CD not being read to Load Sims 2

[joismom]

I need help!!!! I'm trying to load Sims 2 and my CD driver won't read the CD. When I go to run and type in auto run still nothing. I'm not the most technical person but I can do the basics.

[KatAnubis]

I need help!!!! I'm trying to load Sims 2 and my CD driver won't read the CD. When I go to run and type in auto run still nothing. I'm not the most technical person but I can do the basics.
Check the disc and make sure that it is not scratched and doesn't have smudges, dust or the like on it. Some drives are picky.

Also, put in another game disc and see if it will run that without problems.

And last, make sure you didn't accidently get the DVD version instead of the CD version. If you did, you can get a replacement from EA Games. You can find out how to do that from EA customer support on the webpage for technical support.

[saucebox]

This happened with me, too.

The DVD just spins and spins.
Sometimes, if I start tooling around on the internet, it kicks in the disk and reads it. Slowly.

I so don't have the patience for all o' this. :eek: ;)

[ManagerJosh]

do you know what type of DVD Rom do you have?

[saucebox]

Um, don't hate me for being a dummy... uh...

It looks just like the cd drive, but says DVD on it instead... *scratches head* :confused:

[astaregod]

CDs and DVDs are physically the same except a DVD can hold more data, so CD drives and DVD drives look the same, except a DVD drive has the ability to read (and maybe write to) DVDs as well as reading (and maybe writing to) CDs.

saucebox and joismom: Do like KatAnubis says and check the CD or DVD for scratches and smudges (saucebox, because more data is packed onto a DVD these affect the reading ability of the drive a lot more than CDs).

I once had problems trying to write to CDs (I have a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive) and I had to send the drive back to get a replacement. It could possibly be a faulty drive. What you can do to check this is if you have another computer around, try reading the disc on that computer. Obviously if you have the DVD version, make sure you try reading the DVD on a computer that also has a DVD drive. If it loads fine on the other computer, your drive on the first computer may be faulty.

[saucebox]

The only scratches it has are the ones from when I threw it across the room.


okay, no no. No scratches.

The bonus DVD plays right away. The game disc won't. I leave it in my drive and it goes for like twenty minutes. I don't know how long. Sometimes I come back and it has started up...

So many issues!

WHen it does finally play - well, it's slow, choppy - water blinks red!

Can someone come over to my house and do some diagnostics? ahaha.

*sigh* :tired:

[alssetna]

Have you updated your graphics card drivers?

[saucebox]

I think I did.


Yes. I did.

And then the loading of the game made me update something else but I can't recall... directX9.0c or something...

[alssetna]

ok, so tell me exactly what problem you are having now, as well as give me your system specs.
go to Start>Run> type in: dxdiag

[saucebox]

mmmkay.


operating system: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600)
system manufacturer: Sony Corp
system model: PCV - RX660(UC)
bios: award medallion bios v6.0
processor: intel(R) Pentium(R) 4CPU 1.8 GHz
memory: 512 MB RAM
page file: 191 MB used, 1056 MB available
direct x version: Directx9.0c

My drive is split into two.
Could this be part of the problem?

Bodies of water flash red and black. The game runs slow. Chokes up when NPC's enter the screen...

meh!

[Mirelly]

LOL ... we still don't know about your "display adapter"

It's the third tab on the dxdiag screen. Have tried setting ALL the graphics options to the lowest settings. The game running slow and choking up with NPC's sounds like the graphics hardware is have a nervous breakdown with the avalanche of work.

I kept saying since last January that no-one should underestimate the Maxis statment that the more VIDEO memory the better. Your 512 MB of RAM should be fine but how much video ram have you got. I would guess that you have an onboard Intel thing that sharing some of that 512 ...

[saucebox]

How do I know how much video ram I have?

The third tab over shows NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64.

That make sense? (To you, anyways, not to me. ahaha)

[ManagerJosh]

on the third tab, look for something referncing to "approximate total memory"

[Mirelly]

I had the NVIDIA TNT2 64 in my last PC. It has 64 MB of RAM but it isn't T & L enabled and is IMHO woefully inadequate for SC4 ... let alone TS2. When I got SC4 I could only really play the smallest city size. If I played with the largest size scrolling around the city took forever (and got worse the bigger it got) even with all the graphics options set to minumum. In other words, as you have found it won't actually prevent you from playing the game ... it just won't be as much fun.

[saucebox]

Approx total memory = 32.

Okay. Yes, SC4 chugged.

Hmm... so what video card would be compatible? How can I tell?
Also, can a dipstick like me install it myself?!

Thanks for all the help y'all!
<3

[Cyricc]

Woah. I had that same TNT2 like 4 years ago, 32mb VRAM. Since it doesn't support hardware T&L, among many other things, you're going to run into graphical issues everywhere in today's 3D games (any game using T&L had messed up colors using that card). Not to mention it's, well, slow. Really slow.

Basically, any nVidia GeForce FX 5200 and ATI Radeon 9200 or better will run the game fine. There are older cards which are compatible as well, but since they're basically not sold anymore, it's kind of pointless to look for one. The GPU is one of the easiest pieces of a computer to change - minimal assembly/disassembly - so you shouldn't have much problem putting it in.

[Mirelly]

Further to Cyricc's answer....

Changing a part in a computer is really quite easy but unless you feel confident that you know what you are doing you would be wise to seek help. Ask around at school/college/work for someone who knows what to do. If you live in the UK I'd say to go to somewhere like Maplins (bit like Radio Shack) who are always willing to give helpful advice when selling you bits (or they'll do the work for you for a price.)

Also if your budget will stretch to it consider adding another 512 kb of RAM while you are operating on the beast ... I always think that you can never have too much RAM ;)

Note that your "plit" hard drive is probably a System Restore partiton labelled as a virtual 2nd drive D: ALWAYS leave your drive D: alone. OK? It doesn't affect your computer's perfomance.

You might wanna see the article on page file size by Gebbinn

Page File Size and Performance. (http://forums.worldsims.org/showthread.php?t=2929&highlight=page+file)

[OafyC]

In the readme it says NOTE: If you have a non-T&L capable video card, such as Intel Extreme Graphics or Radeon VE series, then you need at least a 2.0 GHz processor.

Mirelly: Actually you can have too much ram, well at least for palying games. 1 GB is the sweet spot. After that you actually lose performance (most of the time). For things other than games more ram is better.

Saucebox: If you don't want to spend a lot of money I would get something like http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=14-145-078&DEPA=1

There are cheaper cards like the 5200 or 9200, and they will run this game fine as well.

[saucebox]

What's that again about the split drive?

It's weird cause the thing is split like 15/65.
And the OS is on the smaller one.

As for the video card - I just need to know what's compatible... and how to put it in, I guess. I don't need to be cheap about it. Just tell me what is right for the price. What has a good rep. ;)

[jdem]

I, just like you all, have found the same problem, when before, I could play and install the sims with no problems (save a few graphics hickups) and then, all of a sudden, it wouldn't recognise the disk! at all!

But now, I have found the solution!! Hooray!!

I run XP home and when I put a CD (or DVD) into the tray, a dialogue box pops up asking me which action I wish to take. These range from play DVD, through open CD writing window to Take No Action'. Whilst recording a CD recently, I chose 'open a CD writing window' and then clicked always take this action, which was a mistake. This prevented the Sims from reading the installation / game disks. I solved this by right clicking on the cd drive in windows explorer and choosing properties. I went to the 'Autplay' tab and then made sure that for each category of CD contents I had selected 'prompt me each time for an action'. After that Sims had no trouble reading the game disks.

Hope this helps!!

Jess