# Spore's DRM - how do I know if I hit it.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spores-drm-how-do-i-know-if-i-hit-it/492903>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [April 13, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spores-drm-how-do-i-know-if-i-hit-it/492903 "2009-04-13T01:07:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spores-drm-how-do-i-know-if-i-hit-it/492903/1 "2009-04-13T01:07:03Z")

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I uninstalled Spore a few months ago, and I’m now trying to play it again - no luck.

It just keeps going to a black screen then returning to the desktop, or it has one of those error messages that asks you to report to Microsoft.

I was wondering if, after some Googling, it could be the DRM.

How do you know if the DRM is kicking in? Does it tell you, or does it just stop the game running?

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**Author:** ![by-tor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/by-tor/32/266_2.png) [@by-tor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/by-tor)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spores-drm-how-do-i-know-if-i-hit-it/492903/2 "2009-04-13T03:36:35Z")

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I don’t know the answers to your questions but perhaps the official de-authorization tool will help.  
[http://activate.ea.com/deauthorize/gamesList.html](http://activate.ea.com/deauthorize/gamesList.html)

In other words, uninstall, de-authorize then reinstall.

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**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\
**Post date:** [April 13, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spores-drm-how-do-i-know-if-i-hit-it/492903/3 "2009-04-13T04:16:00Z")

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Is it five installs you get before the game expires/the DRM kicks in? Isn’t it in the EULA? I know I read this somewhere, perhaps on a forum though.

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**Author:** ![E\_I\_R\_It\_s\_the\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/258eb7/32.png) [@E\_I\_R\_It\_s\_the\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E_I_R_It_s_the_Law)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spores-drm-how-do-i-know-if-i-hit-it/492903/4 "2009-04-16T18:01:26Z")

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I just built a completely new PC and installed Spore without ever removing it from my old one and didn’t have any problems at all.

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**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spores-drm-how-do-i-know-if-i-hit-it/492903/5 "2009-04-16T19:05:07Z")

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> [@E\_I\_R\_It\_s\_the\_Law](#):
>
> I just built a completely new PC and installed Spore without ever removing it from my old one and didn’t have any problems at all.

That’ll work… for another 3 times, then it’ll ask you to call EA and beg them to allow you to install the game you purchased on to your computer.