EA Download manager

EA Download Manager.

As far as I can tell (I've done a search) no one has made a thread about EA Download manager. On the EA store website
you can now purchase and download games. What are people's experiences of this? I myself wouldn't recommend buying a game this way.

After a couple of plays I got this message:

"The game can not start. In order to launch this game, please login to the EA download manager to verify your ownership, then try again."

So I did just that but when I clicked play again the same message came up. I went to support on ea's website and
troubleshooted my problem and find instructions how to supposedly fix the problem.
Here they are:

"If you see the following error, your game has likely been downloaded and installed on three other
computers already.

The game can not start. In order to launch this game, please login to the EA
Link to verify your ownership, then try again.

According to the End User License Agreement, which can be found by opening the EA Download Manager,
highlighting your game, and selecting Game Manual, "You may only have the game installed on
three computers at any given time.

If you are sure you have not installed the game on a fourth computer, please clear your license
files located at:

For Windows XP Users
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\PACE Anti-Piracy\License Files and delete all the files in that folder.

For Windows Vista Users
C:\Users\(Windows account name)\Appdata\Roaming\PACE Anti-Piracy\ folder.

Be sure your system time and date are correct to your geography. You may need to check the time stored on your system CMOS as well as the time in the Windows operating system. To adjust the time on your system CMOS, please check with your system manufacturer or consult your owner's manual. To change the time in Windows:

1. Right-click the clock that shows on your Windows Taskbar.
2. Select 'Adjust Date/Time.'

If you don't see the system time on the taskbar:

1. Right-click your Windows Taskbar and select Properties.
2. When the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties applet appears, select the 'Taskbar' tab is selected.
3. Be sure that the 'Show the clock' check box is selected.
4. Click OK.

The clock should now appear opposite of the Start button. You can now check and edit the time easily as described above."

I do all this but it doesn't work, in fact the "PACE Anti-Piracy" folder doesn't appear to exist. I google this problem and it's quite common but appears to have no definative answer.
In the end I unistall then reinstall EAD Manager using instructions on their website which is meant to solve a different problem:

"If you run into an issue with low disk space or if you have corrupted files associated with the
EA Download Manager, you should backup and relocate your EA Download Manager cache. The best way
to relocate your EA Download Manager cache is to do the following:

1.Exit EA Download Manager.
2.Double-click My Computer.
3.Double-click the C drive.
4.Double-click the ProgramData folder. *
5.Double-click the Electronic Arts folder.
6.Double-click the EA Download Manager folder.
7.Move the cache folder to the desired location / folder (even on another hard drive).

Next you will need to uninstall, download, and reinstall the EA Download Manager software.**
When re-installing the latest version of EA Download Manager, you will be prompted for the cache location.
Browse to the desired location and click Next.

If the new cache location differs from the location to which you moved your files in the
beginning of this process, simply browse to that location and move the contents of the cache
folder to the appropriate folder.

* For Windows Vista users, this folder may be hidden. To find it, you will need to adjust your folder
viewing properties or hit the Windows key + 'R'. In the Run applet, type C:\ProgramData and the folder
will appear in a new window."

It works! This solves the problem. I'm not sure if moving the cache folder makes a difference and if you unistalled it without doing so the problem would still be fixed but I thought I might as well do it this way.

Long and short of it, just buy games in a shop! It saves a lot of hassel especially if your not very technically minded like me.