Fallout 3 disks not recognised

Soldato
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Hi All

I thought I would finally install Fallout 3 that I got for christmas tonight. I placed the brand new disk in the DVD tray, heard the DVD drive start spinning up and nothing happens...

I look in my computer and its like there is no DVD in the drive. I tried disk two...that doesnt read either. All other media will read but not FO3 disks. I have done a little research and apparently it could be something called SecuROM or something like that. It seems this SecuROM is stopping my PC reading the disk and its my DVD drives fault?

I seem to have the latest firmware on my DVD drive so I dont think thats an issue. Its the LG GH22LS50 SATA DVD.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks
 
If you have a network you could try sharing a drive on another computer and install from there? (did this on XP once so I assume its still possible in win 7).
 
Well apparently SecuROM searches my PC when the disc is inserted and looks for any "rogue" software, such as Daemon tools. I have nothing like that on my PC. I am sorry but when I purchase a game, I expect it to at least autorun and give me a reason for why it cannot install, not to just do nothing and make me look around the internet for a solution.

Any more ideas for anyone?
 
Have you tried cleaning the discs? No kidding, sometimes new discs don't play that well, due to residue from the factory. Try giving them a wipe with water and a microfibre cloth.

You could also try contacting Securom direct. I've found their tech support very helpful in the past when I had problems with a disc failing to authenticate.
 
I have tried cleaning the disks and no luck. What issues did you have? Did your disk read at all? It seems that from what I have read, my disks should at least be reading something and then failing, rather then just not reading...I think...
 
I have tried cleaning the disks and no luck. What issues did you have? Did your disk read at all? It seems that from what I have read, my disks should at least be reading something and then failing, rather then just not reading...I think...

My issues was with a game failing to authenticate, but the disk read ok. My drive did go completely bonkers when installing Warhead, which also had securom disc protection (as well as limited activations.. yuck), but I did manage to install it eventually.

Securom uses deliberate errors on the disc to prevent copying, and sometimes some drives won't read discs with it. It may be your drive is one of those, which is why it's worth contacting Securom to see if they know if there's any issues with your drive and their copy protection.
 
My issues was with a game failing to authenticate, but the disk read ok. My drive did go completely bonkers when installing Warhead, which also had securom disc protection (as well as limited activations.. yuck), but I did manage to install it eventually.

Securom uses deliberate errors on the disc to prevent copying, and sometimes some drives won't read discs with it. It may be your drive is one of those, which is why it's worth contacting Securom to see if they know if there's any issues with your drive and their copy protection.

I might have to contact them. I have googled my drive and the game but found no results saying they should have issues with each other.

Did you have any virtual DVD program installed in the past?
Like Alcohol 120%, CloneDVD, Daemon?

Anyway try this fix from Securom:
http://www.securom.com/message.asp?m=emu&c=2500

Nope not ever had them on my PC, I use my laptop for anything like that.
 
Try deleting your SecuROM folder from AppData. I don't think some of the files in the folder can be deleted normally, so you'll have to use the command prompt and type in rd /s "%APPDATA%\SecuROM", pressing Enter, then press Y and Enter again to confirm deletion. The folder and necessary files will be rebuilt when you run an application that uses SecuROM.

Oh and to add: I did this when I had an issue with F1 2010 yesterday and it worked fine.
 
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Try deleting your SecuROM folder from AppData. I don't think some of the files in the folder can be deleted normally, so you'll have to use the command prompt and type in rd /s "%APPDATA%\SecuROM", pressing Enter, then press Y and Enter again to confirm deletion. The folder and necessary files will be rebuilt when you run an application that uses SecuROM.

Oh and to add: I did this when I had an issue with F1 2010 yesterday and it worked fine.

Right, I tried this and no luck. :(

The only thing I see happening is when I insert the disc, the drive icon for my DVD RW changes from DVD to DVD-ROM. Does that mean anything?
 
Hi,

I was bought Fallout 3 from christmas and I have just got round to trying to install it. Unpackaged to game, poped in disc one into my DVD RW drive (LG GH22LS50) and nothing happened. It spun up for a second and then just acted like an empty disc. I tried disc two and the same thing happened. I thought it could be my DVD RW firmware so I updated to the latest, although in 15yrs I have never had to do this to an optical drive to play a game, and it still did not work.

I did some searching around and I heard that your SecuROM could be the problem and what is preventing my PC from reading the disc. Just to try, I tried the game in my girlfriends laptop and sure enough it spun up and worked fine. I didnt install it, I just saw the install menu come up and that was enough for me to see the discs actually worked. Since then I have uninstalled any sign of SecuROM on my system using your removal tool, and a little CMD work for what files were left. Still no luck.

Now the situation I am in isnt good for me. I have a brand new game that wont install, I have no reciept to return to store, my optical drive reads everything else fine apart from the game and anywhere I ask for help everyone mentions SecuROM to me but I cant find out how to get it to work.

So I ask now, what else can I try to get this game to work on my system?

Additional information that might help:

Intel i5 760
ASUS P7P55D-E
4Gb (2x2Gb) XMS3
ASUS GTX 470 1280Mb
ASUS D1 Xonar
LG GH22LS50 DVD RW
Samsung F3 500Gb
Windows 7 64Bit

I am not prepared to share my key code with yourselves at this time as I do not feel it will help the situation, however if you were to email me back and request it I can send it too you with photographic evidence that I actually own the game.

Thank you for your time, hope to hear from you soon.

Scott Meaney

I just emailed SecuROM saying that, hope I get a decent reply.
 
Just on the off-chance: Is it possible that your DVD drive is one of the older models that doesn't read double-layered DVDs?
Or perhaps is set in such a way as to read only single-layer ones?
I don't kow DVD drive models so your model number doesn't mean anything to me, I'm afraid.
 
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I am a doofus!

Basically when I said I deleted all the secuROM stuff, there was one single file left in recycle bin. I have no idea why it was still there from me deleting loads yesterday all at once, but hey. Anyways, it is not installing! Thanks for all the help and ideas guys. I think a combo of them all worked.

This game best be worth it now! :P
 
For future reference there's also a Securom removal tool on their site. Be very careful with it though, because if you have any Securom games with limited activations it'll remove the activation info and you could loose an activation. Always a good idea to revoke first.
 
For future reference there's also a Securom removal tool on their site. Be very careful with it though, because if you have any Securom games with limited activations it'll remove the activation info and you could loose an activation. Always a good idea to revoke first.

I used the tool but it left files, hence I had to delete them. :( Ah well its working now :D
 
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