Installation Frustration! Can't even get into the game.

[akmarie]

It used to be that all you needed was the CD to download Sims... what is this? I realize I had to jump through hoops in order to download the Origin client and install, but I've literally never used it for anything but this very moment with Sims and I am EXTREMELY frustrated.

At first, when I loaded the CD into the drive, I clicked continue and nothing happened. I did that about four times before I thought to look through the files and actually downloaded the Origin platform. Then, when I loaded the CD, it began to lead me to the Origin platform and prompted me to log in... (I know I have a valid log-in, it let me do it on the browser), it took about 10 minutes to tell me that "Could not connect to the server. Please try again in a few minutes".

I tried again in "a few minutes". And then again. And again. Then I looked through the troubleshooting threads and tried the methods, still nothing. I really could do without all these complications to play one simple game I paid a lot of money for. This is simply ridiculous. 

EA, help me out or give me my money back. I'm tired of pulling my hair out in frustration over one problem after another!

- Ashley

[EA_eircon]

Hi Ashley,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Origin so far - we're working hard to find out why this is happening for people, but we need more diagnostic information to help track it down.

If you're willing to help us diagnose this problem, please do the following:

- Locate your Origin installation directory (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin).

- Run OriginER.exe.

- Enter your Origin ID.

- For 'Type of Error', select "Installing Games from Discs"

- Leave 'Customer Support Ticket Number' blank.

- In the text box, you can just write something like "Can't install from discs"

- Check the box if you agree (you can read what information we will collect here http://download.dm.origin.com/oer/en_US.html)

- Click "Send Report"

- Once the report is sent, copy your Report ID and paste it into a reply to this message so that we can investigate your report immediately.

Lastly, could you let us know if you're running any type of anti-virus or other anti-malware software?

[akmarie]

Apparently, I can't even do that. I get this error message:

http://i60.tinypic.com/6tlit1.png

How can I submit a report if the platform won't even let me connect to the internet? I'm obviously connected to the internet, as I'm typing this right now using a web browser on the same computer.

[akmarie]

I'm trying to explain my issues to someone on the phone and he said my issue doesn't make any sense to him, so I thought it would be better if I showed you a screen cap of exactly what I'm seeing:

http://i62.tinypic.com/10msw15.png

[EA_eircon]

Based on your description and screenshots, it sounds very much like something is blocking your connection to our servers.

Could you try adding an exception for Origin.exe and OriginER.exe to Norton Internet Security, to rule it out as the possible cause for this issue? I think this article covers how to do that in NIS: https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v1028140_NIS_Retail_2012_en_us

Also, it might be worth taking a look at your system's hosts file, in case a prior malware or virus infection has modified it to prevent connecting to various services. You can find the hosts file under C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc and open it with Notepad to view. There shouldn't be any entries for anything with "ea.com" or "origin.com" listed - by default, there actually shouldn't be any entries at all on a line that doesn't start with a #.

Another possibility could be the configuration of your network router. Depending on your router make and model, settings for network port access could be in a few different pages - I'd recommend looking through the various configuration pages to check that none of the ports listed at this link are blocked, or being directed exclusively to a different PC or device: http://help.ea.com/ca/article/connection-issues-with-origin/#1

Lastly, if nothing above helped, if you open Command Prompt in Windows (Start -> Type: cmd), and enter "ping signin.ea.com" (without quotes), does it receive ping replies or does it say that the requests timed out?