Getting Chessmaster 9000 to Work in Windows 10

The reference to read error could be to disk, network or inter-process communication.  If its a disk error then you'd see something in the event viewer complaining (with a red icon) about hardware.  Most of what is in the event log IS gibberish unless you have a passionate interest (wrote the software that produced it) in whatever it is.  This is the problem with old Windows software, or software from any OS.  Timing and chunking issues are a particularly awkward area and are very prone to subtle changes over time.  Its really easy to build in assumptions about how data that is written arrives at the reader (assuming one blob or various kinds of fragmentation, becoming multiple fragments or different subdivisions of the data).  These assumptions can be perfectly valid for years even if they do not match the letter of the documentation (or even if they do the documentation can change or be incomplete to start with), but which go away as machines get faster or something deep in the OS changes the handling of data very slightly.  The more complex software is, the more likely it is to have these kinds of problems.  You're running a really good stress test on the software with what you are doing.  

Thanks for the insight, Greg. I feel like I'm in Vermont (You can't get there from here, lol). Yeah, I think just run it for no more than a few hours, or install Chessmaster 10 or 11 into Win10. Or use CM 9000 in Windows 7 or a VM.

another option, if you have the hardware, might be to run it on a machine with more processor capacity.  The high CPU utilisation may be shortening the time between failures.  If the time between failures appears random then it may be the kind of timing/chunking issue I described.  If the time to failure is pretty much constant then it is likely to be a side-effect of the amount of work that has been done by the software and reducing the processor utilisation won't help.  I am of course just guessing, but its an educated guess. If you can install a current supported version thats the ideal situation.  

Well, I haven't been timing the interval precisely, but when I've been paying attention, it seems to happen fairly consistently at around the 4hr:45min mark, or maybe the 4hr:50min mark. This is on a very old PC that's probably struggling just to run Windows 10. (Dell Optiplex 755, core 2 duo, 4 GB RAM). I really got it for Linux, but I recently put Windows 10 on it to play with temporarily. It would be interesting to see if someone else with better hardware had better results.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can help any further, as I'm gravitating away from Windows in favor of Linux. My main machine (Linux), which is better hardware but still only an Intel i3, can still run Windows 7 off the net. I *could* install Windows 10 on it, but that's more trouble than I want to deal with. If I get a hankering for CM 9000, I think I'll just install it on my Windows 7 hard drive. I think I previously confirmed that it works OK on Win7.

All this effort should remind everyone about the work that GOG.com people put into their retro releases. 

I'm definitely feeling the Sisyphus thing, lol.

This was an experiment to see if we could get CM 9000 working in Win10. (@Nimzowitts wanted that capability - I was just along for the fun of it.) Not all experiments are completely successful. We got it mostly working, but not perfectly. Oh well, at least we have our answer now. :-)

What's interesting is that the old-games download that @Nimzowitts mentioned earlier (and that I also tried installing) *is* actually a GOG release. And even that suffers from the same "4-5 hour GUI shutdown" glitch in Win10. The GOG program *is* nice due to the patching, and I'm assuming, the lack of a CD check.

Interesting indeed. And BTW tx for your herculean efforts, U have given me hope.

I have a legal copy of CM 10 that I'm happy with. (I don't see any major advantage to CM 11.) However, how certain are we that the copy of CM 11 on the web is actually virus-free? I'm assuming that it would have to be a cracked version of the copy-protected disk version?

Perhaps CM9000 is abandonware and thus no copyrights have been infringed upon? Also anytime one downloads software one risks a virus. If I remember correctly I paid a nominal fee for the program. I also ran the site thru norton (and others) site checker which said the site was ok, however that means little IMHO. Again I wonder if using VM machine would help run the program.

Abandonware and copyright are separate issues.  Copyright expires 50 or 70 years after the death of the creator (70 in the US to protect Disney's Mickey Mouse franchise) so Cm9000 goes out of copyright some time in the second half of this century.  Abandonware is software where the copyright owner cannot be found.  This does not invalidate the copyright and does not mean that the copyright owner won't enforce their copyright.   

Moot point for me as I have original discs. Next. Ok I blasted my win 10 64 bit pc to the stone age via the reset my PC (keep my files  option. I tried to intall CM 9000. NO JOY . Curious that Escherehcst could reinstall CM 9000 after reintalling Win 10. WHAT gives?? Hyperperplexed regards-

Two issues (I admit to not being an expert in either area):

1) CM 11 being "virus-free" - It seems to me that when you start going down the path of abandonware and cracking copy protection, uncertainty is increased. That was my reason for pushing back a bit on the claim. Maybe the person making this statement has special knowledge, idk. But, I'm under the impression that CM11 (and CM10) had some kind of disk copy-protection scheme that prevented you from simply making ISOs of the disks and burning copies of the disks. So, someone somewhere along the line would have to crack the copy protection, and how would you know whether that person didn't also add some malware to the cracked copy? (I'm fairly certain that CM 9000 doesn't have any special copy protection beyond the periodic CD-check. I've been able to make ISOs of the original disks, and the burned copies work just as well as the original disks.)

2) Using a VM for CM 9000 - I think this could work for you. Your hardware would have to be good enough to support the extra "oomph" required for running a VM (extra RAM and cpu resources). My system is sort of old and limited, which is the reason I haven't really gotten involved with VMs. First, you'd need to find and install the older OS (like XP) into the VM, then install the CM 9000 program. There would be a learning curve to using a VM. I think VirtualBox is the standard free VM route that most people use. (I seem to remember reading that you also have to install an addon to VirtualBox if you want USB support, but I don't remember the details.)

We need more details. Did you enable the legacy DirectPlay first? What happened when you tried to install CM 9000? Did it seem to install OK? Did you run the 3 patches (and run them by right-clicking on the patch files and selecting "run as administrator")? What happens when you try to start CM 9000?

No patches installed as I figured they would have no place (DIR) to install them to as CM did not install. I did run as administrator. I did add window component of legacy. What happens is I get splash install screen, tell it to install, windows than asks if it is ok to install I clik yes and then nothing.

Hmm, not encouraging; This might take a lot of troubleshooting.

I'm not sure what you mean by "I did add window component of legacy." Does that mean DirectPlay is enabled?

My thought process is to maybe go down the road I did. (Install a fresh Win10 install on a spare hard drive as a test.) Is your PC a laptop or desktop? If it's a laptop, can you easily get to the hard drive to swap it out? Do you have a spare hard drive or two to play with? Do you also have a spare USB flash drive that you can use for the Windows Media Creation Tool? (And do you know how to boot off of a bootable flash drive on your PC?) I know, it's a lot of questions, but sometimes it isn't easy...

And I'm guessing you only have the one PC? Can you post to Chess.com with a different device, or do you need your PC to post here?

Desk top. I do have a large 4tereabyte external storage device. Direct play is checked under 'Legacy components' of Turn Windows components on or off. I just now installed windows media creation tool - how does this help? As for booting from a USB (storage device as well?) I have not tried this.

Naw. If one can do it, surely I can do it too.

Interesting. I finished intsalling the win 10 updates. I now get the splash screen to install. I clik and give windows permission to install. NOW the CD rom spins for a considerable time AND I momentarily get what looks like the black CMD window briefly. Then NADA.