I've used from the last time I installed Links on this machine, which was most likely around 2010. the file is dated as 08/02/2002. I looked at my bios a few days ago and it is dated at 2010, and I've not re-installed Links since I built the machine.

Dan
Completed Courses
Real Courses: The National Golf Club of Kansas City - Wakonda Club - Coeur d'Alene Resort Course
Fictitious Courses: Northern Lakes - Golfcom Tees
Southern Oaks - Hometown 9 hole real course with a fictitious back 9 added
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Adelade
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Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by Adelade »

Danny D wrote: September 14th, 2021, 1:06 pmI meant to fill up enough drive letters to where the only ones left are "F" or above, and then see if Links will launch..
Thats my default state so Links works then. I tried with F G and H filled up and Links still launched and worked fine. Not sure if I misunderstood something or not.
Finished Courses - Main: Amedal (fictional), Nine Bridges (real)
Other: Austin, Sheshan, Kauri Cliffs, Le Golf Nat. Updates: Whirlpool, Royal Lytham, Royal St George's, Chicago, Chambers Bay, Munchen Nord E
Working on: 2 fictional courses + a couple things...
pmgolf
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Location: near Richmond, VA

Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by pmgolf »

Danny D wrote: September 14th, 2021, 1:06 pmI'm using the same RUKSHUK.EXE that I've used from the last time I installed Links on this machine, which was most likely around 2010. the file is dated as 08/02/2002. I looked at my bios a few days ago and it is dated at 2010, and I've not re-installed Links since I built the machine.

Dan
That's the good RUKSHUK.exe - 8/2/2002

Pete
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Danny D
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Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by Danny D »

Adelade wrote: September 14th, 2021, 3:41 pm
Danny D wrote: September 14th, 2021, 1:06 pmI meant to fill up enough drive letters to where the only ones left are "F" or above, and then see if Links will launch..
Thats my default state so Links works then. I tried with F G and H filled up and Links still launched and worked fine. Not sure if I misunderstood something or not.
Thanks for the test. You're test proves 2 things to me.
1, Links doesn't specifically search for or need "F".
2, you have spare drives available ABOVE drive letter "F".

I'm now guessing that people that are having the launch problem just don't have enough spare drive letters available when Links searches for one at launch.

I'd like to find someone with a limited system that only provides 4 or 5 drives or drive letters. Someone with no extra drive letters above "F", and have them make the same test. I suspect that's the problem the OP is having. I wonder if he has perhaps a laptop with a single hard drive, a CDROM, and 2 USB ports. C,D,E,and F. If that's the case, Links can't find an unused drive letter that it searches for, and then won't launch.

If we can prove that, we will know what to tell others when they ask. :smile:

Dan
Completed Courses
Real Courses: The National Golf Club of Kansas City - Wakonda Club - Coeur d'Alene Resort Course
Fictitious Courses: Northern Lakes - Golfcom Tees
Southern Oaks - Hometown 9 hole real course with a fictitious back 9 added
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FOOOOORE!
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Joined: February 9th, 2020, 10:05 am

Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by FOOOOORE! »

Totally unrelated to this (USB devices cause all sorts of problems for Windows in general, MS seems to have never really figured out what to do with them): I couldn't find the original thread on corrupted file downloads, but for what it's worth; I recently (finally!) got a high speed fiber connection here in the Philippines, 5.5MB/s up to 13MB/s at times, and decided to DL more of those older courses from the database, those with a score of 37 or better. I was able to DL 21 courses without a single "corrupt file" error. A couple of days later I was back to 200KB/s just for a day, because of some billing issue, and tried to DL "Nine Bridges", and right away I had the corrupt file problem. Not saying at whose end the cause of the problem lies, who knows?, but it sure looks as though a higher bandwidth helps immensely. As an aside, I had a stroke recently (platelet count 2,000 instead of the normal 500,000, why would that be a problem? :tongue: So, haven't been very useful online, even less than usual (both eyes work, but not together), and hopefully there will be improvement after a while longer so I can friggin walk again!
pmgolf
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Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by pmgolf »

Glad to hear about you getting faster internet, but sorry about you suffering a stroke, Fooore. I hope you recover quickly!

Pete
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Kunkleman
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Joined: September 3rd, 2019, 12:40 pm

Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by Kunkleman »

pmgolf wrote: October 15th, 2021, 12:17 pm Glad to hear about you getting faster internet, but sorry about you suffering a stroke, Fooore. I hope you recover quickly!

Pete
Ditto on that for sure!
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FOOOOORE!
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Joined: February 9th, 2020, 10:05 am

Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by FOOOOORE! »

Thanks guys, I've read it can take anywhere from 3 to 4 months to see any improvement, so I have to be patient, not one of my few virtues. If I have no recovery whatsoever, then I need to figure out where to go from there. My main hobby has been photography, and if you can't see properly and you can't even walk around to photograph anything, that doesn't sound like much fun happening. Main thing right now is to keep my brain very active and to keep my muscles from atrophying, because lying on a bed 24/7 is not good for you!
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Danny D
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Joined: August 27th, 2019, 1:09 am
Location: SE Missouri

Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by Danny D »

FOOOOORE! wrote: October 17th, 2021, 11:54 am Thanks guys, I've read it can take anywhere from 3 to 4 months to see any improvement, so I have to be patient, not one of my few virtues. If I have no recovery whatsoever, then I need to figure out where to go from there. My main hobby has been photography, and if you can't see properly and you can't even walk around to photograph anything, that doesn't sound like much fun happening. Main thing right now is to keep my brain very active and to keep my muscles from atrophying, because lying on a bed 24/7 is not good for you!
We're all pulling for you buddy. And trust me when I tell you that this group has some STRONG PULL! :thumbup: Get better soon. :cheers1:

Best wishes,

Dan
Completed Courses
Real Courses: The National Golf Club of Kansas City - Wakonda Club - Coeur d'Alene Resort Course
Fictitious Courses: Northern Lakes - Golfcom Tees
Southern Oaks - Hometown 9 hole real course with a fictitious back 9 added
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Still Linksing
Posts: 583
Joined: August 27th, 2019, 2:43 am

Re: Links 2003 and Links 2001 won't launch

Post by Still Linksing »

Danny D wrote: September 15th, 2021, 4:26 am
Adelade wrote: September 14th, 2021, 3:41 pm
Danny D wrote: September 14th, 2021, 1:06 pmI meant to fill up enough drive letters to where the only ones left are "F" or above, and then see if Links will launch..
Thats my default state so Links works then. I tried with F G and H filled up and Links still launched and worked fine. Not sure if I misunderstood something or not.
Thanks for the test. You're test proves 2 things to me.
1, Links doesn't specifically search for or need "F".
2, you have spare drives available ABOVE drive letter "F".

I'm now guessing that people that are having the launch problem just don't have enough spare drive letters available when Links searches for one at launch.

I'd like to find someone with a limited system that only provides 4 or 5 drives or drive letters. Someone with no extra drive letters above "F", and have them make the same test. I suspect that's the problem the OP is having. I wonder if he has perhaps a laptop with a single hard drive, a CDROM, and 2 USB ports. C,D,E,and F. If that's the case, Links can't find an unused drive letter that it searches for, and then won't launch.

If we can prove that, we will know what to tell others when they ask. :smile:

Dan
Max64, the original poster of this solution, was an alias of mine prior to being allowed to this site as Still Linksing. Anyone around then may have noticed he disappeared when I appeared. lol
I had to keep the explanation in the original post kinda simple to not give away who I am.

I can tell you there is no fix for this problem other than unplugging your USB. This problem has been around since Windows Vista was released. It affects many games from that particular time period. Back in the day, there were likely hundreds of thousands of users who could not play their fav game with no idea why it wasn't working. No one ever understood what the problem was and there were no solutions. Links 2003 had many threads on this problem along with a ridiculously long one with Alienware computer owners. It pretty much seemed to affect every Alienware PC.

I never looked into the issue until I eventually had the issue myself. It took a lot of work but it is Windows legacy components carried over from Windows XP that cause this issue with certain hardware. It affects every operating system from Vista right through to Win 11. It affects hardware components from 20 years ago to components available today.

No one can ever fix it as you need to get into and fix every Windows version itself from Vista through to Win 11 which Microsoft isn't going to let you do. Just letting you know as any further time spent on this is wasted time. The only solution is to unplug your USB. :thumbup:
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