CD authentication Failed after reinstall

[pepecrans]

Hi guys

I have an problem here.
After a systems crash and a complete system reinstall and a D.O.W. , W.A. , D.C. reinstall I get the message
"CD authentication failed" when I try to play D.C. multiplayer!
When going online in D.O.W. or W.A. everything works just fine! I also have patched everything to the latest patch.

I browsed the forum and found a few pointers.
However I have checked the registry.
All the keys are there and correct!

The most wierdest thing is that actually before my crash D.C. worked fine and I could go online.

I am running out of options so if anyone has other tips
am all ears!

The only other option I could think of is a D.C. reinstall ! :(

Please help!


Just to be clear I do have completely legitimate copy of D.C.!


Edit:
I forgot to mention before:
The single player / campaign works just fine!

[Stormsong]

All the keys are there and correct!Did you also check that the installation paths in the registry are correct(ie. they correspond to the actual install location)?

[pepecrans]

I haven't checked that.

But what am I looking for?

That the path in the registry doesn't match the true folder structure?

[GroundZero]

the last issues of this was narrowed down to 3 possible causes :

1. Quite simply, the CDKey for Dark Crusade was inputted incorrectly.
Problem: The Game reads an incorrect CDKey, which doesn't match its records.
Solution: Go to Regedit , HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/THQ/Dawn of War - Dark Crusade and check that CDKEY = the correct sequence stated on the data that came with your game.

2. A corrupt install.
Problem: System is misreading a corrupt file or pathname, producing this error.
Solution: Uninstall Dawn of War, WA and DC, and reinstall totally, in that order.

3. Shared CDKey.
Problem: Someone else is using your CDkey, either a friend, brother, or even some hacker who got very lucky and matched a serial CDKey to yours.
Solution: Make sure that nobody else is using it - if it persists, contact THQ on the number/address in the back of your manual.

[pepecrans]

Thanks guys for the help.

I checked registry again to be sure.
CD keys are correct
Path is also correct

Then I started reverse uninstalling D.C. and tested W.A. and D.O.W. to see if they worked fine.

To my suprise W.A. started asking for disks and I couldn't go online with D.O.W. I even got the CD authenticaion failure error. WTF? :soul:

This morning I was able to patch D.O.W. thru the online multiplay and now it doesn't even work!

Then it hit me! I forgot to reconfigure my network connection. WinXP default is Dynamic IP but in my pre crash I had configured it static for port forwarding.

After this insight I changed my network settings to static IP and ran the Nettest tool found here on the forum. Port 6112 is open as i configured it. However all other ports where still closed.
So now I also have tweaked my router so all ports are open and have deinstalled D.O.W. W.A. and D.C.

Will post results later

Part 2

O.K. Because I am a little lazy :S

I installed D.C. just to see if my fixes worked.

THEY DID WOOT! :dunce:

However this does raise some concern.





I think the "CD authentication failure" error may also be port related. Does gamespy check cd keys online? If so a improper port configuration may lead to this error.
I will try and see if I can reproduce the error if I rollback to my old situation



Well post results when done



Part 3



Well I tried to reproduce the error.

I haven't had much success.

So it could be both

Either a corrupted install or a port problem
Maybe the next person who runs into this problem should try the next checklist


Check registry for CD key errors and path errors
Check port connections with nettest tool http://66.134.89.225/~sic/nettest.html (http://66.134.89.225/%7Esic/nettest.html)
Reinstall game (Do this only as a last resort option) IMO the other two things can be easily fixed and it will save u a truck load of time. Reinstalling D.O.W., W.A. and D.C. will take you about an hour and that excludes patching!
Well am a happy camper D.C. here I come again :D


Anyways thanks again for the help

[TBS]

Gamespy does check your CD key so a port problem seems like a logical culprit.

[pepecrans]

O.K.!

So I think it may be safe to say that a "CD authentication failure"error doesn't always have to be caused by a corrupt install or wrong registry entry.
A poorly configured router or other network configuration problems may also cause this :D.

I love doing research ;-) :science:

[GroundZero]

As I said, the previous ones were narrowed down to those 3 causes, I didn't say those were the only ones :P

Anyway thanks for the feedback, we have a number 4 on our list now!

[pepecrans]

I know groundzero thats how I got my Eureka moment. I ruled out all three of the previous options. When I noticed the strange online behaviour it had to be related to networking issues.


Just contributing to this happy community:hw:

:D

Procurment of knowledge is a everyday task for the tech priests of mars :spin: ;)

Anyways I will stop posting to keep things spick & span

Thanks again for all the help