Okay, I am sure hoping someone can help. I just got a Gateway P-171x fx
laptop with Vista installed. I installed my sims 2 games, without any
problem until I installed Seasons and Pets expansions. I disabled the User
Authorization and Autoplay, still did not work. Gateway had me uninstall
then update my DVD drivers, but it did not help. Here is what is happening.
The two games install fine until it prompts for disk 2. Once disk 2 is in
the drive, and I press okay, it cannot find it. When I check the drive
through explorer, it does not show anything in the drive. I put the #2 cd's
in my PC with XP and explorer can see the disks fine.

I have no idea what to think. I was able to install all of the other Sims 2
expansions, including the lastest, Free Time. So if it was a driver issue,
then I would think I would not have been able to do this.

Also, did a disk clean-up, just in case it was some kind of read error in
memory or something. In any case, does anyone have any ideals on how to fix
this odd issue?

"viola sphinx" <viola sphinx@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:187184E7-2B94-4873-9306-78E89B4B2D66@microsoft.com...
> Okay, I am sure hoping someone can help. I just got a Gateway P-171x fx
> laptop with Vista installed. I installed my sims 2 games, without any
> problem until I installed Seasons and Pets expansions. I disabled the User
> Authorization and Autoplay, still did not work. Gateway had me uninstall
> then update my DVD drivers, but it did not help. Here is what is happening.
> The two games install fine until it prompts for disk 2. Once disk 2 is in
> the drive, and I press okay, it cannot find it. When I check the drive
> through explorer, it does not show anything in the drive. I put the #2 cd's
> in my PC with XP and explorer can see the disks fine.
>
> I have no idea what to think. I was able to install all of the other Sims 2
> expansions, including the lastest, Free Time. So if it was a driver issue,
> then I would think I would not have been able to do this.
>
> Also, did a disk clean-up, just in case it was some kind of read error in
> memory or something. In any case, does anyone have any ideals on how to fix
> this odd issue?

If you put in Disk 2 into your notebook, and just open Computer, does anything come up on the CD icon?

When you say you put Disk 2 in your PC with XP and it works, is that the Same notebook, or is it a different computer?

Why did you disable UAC and Autoplay? I've only encountered one program where UAC causes install problems, and Sims 2 or it's expansions wasn't it.

If your Notebooks CD-ROM isn't reading a CD, it's either the CD or the CD-ROM drive. Some CD drives read CDs better than other drives. Might just try carefully cleaning the CDs off, and see if that helps at all. Odd that some discs work and some don't, else I would say it could be the drive itself.

Not sure what else to suggest, but INSTEAD of calling Gateway, I would call Electronic Arts. They made/tested the game, so they might have a better insight as to what the problem might be.

http://support.ea.com

-A.

"Andy [YaYa]" wrote:

> "viola sphinx" <viola sphinx@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:187184E7-2B94-4873-9306-78E89B4B2D66@microsoft.com...
> > Okay, I am sure hoping someone can help. I just got a Gateway P-171x fx
> > laptop with Vista installed. I installed my sims 2 games, without any
> > problem until I installed Seasons and Pets expansions. I disabled the
> User
> > Authorization and Autoplay, still did not work. Gateway had me
> uninstall
> > then update my DVD drivers, but it did not help. Here is what is
> happening.
> > The two games install fine until it prompts for disk 2. Once disk 2 is
> in
> > the drive, and I press okay, it cannot find it. When I check the drive
> > through explorer, it does not show anything in the drive. I put the #2
> cd's
> > in my PC with XP and explorer can see the disks fine.
> >
> > I have no idea what to think. I was able to install all of the other
> Sims 2
> > expansions, including the lastest, Free Time. So if it was a driver
> issue,
> > then I would think I would not have been able to do this.
> >
> > Also, did a disk clean-up, just in case it was some kind of read error
> in
> > memory or something. In any case, does anyone have any ideals on how to
> fix
> > this odd issue?
>
> If you put in Disk 2 into your notebook, and just open Computer, does
> anything come up on the CD icon?
>
> When you say you put Disk 2 in your PC with XP and it works, is that the
> Same notebook, or is it a different computer?
>
> Why did you disable UAC and Autoplay? I've only encountered one program
> where UAC causes install problems, and Sims 2 or it's expansions wasn't
> it.
>
> If your Notebooks CD-ROM isn't reading a CD, it's either the CD or the
> CD-ROM drive. Some CD drives read CDs better than other drives. Might just
> try carefully cleaning the CDs off, and see if that helps at all. Odd that
> some discs work and some don't, else I would say it could be the drive
> itself.
>
> Not sure what else to suggest, but INSTEAD of calling Gateway, I would
> call Electronic Arts. They made/tested the game, so they might have a
> better insight as to what the problem might be.
>
> http://support.ea.com
>
> -A.
> Thanks for your reply, I will ask Electronic Arts, but I have a feeling it is Vista. In answer to your questions;

Disk 2 shows does not show up in the drive when I looked in explorer.

Disk 2 shows up in my second PC, which is the one with explorer on it.

I disabled UAC and autoplay because I thought they may have been conflicting
with "Please insert disk 2" prompt.

Both of the disks 2 can be opened and explored through explorer on the
second pc (with xp). Besides, the second disks for sims 2 expansions packs is
only used for installation, so they are virtually scratch free.

I ran into this again today, with a DVD that I burned that has a start-up
program for another software program. Vista loaded it, and I could see it in
explorer, and I was able to start the installation process. It stoped
responding during the process, so cancled the installation and removed the
dvd. When I put the dvd back in and checked explorer, it showed that no disk
was loaded. I checked my drivers, and they are the lastest versions.....It
is either Vista or the DVD drive.