Hi! I've read all the help topics and tried everything (that I understand, that is) before posting this and nothing seems to work.

Q4G 5 seems to run, I get a black screen and...nothing. I end up having to shut it down through task manager where it is listed as "not running".

I've run the game from the desktop shortcut, from the file in the start menu, run as administrator, reinstalled, rebooted, tried ScummVM, played with the compatibility settings, turned off the UAC, changed the graphics settings and considered setting my laptop on fire.

Am I missing something? All the other games run perfectly as installed - no other problems.

For the love of Erana, please help me.

Ok, I've just played QFG5, thus I know that it should be working. So let's see what may be the problem.

The black screen is probably the intro video trying to play, right after the screen resolution is set to a low one (640x480 I think). So first possible problem is that your monitor can't handle that resolution (possible), or that the video cannot be played properly. Check if your monitor supports that resolution.
Also, there is a known error with some games that also execute a rundll32 process, which has to do with the game explorer, so if that one also appears when you run the game, try ending that process first.
Hope you resolve your problem soon.

Thanks for the quick reply! Ok - my computer does appear to support 640 X 480 and when I engage task manager to close the program, it's clear the computer is working in that mode. I also ended the rundll32 process which was running. Now when I start the game, I get a blank screen with a mouse arrow. So...progress?

Do you have any other suggestions? I really appreciate the help!

Try doing an alt-tab to move back to windows, then a second to return to the game, and see if that fixes it (dumb, but it may work). Also, seems like the introduction is run only the first time you run the game, after that it should take you to the main menu. So, in case you are in the menu, but the graphics are not displayed, try pressing enter (which should result in the Play Game selection), and see if you do hear a clicking sound (menu item selected).
Other than that, I've no idea atm, though if I think something else, I will post here again.

Good news! I tried all of your suggestions and, as a result, the game will now play on my DESKTOP. I'll have to give up on the laptop but, hey, I can still play it.

Thanks so, so much for your help!