Serious Disc Problems

[Asleep]

I have been having problems with my sims 3 game disks right from the start. When I got the base game disk, I inserted it into our laptop. The game tried to read the disk. And failed. And tried to read it again. And failed. Then It ejected the disk without my permission. When my dad got home from work, he said I could play the Sims on his work computer, which had no problems with the disk or the game. It was fine until Christmas, when I received a red and green striped package containing World Adventures. It said I needed to download and update before I could install the game. I waited for the update to download, and It told me I had a package verification error. We tried using a replacement serial number, but It did zilch. Then one day, my dad asked If my friend Lilyanne could come over, and bring her Sims 3 disk. She came over, and it worked! Then, after a while, I was able to run WA on the family laptop. Worked great for about a week, but then the WA disk began having the EXACT SAME PROBLEM as the original disk. Our theory, that I have been dealt two damaged disks in a row. Now, Ambitions Is arriving today and Lilyanne is coming over again with her disk. I'm taking no chances. But, what if I'm dealt ANOTHER bad disk? Anyway, I'm looking for answers on these questions:

1. Was I dealt two bad disks in a row? Or is It my disk drive?
2. If not, why was Lilyannes disk able to install the update?
3. Have any of you ever had the same problem?

[The Illuminator]

Oh dear, Simstar. I feel sorry for you...
What kind of computer do you use?

1. Possibly. But two times in a row is very rare.
2. I have no idea yet.
3. No, I'm sorry.

Maybe this could work:

If you could use Lilyanne's disk, you should install her disk. Then you should copy the files on the cd to your C: station.
Make a special folder for this. Repeat with your WA. Do this with Ambitions too. There should be a autorun file or something like that in the folders.

But this is a last resort and it should not be used unless everything is hopeless. If I have some more data I may be able to help you. Maybe somebody else has some suggestions?

[Pam]

Hi Simstar3.

I'm not really clear on exactly what is happening when you say the WA disk was having the "exact same problem."  What precisely is happening?  Where did you get the replacement serial number?  I need as much detail as you can provide.

My first thought is that your computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements of the game, especially the laptop.  I have a laptop, too, and it won't even load the install process.  It's just completely useless with the game.  I use my desk top computer to play the game.  Which computer have you been using to play?

It's always a good idea to uninstall the game and reinstall when you're adding a new expansion pack.  If you end up doing this, be sure to have all of your serial numbers handy because you'll need them when you reinstall the game.

[Asleep]

No, the game will run on the rare chances I can get it to read the disk. Otherwise in just ejects it like 20 seconds after I put It in.

[Pam]

I asked several questions in my previous post. Answers to them will help find a solution to the problem. Also, it would be a good idea to check the computer to see if it meets the minimum requirements to run the game.

[Leto85]

Poor Simstar, I know how frustrating it can be to have simproblems. Although I can't help you with solving this one, I can provide you with a tip to prevent further damage to your gameplay: Backup your savefile! And I mean right now, before doing or trying something else. It would be a really waste of hours of gameplay when you reinstall your game for whatever reason, however; and then losing precious sims. I know you may be a bit young to do this yourself, but you can ask your daddy to. Just say to him he has to backup the Electronic Arts folder in your My Documents folder. If you have any questions about this, just post them here or send me a PM.
Good luck!

[Pam]

We have a topic explaining how to back up your Sims data.  Click here.

[Leto85]

We have a topic explaining how to back up your Sims data.   Click here.

Good to now that! I was almost going to create one my own, because I can't advice people enough to backup their savefiles. Did it help you Simstar?