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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Mar 2010
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I purchased this game from wal-mart. and my disc drive can not read the cd. I took back the game 4 times already and all 4 discs will not read. Just to ensure its not my driver I purchased an external dvd-rom and get the same issue. Is there any other way to install this game? Its kinda pointless to have a game I cant play and I cant return it either due to copy write laws
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Support
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Support
Joined: Mar 2003
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Do you mean the disk is not recognized at all, or there are problems trying to access it, or you can access/view the disk, but can't read/copy anything off it?
Do you have access to a different computer you can try the DVD in, even just to see if it is readable? External optical drives can be finicky (though I have not tried any in few years).
Have you checked the computer or drive manufacturers' sites for updated firmware for your optical drives?
Are you shutting down all non-essential programs (especially anti-virus) inserting the DVD? Even with a software or driver conflict, I wouldn't expect the disk to be unrecognized, though. You could try booting the computer into Safe Mode (hold the F5 key down while booting IIRC, or hit the F8 key for a boot menu), and see if the DVD is detected there.
You can return the game if there is a problem with the disk itself (even if they don't have any display systems there, they would have to have a computer somewhere in the store with an optical drive), and it is possible that store got a bad batch of DVDs. Statistically speaking, though, that isn't nearly as likely as a problem with your system. With a little troubleshooting on your part, hopefully you can either get it working, or have enough to convince Walmart to check the disk themselves; if they verify the DVD is unreadable, they can not refuse to take it back. A computer store probably would have checked the first DVD, before even doing an exchange.
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Mar 2010
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When I load the cd in the drive its not even being recognized that theres a disc in. I have attempted to load it on 2 of my other machines with the same effect. I've also disabled all programs not needed, it's almost like the disc itself is blank. I have returned it multiple times all of them seem to do this.
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Support
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Support
Joined: Mar 2003
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Tell Walmart it isn't being recognized in 3 different systems and ask that they check it themselves. If the actual DVD is defective they either need to replace it with a working version (ask them to check it before doing the exchange) or give you a refund.
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apprentice
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apprentice
Joined: Sep 2009
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Are sure you have a DVD drive to install the game? The game is on a DVD and "NOT" a CD, thus you need a DVD drive to install the game.
Wallmart has reported no bad DVD's sold and no bad DVD's have shown up produced by the games publishers, so the issue is with your PC and not the game media. Most likely you have either antivirus programs running or other security programs preventing the game media from being read, or maybe a "questionable" program used for copying/burning software like Alkohol 120%, Daemon Tools, etc, that is conflicting with the games copyprotection.
Last edited by The Outfield; 15/03/10 07:09 PM.
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Support
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Support
Joined: Mar 2003
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Does anybody even make straight CD-ROM/RW drives anymore? Assuming the computers are up to date enough to play the game, they should have a DVD-ROM/RW drive.
AFAIK a software conflict shouldn't prevent the drive from detecting that there is a disk in it.
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apprentice
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apprentice
Joined: Sep 2009
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Some Starforce protected games with some DVD and CDROM drives will not even see the game if Starforce detects Alkohol 120%.
SecuRom will also detect these programs used for "stealing" software and corrupt the game files after a period of time on some games.
Bottom line... no one has seen any bad DVD's produced by the games publishers, although some games have been sold on places like EBay which turned out to be pirated copies, thus only buy games from retail outlets.
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Apr 2010
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I have this same problem. I contacted Dell about my system and after 2hrs of talking and unistalling/installing/downloading/shutingdown/restarts we thought the problem is in fact that the disk is not compatible with Windows 7. The disk I have won't work on my system, windows 7, but my brothers system, which is windows vista, is reading the disk as well as my fathers system, windows xp, reads the disk fine.
I don't know what to do to make it compatible, hopefully this will help you understand a possbile problem? If you guys know how to make it compatible please feel free to tell.
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Support
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Support
Joined: Mar 2003
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Other people with Windows 7 have not had an issue with their systems recognizing the DVD, so it is most likely a problem/conflict with that particular optical drive or system.
Did you try booting into Safe Mode (hold the F5 key down as Windows starts, or hit F8 for a boot menu) and see if the DVD is recognized there?
In the Device Manager, you could try deleting the entry for your optical drive, reboot, and let Windows reinstall the driver for it.
Did you try updating the firmware for the optical drive, if there is one available? Also, check Dell's site for any BIOS or motherboard chipset driver updates.
Do you have access to an external optical drive you could try on your system?
Do you have any computer geek friends that might have a spare optical drive lying around you could borrow? DVD drives are relatively cheap, but I wouldn't necessarily want to buy a new one if I wasn't fairly sure it wasn't a software problem.
If you are comfortable changing hardware, you could probably swap optical drives in the Vista and 7 systems (check that they both use the same connectors on the back of the drive), and see if the problem moves with the drives (in that case you should be able to convince Dell that the drive is starting to fail, and get it replaced under warrantee). If your optical drive uses a SATA connector (small connector/cable, same as the hard drive) then you might not be able to swap it; with a PATA connector (2" wide) you could probably swap with either the XP or Vista systems (SATA optical drives used to be less common than the older PATA drives a couple years ago; new systems may not have a PATA connector on the motherboard).
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Apr 2010
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Thank you for the help, I did a lot of the suggestions but with no luck. Dell wont replace the drive unless I can prove that another Windows 7 system is working for the disk.
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Support
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Support
Joined: Mar 2003
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Did you get the game or computer at a place that has demo systems? Even if you simply ask at a computer store, they shouldn't have a problem just checking if a DVD is recognized or not (many don't want anything installed on demo systems).
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