Thanks, but I must have bigger issues.  I just installed the base game last night and loaded to make sure it all worked...2 seconds it play mode...CRASH!?  I never had that problem before.  It's just so frustrating!  I'm thinking I did something when I was trying to get Fast Lane to work that has messed everything up on my computer.  If only I could remember all that I did.

So I should just have to install everything again then patch and all will be well in Simland?  No extra tweaking on my party?  I assume the patches will fix Fast Lane also?  I have yet to purchase Late Night since all the trouble FL caused.

I did try the DEP, but I was so frustrated by that time I probably screwed it up.  As it stands right now I have nothing Sims related installed on my computer.  I think I'm going to reinstall (again) and see if I can't get it up and running.  I discovered that EA support was a total joke.  The only recommendation they gave was to uninstall and start over.  They told me that 3 times before finally settling on the processor.  By then I was finished and never wanted to turn my computer on again.

Thanks for all the feedback.

OS is Vista, Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6400  @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz, Memory: 3070MB RAM
 Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT. 

If I'm correct, everything else is o.k. except for the processeor.  I thought about getting the processor upgraded, but noone i talked to was able to help me.  They made it sound really complicated and I would be better off buying a new computer.  Like I said I played all the way up to Ambitions with no problems. 

Thank again.         

Before i bite the bullet and buy a new computer.  I contacted EA because I bought Fast Lane and installed without success.  It would only crash to desktop.  After following the direction to uninstall and reinstall (3 times) they finally came back with the answer that my processor was too slow.  It's 2.1 and I think they recommend 2.3 or 2.4.  I played all the way up to Ambitions before having any trouble.  Please help me.

Thanks