Error - An Online Pass Is Required To Access Online Features Of The Game

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@ShuggieLove wrote:

EA Customer Support told me to attempt to redeem my product code again (which gave me the error message that my product code had already been redeemed), and to right-click on Mass Effect 3 within the Origin client and Repair the Install (whcih I did, and it said all my files were up to date).  I was told if this did not work, to reach out to EA Customer Support again.  Their turnaround time is quoted as 24 hours, however it has been 3 days and I have heard nothing in addition from them at this point.

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You're best bet may be to get in contact with an EA Game Adviser and advise them that you've tried their recommendation, but that it didn't work because the code had already been redeemed and see if they can issue you a new one.

I got this before, what i did was reinstall Origin, not uninstall and resinstall, just redownload the package and install it, and everything started working again.

Thanks for the responses, I sincerely appreciate the efforts to help.

I went to the Origin website, redownloaded the install file and installed it without uninstalling the existing Origin program - it installed successfully, but I am still unable to play Mass Effect 3 online.

EA Customer Support finally got back to me (I had let them know that their initial suggestions to fix the issue had not worked), and suggested I uninstall Mass Effect 3 manually: https://help.ea.com/article/manually-uninstalling-mass-effect-3

This sounded like a good idea, as it seemed more involved than me simply uninstalling through the Control Panel which I did originally.  Unfortunately, this too leaves me unable to play online after reinstalling the game.

The level of difficulty I am experiencing simply to play a game I paid good money for is leaving a VERY sour taste in my mouth.  At this point, I'd pay $10 for another stupid Online Pass just to be able to actually play, but that's not even an option for me.

I'm going to reach out to EA Customer Support again, to see if they can give me any additional steps to diagnose the issue - any other suggestions while I wait for a response from them would be greatly appreciated.

@ shuggielove,

I know how you feel, I felt the same way, because it happens quite often to me. First off, I need to say that I have two computers that I game on, and I switch between them a couple of times in a day. When I switch, I have to make sure I log out FIRST, before I log in to my other computer. If I don't, or worse, I forgot to exit the ME and then I log into another computer, I get the "no-pass" message. If that's your case, do this: go back to the previous computer, log out properly, and then log back in to your the new computer. I hope this helps other multi-computer users out there.

If you do not use multiple computers, something else may be the problem. I have also encountered this problem when using only 1 computer. Assuming you have already checked your ME3 installation and found nothing missing or corrupt, this is what I did. I uninstalled ME3, uninstalled Origin, deleted all of my Temp folder, rebooted, reinstalled Origin, reinstalled ME3. Sometimes it worked. Other times, no. But, after a period of time, sometimes a couple of hours, sometimes a whole day, it mysteriously worked again. Without help from EA Help. (Hate to, but got to say this: EA Help wasn't much help, in this particular problem).

Oh, and I did try all that UPnP stuff from the forums, it did not work for me.

Hope you have better luck.

There is two common solutions. One is you buy the online pass(if still available) for about 2.99 USD or you could wait until the game says that online gaming is available without online pass. There is one other way but very not reccommended, is that you buy the collectors edition from a start, like me but I bought the collectors edition in the first place.

@silverknight - Thanks, I'll try doing everything in that order.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

@demoncrusherz - I don't have the option to purchase the Online Pass, otherwise I would have done so to save myself from further aggravation.  As far as your suggestion to purchase the Collector's Edition goes, I did purchase the Digital Deluxe Edition from the start.

I just got another e-mail from EA Customer Support in my inbox as I'm typing this reply so hopefully between their response and the total uninstall/re-install suggestion, I will be back online killing some Reapers soon...

So I attempted the total uninstall/re-install of everything...still no luck.

EA Customer Support was kind enough to issue me a new product code for the game, I figured surely that HAD to fix the issue...but still ZERO luck.

I have the feeling my Mass Effect 3 days are over, and not by choice.  It has been 10 days straight (and counting) with my Online Pass not being recognized.

Maybe I'll get lucky with the next Origin update, and it will un-do whatever the most recent update did to cause these issues.

Does anybody know if you can run an older version of the Origin client, and still play online?  Or will it force you to update before allowing you to play any game using the Origin service online?