[Dreamerrush]

Hi Everyone
If you're reading this thanks, I really hope you can help me! Before I tell the problem I have to tell you a little story. One day I was going to a second-hand game store. I took the Sims 2 University to the desk and they took it. A few minutes later they came back and told me that there wasn't the disc only the case. A few months later I went back to the store and succesfully bought the Sims 2 University (And also Apartment Life and IKEA Home Stuff). I cleaned it because it wasn't very clean (I just rubbed it against some cloth) then put it into my laptop. When it got to 13% it froze then went on to 14% I had to go take my dog for a walk so I left it to install. I took about 1 and a half hours and when I got back it said "Could not install the file : TSData/Res/Sound/Misc.package would you like to retry or cancel the installation?". I pressed retry then about 5 minutes later it came up with the same thing. I pressed it about 3 times then I got bored so I decided I would try later. Now I'm installing it and I pressed retry twice but this time it's taking longer for the box to come up so if it works I'll repost, but I don't think it will so would anyone reading this please post something helpful. I also would like to know any FREE ways to clean a disc. The box just came up so I'm clicking retry because I wont be beaten by a disc! I WONT!
Thanks for your time, Dreamerrush!

[Dreamerrush]

Oh also, Apartment Life and IKEA Home Stuff worked perfectly!!!

[Tanis]

Is the disc scratched at all, even what appear to be light scratches, it sounds like the CD/DVD drive in your laptop is having problems reading the disc?

You could also try running a lens cleaner through the CD/DVD drive and see if that makes a difference.

If these don't work, try copying (not installing) the entire contents of the disc into a temporary folder on the hard drive, then try installing it from there. It may be able to do this even if it can't read the disc to install.

As for disc cleaning, I just use cotton wool and water running out of a tap, done it like this for years and never had a problem with it. Get a decent sized chunk of cotton wool, then run hold the cd under a running tap and gently wipe it clean with the cotton wool (which should also be soaking wet). Ive found this a good way to get rid of general dirt, finger marks etc. that can build up.

Do you have any access to any other machine that you can at least try and install it on? If it installs OK on that then you know it's more than likely a problem with your laptop reading the disc than the disc itself.

[Dreamerrush]

Hey!!!
Thank you so much! I tryed the copying thing and it worked....but when I choose a University/College when it's loading it says the name of the university but there is no picture. Then when I make students some grey blocks come up over the usual things that are there. And then when I move my sim into a dorm nothing comes up, like the thing where you can pause, play and theres only the sim and there mother (which I didn't take to the University). Then the University new objects appear in the buy catalog but when i place them they're invisible. Also University people are invisible.
I really hope you can help me

[Tanis]

Have you checked online for any updates or patches to the game?

What is the exact make and model of your laptop?

Are all your drivers up to date?

Have you successfully run Sims game on this laptop before?

[squall_01]

When you state "clean it " what did you do? Water..... Take a little bit of rubbing alchol too ether something like a soft wash cloth or cd cleaning cloth an go from the center out around the disk. Then do the same with a dry one. That should work.

[Tanis]

Originally Posted by squall_01

When you state "clean it " what did you do? Water.

Yes, and it works, I have been doing it for years and NEVER had any problems. Obviously it depends on how 'soiled' the disc is, but for general cleaning of finger prints and that sort of thing it is perfectly good.

[squall_01]

I used rubbing alchol most of the time, removes the oil an helps some scrathed disks.