NOOOOOooo! (or help, I need a cd-recovery program.)

[Haddas]

I got Call of Duty in the mail. I was very happy. I put it in the machine, but nothing happens. I take it out, examine the otherwise perfect cd, and discover 3 tiny cracks near the edges of the CD. I need a way to recover the data from it, I want to play Call of duty.

That's it in a nutshell

[HillBilly]

Did you break it, or was it in that condition when you got it in the mail?

[Haddas]

I got it like that, I bet it was the cold that made it crack while in the mailbox, since these cracks don't seem to be caused by any kind of harsh treatment

[dasjoe]

dl an iso, and use your key. it should be legal, since you only buy the right to use the software.. no matter in what form you get it.

[Barbarian]

Did you buy it from a business? If you did, chances are if you contact them and explain you got the CD in a damaged condition, they may be able to send you a replacment CD (though in this case most times you'll need to send back your CD, pay for mailing/shipping charges, etc..)

There are products that can help to repair "scratched" CD's, but an actual crack may be hard to fix. Ã, However, it's possible using such a repair technique MAY work (but of course no gurantee).

There is a low-tech and cheap way to repair/smooth out scratches on a damaged CD that may help to make it readable again...

Get a tube of toothpase that has "baking soda" in it's mix (some toothpaste put baking soda in it to help improve the whitening/cleaning effect), put a little bit of the toothpaste on a clean cloth. Gently, but with a little bit of applied pressure, make a "rubbing motion" in a straight motion from the bottom of the scratch (or crack in your case), towards the outer edge of the CD (do not make "circular motions, but "straight rubbing motion" works better). After doing this for a minute, carefully clean off the CD, and hopfully the scratch (or in your case the cracks), MAY be smoothed out just enough that now that part of the CD has become readable again. Ã,  In a pinch, if you don't have toothpaste with baking soda, a mixture of baking soda and water to make a bit of "paste" this way should also work. Ã,  Anyways, this repair technique may not work (or if done incorrectly may make things even worse), BUT, if all else fails, at least instead of throwing away the CD, it's worth a try.

I'n the past I used to buy some 2nd hand games for my old PlayStation, and in some cases in which the CD's were damaged with scratches and the game had trouble loading in places, such a repair technique often times worked for me.

Good luck.

[Bad Voo-doo man]

If you want the .ISO I've got it somewhere on my computer...Just PM me and I'll send it to ya

[Moox]

Im a die hard cod player, cant help you with the disc, but as soon as you get it running come by brighthouse s and d server. I also recommend getting xfire and teamspeak which are both free.

[Evil]

Yeah, I say call up the dealer and tell them it was damaged. A return fee for a cd shouldn't be too terrible. But Barbarian's method works wonders. I managed to fix a disk that was completely cracked from the outside to the hole, just long enough to copy it. Best of luck to you.

[Haddas]

Well, I went the easy way, I got me a copy of CD1 from the internet and used it to install, using my own cd-key. It works now. LostTraveler, I will come by your server sometime, but I want to practise my skills first, and I also hope the ping isn't high. If so, then I'll just spectate.

[Phemar]

The same thing happened with my Grim Fandango a couple of years back. I was happily bored so I started to replay Grim. As I got to the second CD it wouldn't work and I discovered this was because of a large crack in the cd.
I found a video shop near my house that repairs these sort of things so I took it there and now it works fine.
Perhaps see if there is a similiar place in your area...

[Paper Carnival]

The same thing happened with my Grim Fandango a couple of years back. I was happily bored so I started to replay Grim. As I got to the second CD it wouldn't work and I discovered this was because of a large crack in the cd.
I found a video shop near my house that repairs these sort of things so I took it there and now it works fine.
Perhaps see if there is a similiar place in your area...

I could never finish Grim Fandago... The second cd wasn't scratched or anything, it just wouldn't work right.

[Moox]

Its not my server, its Detroit Brighthouses server. They own three on CoD. Just go to the S and D one that holds 55 people. Its the number one ranked server on CoD.  Hardly no lag, I ping about 50 on it. O ya, lower your setting so that you get good fps on a huge server like that.

[Haddas]

thanks for the tip LostTraveler. I will see to it, that I do so

* Haddas bows

[AGA]

Haddas lives in Finland. You live in the US. His ping will not be good, no matter how fast his connection, or the server, is...

[Estaog]

I seem to have the same (well sort of) problem with a cd of mine. It has what looks like a small brown spill, so ofcorse the machine wont read it. Is that fixable? I dont really mind if its broken or not, its quite an old game, but it would be fun to play it again some time. Btw the game is Baldurs Gate: Shadows of Amn (Ahh the good old times).

[TheYak]

Looks like a brown spill? Is there any evidence of discoloration or deterioration on the printed side of the CD?  The actual material containing the data is a layer towards the printed side.  Anything on the underside should be fixable, provided it's not too deep a gouge or crack (and assuming the brown stuff isn't too destructive (glue, paint, etc.).

If it's on the underside, the toothpaste trick might work, otherwise a thorough cleaning kit might get the job done.  Otherwise it's data-recovery operations or downloading . . .

[Estaog]

Oh sorry my mistake. Its like a brown dot in the centre and then fades out like a circle. By data-recovery do you mean a programm?

[TheYak]

Yep.  I've recovered a few CDs by extracting to hard-drive and burning to another.  CloneCD occasionally works as well.  There've been a couple that've extracted just fine to harddrive but weren't burnable so I used CD-emulation for playing the game (like Alcohol).

It's brown in the center, concentrated in the center and moving outwards? Does it look like branches, with uneven lines?  If that's a case, then you've probably got decomposing media and should probably backup the CD ASAP if it's not already too late.

[Estaog]

No, its round. It looks like part of the cd was chipped off, but its not deep at all. I will try copying the data to my hard drive and use some program to emulate a cd.

Edit: It gave me the same error (Data Error: Cyclic Redundary Check)

[TheYak]

Unfortunately, if it's in the center, that's where all the data about the contents is stored.  So, it's looking like options are 1)try different copying/recovery programs, 2)contact Interplay for a replacement or 3) get a legitimate copy of the game through illegitimate means.