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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 11th Jun 2019 at 11:19 PM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Error Message When Starting The Game?
I have an Acer Aspire 7750G laptop with Windows 7. I have been running The Sims 2 on it for several years, up until yesterday. Today, when I tried to load the game, it showed me the following error message and wouldn't start up.

"A required security module cannot be activated.
This program cannot be executed (3000)."

I have removed all of my custom content and other files (like neighbourhoods, downloaded lots and sims etc) from the EA Games folder, but it still won't load. I have also tried following the instructions to bypass the launcher, but I'm still getting the same error message.

Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to fix it?
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retired moderator
#2 Old 11th Jun 2019 at 11:42 PM
I posted a link on your Tumblr of someone with a similar question but different game.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
#3 Old 12th Jun 2019 at 12:02 AM
I have the same issue.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 12th Jun 2019 at 12:14 AM
Do you use regular single CD versions, and/or have some collections, or do you use the UC? I'm guessing CDs since you're trying to bypass the launcher.

When bypassing the launcher, make sure you're making a shortcut to the SimsEP9.exe (or whichever is your latest EP).

Have you tried deleting cache files?

Have you checked if your antivirus/malware program has accidentally quarantined one of the TS2 files?
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#5 Old 12th Jun 2019 at 12:23 AM
I think that I use regular single CD versions. The launcher shortcut is definitely correct; I checked. I deleted the cache files. Haven't checked my antivirus/malware software and I don't know how one would go about doing so :-)

Jo's suggestion on Tumblr suggested a "clean boot", which has allowed me to determine that it is a startup service or application which is causing the problem (I think!). I believe that I now have to use the 50:50 method on the startup services and applications to determine which one is causing the problem. The internet suggests that the error is due to Securom not being happy with something that is running on my laptop when I try to start the game and stopping the game from launching. I don't know why it's suddenly become a problem now, but hopefully I can sort things out.

Thank you both for your help! :-)
Mad Poster
#6 Old 12th Jun 2019 at 12:35 AM
After doing a google search, someone mentioned "Process Explorer" as a potential cause (the error had a differnt number) - not sure if this is different from the regular Windows Explorer process (which is supposed to be running, even though it sometimes get a bit borked or stops working, though usually restarts on its own).

Which antivirus do you use? If you open it up it should have some kind of "Quarantine" or "Malware/Virus Chest" or any of the sort, where malware is contained and not dangerous until you run one of several possible actions on it (like removing, deleting, rsetoring if it's not malware, etc.)
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 12th Jun 2019 at 12:42 AM Last edited by SimCryptic : 12th Jun 2019 at 1:17 AM.
I use AVG as my antivirus and use the CDs.
I bypased the launcher and still got the error.
I had anouther program go belly up last night, and had to improperly shut down.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 12th Jun 2019 at 1:42 AM Last edited by simmer22 : 12th Jun 2019 at 1:55 AM.
^ Which program?

A lot of people have a tendency to leave on their computers/laptops for several days. Sometimes a simple restart or two can fix a boatload of problems since you get a clean startup. A lot of junk files can collect here and there, along with memory hogs, and some of this is reset when you shut off the computer.

I've had a bunch of strange issues lately on my old laptop (probably either Windows or program related, including bluescreens and pixellated screens, and my antivirus program refusing to start properly), and each time all it really takes is a restart or two to get rid of the issue, at least temporarily.
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 12th Jun 2019 at 2:30 AM
Star Trek online, and I'd oly had it on for an hour or so.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 12th Jun 2019 at 10:10 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simmer22
After doing a google search, someone mentioned "Process Explorer" as a potential cause (the error had a differnt number) - not sure if this is different from the regular Windows Explorer process (which is supposed to be running, even though it sometimes get a bit borked or stops working, though usually restarts on its own).

Process Explorer is one of the advanced tools for Windows that is available from www.sysinternals.com. It's like the Windows Task Manager, but shows much more detailed and useful information. I have it on both of my computers. It doesn't normally cause problems, but I have had it lock up a couple of times.

Every Google search result that I got for this error message mentioned a computer game of some kind. Several people who had the error were running some version of Linux. I did find this post referring to Civilization 3 Gold which appears to indicate that the error is something to do with Securom as lauratje86 mentioned. That page has a link to a Securom page which gives the following information. I don't know if this will be helpful. (According to Wikipedia, SoftICE was a debugging tool for Windows that was popular for use in cracking software.)
Quote: Originally posted by Securom
SecuROMâ„¢ has determined that the debugging tool 'SoftICE' is running. Please close 'SoftICE' before you start the application.

If the application won't start although you have already deactivated 'SoftICE', please send a SecuROMâ„¢ analysis file to [email protected] (see Support Info section on how to prepare and send an analysis file).
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 13th Jun 2019 at 1:53 PM
I can load the game if I time it right when I first turn on my computer, but if I let it get to far the error message appears.
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 15th Jun 2019 at 8:01 PM
I think I have mine working reliably again though I can't say what did it. It was either running a performance scan (not likey I think), shutting off my virus protection, or the restart. Not a shut off and turn back on but Restart.
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