after trying about 10 different things i finally found the problem(which EA has addressed) it has to do with the installation of securom which is installed with a number of games. the repair tool can be found here
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg...?p_faqid=19996
if you notice the link on that page for the repait tool, it actually comes from securom
p.s. I know its for Comand & Conquer but neither of the games i run, that use securom, came from EA and it still worked
