Hey, I'm in the middle of running through the Chkdsk on my F drive. Before I ran the chkdsk on drive F, I've tried a couple of times to run the chkdsk on my E drive. I've tried closing out all of the programs and the same messages keep popping up. Here's what the message says: "Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk may run if this volume is dismounted first. ALL OPENED HANDLES TO THIS VOLUME WOULD THEN BE INVALID." Any tips??
I forgot to add the Chkdsk results file for my C drive that finished. I still have two drives to go.
@FreeToBeMae The results for C look fine: chkdsk found some minor issues that it corrected, but the driver is in good health overall. I'd still like to hear about the results of the other two drives when you're done.
The "volume is in use" error may be because a background process is accessing files on E, for example the EABackgroundService could still be running even after you close the EA App. The simplest fix is restarting your computer, but if you have the App or some other program set to start with Windows, make sure not only the app itself is closed but that no associated background services are running. The icons in the Task Manager's background processes list should let you know what each entry is.
Okay, the CHKDSK for all three drives finally finished!
@FreeToBeMae Drive E had one bad sector, which isn't great but also isn't a reason to panic. The other drives are fine, according to chkdsk.
Please delete any crash logs you have in Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3. Ttry launching Sims 3 again, in windowed mode, and let me know whether it works. If not, please post a new dxdiag and a new crash log, if one has been created. And let me know what drive Sims 3 is installed on.
Still doing the same thing, although the load time has gotten longer, to about 30 seconds then it crashes. It won't load in windowed mode. I've tried several times in different ways to get it to do so. I think the best it does is windowed borderless?
@FreeToBeMae Please do a clean uninstall of Sims 3, and reinstall it on your C drive. Space will be tight, but it's a useful test, especially considering your dxdiag lists a number of new InPageErrors and the Sims 3 crash log does as well. Here's how to uninstall:
Create a new folder on the root level of C, for example C:\Games is fine, but not C:\Program Files\Games, and install Sims 3 there. This may not be absolutely necessary, but it's a lot easier to install into a new folder now than later, when it would require another reinstall. And don't restore the Sims 3 user folder, the one formerly in Documents, until you've tested.
If this doesn't help, please post another crash log.
It didn't work, but in some ways, this was helpful. I was able to bring it into windowed mode and it seems a little better. One thing I noticed is that when The Sims 3 game loads up, it doesn't have the TS3 icon, it's just blank. But it crashes after less than 30 seconds. Crash file is attached.
@FreeToBeMae Please run a couple of basic checks of your Windows system files:
Restart your computer, hit Windows key-i, select Update & Security, and click the box to check for updates. If any install, restart again afterwards.
Then run a malware scan. I'm not saying this is malware, only that it's worth ruling out. Download Malwarebytes (the free trial is fine) from here:
https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download
Open it, click Scan > Custom Scan > Configure Scan, check all the boxes both for scans and for your C and E drives (and F if you happen to have an external plugged in), and let it do its job. This will probably take at least an hour, so you may want to set it to run while you're doing something else. Please attach its report so I can take a look.
So...I've run into some problems with the malwarebytes scan, besides the fact that it has been taking a very long time, my computer crashed a couple nights ago so I've had to restart the scan twice since then unfortunately. Anyways, I wanted to give you what I did have.
I did both the DISM and the sfc\scannow scans and both of them stopped midway. DISM gave me an error code: 605. It stopped at the 55.2% mark. I included the log. The other scan also stopped around the halfway mark and I got this: Windows Resource Protection could not perform the requested operation. Not sure what that means.
Otherwise, I had a strange incident that happened. I opened The Sims 3 Launcher yesterday and it asked for me to download Origin and when I looked, the EA App deleted itself (?) and was no longer on my computer?
@FreeToBeMae Given the problems with Malwarebytes, you might well have a virus that can't be removed easily. Please run a Windows Defender scan, specifically the Advanced Scan described here:
If that works, or appears to, run it again to be sure, then try Malwarebytes again. If it runs to completion, great. Otherwise, it may be time to wipe the computer and install a fresh copy of Windows.
It took me almost three days, but the Malwarebytes scan finally finished and I only had four problems. I got rid of all of them. I apologize for my late response, I didn't get a notification that you had replied. I'm going to run the Windows Defender scan now.
Windows Security came back with only one issue. I removed it. i tried to do the scannow scan again, but it's still gets stuck at 59%. I was reading elsewhere and you've also said that I may have to reset and reinstall Windows. I don't know if The Sims 3 is worth all of that because I have almost 2.5 TB of data stored on this computer and my E Drive, unless it would only need to reinstall for my C Drive. I'm thinking about buying another hard drive and to try it on that, but at this point, I just don't know. Or should I try it on my F: Drive? See if that works?
I was reading this article to figure out why is this error code popping up when I try to run sfc/scannow: https://softwarekeep.com/help-center/how-to-fix-windows-resource-protection-could-not-perform-the-requested-operation : I've tried Method 1, didn't work. Tried Method 2 and that worked, I've tried Method 3 and that hasn't worked, but I'm trying to see if I can get it to work. I'm on Method 4.
@FreeToBeMae It might be worth doing a clean reinstall of Windows anyway. Even if the problem is fixable in theory, you've already spent more time trying to find it than you would have with the install process. And you do only need to wipe the C drive, although I'd do a Malwarebytes scan of the other drives (not C) first to see whether it can run to completion. A virus could hide there too even if it's less likely.
At some point, I probably will reinstall Windows in the future because I know I need to, but not at this time. It will be a major headache, starting all the way over. I'll mull it over, but I doubt I'll do it anytime soon because all of my other games and everything else works perfectly fine. Thank for so much for all of your help though! Can you keep this thread open for when I follow through with the fresh reinstall? Also, for reference.
Lastly, are we sure that this has nothing to do with the switch from Origin to the EA app because my game worked perfectly fine with Origin, but not with the EA app. I just don't get it. Sorry if this sounds ignorant.
I do have one last question, would I have had this problem if I had bought all of these games on Steam? Or would it be the same issue? Just curious and silently regretting my choice...
I finally got around to doing the Advanced Repair and trying to do startup repair. It didn't finish like the scannow, it quit halfway, but here I'm going logfiles just in case.
@FreeToBeMae The fact that DISM and sfc can't run to completion indicates a serious system issue of some sort. If you want to try an intermediate step, a repair install would only take a few minutes. Here's how to run one:
https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/16397-repair-install-windows-10-place-upgrade.html
This shouldn't delete any data, but if you get to step 13 and are NOT asked to keep your personal files and apps, back out and start over. I can't promise that this will help, it may not, but like I said, it's quick and should be painless.
I understand that only Sims 3 has this issue, but that can happen—different games use different resources and can interact with the OS in distinct ways. So it's possible that only Sims 3 is trying to use whatever is damaged on your system. I would guess the timing of the switch to the EA App is a coincidence, but it's also possible that the App is trying to access a damaged or unavailable resource, particularly if Sims 3 is the only EA game you play. I doubt it's an account issue though—in those cases, the App doesn't even let the Sims 3 launcher open.
If you want to test whether the EA App might be at fault, you can try putting it in offline mode, then taking your computer entirely offline, before you play. Disable the background service under Settings > Application as well. To be clear, this will only help if the App itself is the problem, and if it works, it doesn't mean that your computer is fine. But it might be a useful workaround for the time being.
It's been about four months now, just wanted to give a quick update! The problem is solved, although not in the way I hoped. I accidentally fried my motherboard on my old computer about three weeks ago, so I ended up having to purchase a new computer. The game works perfectly fine on it, no problems. Anyways, thanks for all of your help!
@FreeToBeMae I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad the new computer can run Sims 3 the way you want. Thanks for the update.
