half-life multiplayer + XP = crash

[CaptNKILL]

I just upgraded to XP Pro and I love it so far, but half-life just doesnt work when I try to go online. It will get as far as loading the map, but the second its supposed to start the game, it flickers to the desktop and back the the game menu with a windows error box that says "File load error" or something like that. When I ok it, im at the desktop at 640x480 (HL menu resolution).

Half-Life works fine in the hazard course, but I cant even start a LAN game without this error.

Ive never had a "bad install" of Half-Life in the 3 years ive been using this CD. My comp is identical to what it was yesterday with the exception of the OS. Same hardware, same drivers (well, XP versions obviously).... anyone have any ideas?

[Chalnoth]

Bad installs happen. CD drives get dusty, and CD's get scratched. I generally find that copying the CD files to the hard drive will alleviate most any bad install problems I'm having. But usually just reinstalling is all it takes.

Of course, I'm sure it would be quite a hassle to re-download the latest patch...since they include so much now...

And it might not even be the installation. Sometimes patches aren't downloaded correctly, and they even will install, but the files are indeed corrupted.

[saturnotaku]

Are you using the latest HL patch? I've found that every patch after version 1.1.0.8 gives me trouble, from error messages to missing textures within the game. Of course, I haven't play MP Half-Life in a long time so this may or may not be an issue any more.

[CaptNKILL]

I guess I'll reinstall it again, but the patches I installed are the ones I put on a CD a few months ago (so I dont have to download them again after a reformat), along with CS 1.5, DOD 3.1, FA 2.65 and some demos.

So it HAS to be a bad installation of the game if its not caused by windows XP.

BTW, the patches on my CD are 1.1.0.9 full and 1.1.0.9-1.1.1.0 update. Same version I was using 2 days ago in Win98 (and had been using for 8 months).