Just purchase FS2004 today install it but at the end of the installation click on start and keeping me to put my cd4 and start the application, but the cd4 is already there, I did 4 installations and alway the same, I did do the installation on my old P11 and it work, I have Zone Alarm and install it with and wihout Zone Alarm and alway the same resultMy system is Window XP, AMD 2600, asus V7700 TI card.Cam

Cam - The problem is that the CD drive can't cope with the MS non-standard copy protection scheme. Send me an e-mail and I'll tell you how to get around the problem. [email protected]

Boy, many hours of frustations and going nowhere just ended tonight, by a quick answer, thank's to Doug and this forum to solve my problem. Hope that Microsoft will think for another solution, less supper will be ruine.Cam

Your not the only one who had troubles. At least I knew my 2 drives had problems with Safedisc (1 CD-ROM and 1 burner). I had to put my old 36x Actima drive in to just pass the safedisc each time. Amazing that old drive can pass that Safedisc without problems. Stupid CD protection, causes nothing but headaches.

>>Stupid CD protection, causes nothing but headaches.Considering the ease with which it can be bypassed - not a very good choice on MS part.FWIW, I heard from a reliable nameless source , that the copy protection was put in at the insistance of the European distributors. Without it they refused to handle the product. The US distributors coudn't care less about it.Just MHO,Vic

Can someone can tell me what it's this is all about, is my cd wrong or something inside my pc, what the idea to sell something that we can't used, there is nothing on that subject in the Microsoft package. If I had no by pass cd, what could I do to play this game?cam

Disabling DMA access to the CD-ROM drive will often solve this problem.Doug Dawson

Hi again Cam - When the CD is made, the Safedisc process writes a "signature" to the disc (CD#4 in the case of FS2004) which is made up of non-standard gaps and error tracks. FS2004 wants CD#4 in the drive each time it starts so it can check for this signature. No problem - unless, for some reason, the drive will not read or recognize the non-standard tracks and gaps. Even Macrovision (the producer) says that 1% of the drives around won't work well, or at all, with Safedisc. So, it's safe to assume that 1 drive out of 100 isn't going to work. And there is nothing you can do other than buy a new drive (or drives if you're not lucky) or use the No_CD file. It's also the Safedisc signature that makes CD#4 so hard to copy. You need both the right drive and the right software to get a useable copy.Doug

Hi Cam,there's most likely nothing wrong with your CD, or your PC. They are just incompatible. Quite a few people have reported similar problems (including me), and Microsoft will exchange the CD for one with a different copy protection. Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

1% of the drives>around won't work well, or at all, with Safedisc.LOL! How lucky can a guy get?!! Since I've two drives, I'm a 1 in 10,000 !! :-)Cheers,Paulhttp://www.strontiumdog.plus.com/sbird.jpgOfficially licenced by British Airways plc for use of name and logo[p]AMD XP2800+ Barton, Gigabyte GA-7NNXP nForce2, 1Gig Crucial PC3200 DDR 400MHz, Gainward 128 MB GF4-4200, SB Audigy, 3 x WD Caviar SE[/p]

Thank's for the infos,guys.My cd is a Creative CD5233E,on my new system, my old P11-400 have a 24X Mitsumi FS240S and work perfectly with disk4,...but not with the sim!!Cam

Hi Paul,statistics are great, aren't they? Most likely the 1% refers to models available, so if that one drive out of a hundred happens to be the most popular model, a lot more than 1% of people will have a problem... :).Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

You're probably right Gosta, but it would only affect my statistic if I deliberately went for a particular model(s).A bad scientist uses statistics like a drunk uses a lamp post: for support rather than illumination. :-)Cheers,Paulhttp://www.strontiumdog.plus.com/sbird.jpgOfficially licenced by British Airways plc for use of name and logo[p]AMD XP2800+ Barton, Gigabyte GA-7NNXP nForce2, 1Gig Crucial PC3200 DDR 400MHz, Gainward 128 MB GF4-4200, SB Audigy, 3 x WD Caviar SE[/p]