Marshmallowycat When you say you heard an error sound, do you mean a standard Windows error sound, or some other kind of beep? If it's not the typical Windows sound, is it coming from your speakers/headphones/etc. or from the computer itself?
Please look for new errors in the Reliability Monitor. Hit Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day. Today is on the right.
Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent attempt to launch Sims 3. If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here. If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.
