Read ALL of this post carefully before taking any of the advice mentioned. I accept no responsiblity for any damage or data loss caused as a result. Some of this advice should only be undertaken by people with a firm understanding of what is required. Research all the suggested fixes before doing them and make sure any data you do not wish to lose is backed up.

First, lets make sure the disk can be recovered. Hold it up toa bright light with the label towards you. If you can see light coming through any area that is normally covered in silver on the data side then the disk is beyond repair. You could try putting a couple layers of masking tape over it and may get lucky...but ultimately you need to replace it. If you cant see any light through the data layers then move on to the next steps.

Ok, if you've recently reinstalled vista, make sure all drivers are up to date. motherboard, CD drive, everything. If you are competent enough youmay even want to try seeing if you can flash your disk drive with an up to date firmware update.

Now try again.

The bad news however is your 'weird' scratch. A disk can generally run fine if its scratched provided that the scratch runs from the centre to the edge of the disk and not across it. Since the data is stored in rings around the disk, any scratch which runs along the data lines will render it useless.

You can try to repair it yourself, but I suggest practicing on a non valuable disk first and taking your time. Take a blank cd and burn some data to it. Music, pictures, whatever but remember the smaller the data the less chance there is of getting an individual file error. Burning a large program (first strike for example) may be better.

Now scratch the burnt area in a similar manner and depth to your game cd. Try to read the disk, does it work or do you still get errors? If you get errors great! Move to the next step. If not, try scratching it again.

Ok, now you have another unreadable disk its time to try repairing it. You need an abrasive material and unbelievably, toothpaste works great. It MUST be toothpaste though, not a gel, just plain white toothpaste. If it has baking soda in it then its also good to use, but avoid anything with colours, stripes etc.

Apply a small amount of toothpaste to the disk (pea sized amount) and using a soft dry cloth gently rub the disk around the area of the scratch. When rubbing the scratch out only rub from the centre to the edge of the disk in straight lines. This is beacuse the toothpsate is an abrasive so you want to avoid damaging the disk further by introducing more scratches along the data lines. Rub the disk like this around the scratch for about 15 minutes. Carefully rinse all the toothpaste off using warm water, then dry it with a soft cloth and leave for an hour or so to ensure all water is gone. Check the disk. Does the scratch look better? If so try reading it again, if you still get errors then give it another 15 minutes of polishing.

The key to polishing out a scratch is using gentle but firm motions, straight lines from centre to the edge (never ever clean or polish a disk by wiping it in circles) and being patient.

If you do not want to try any of these then the only other option left is buying a new disk or digital copy from the EA store. At uk prices, 2142 is currently £10 (about $15). You could try contacting EA customer services, they will replace disks but it will cost £7.99 to replace it (about $10 dollars give or take). Given that its an old game and often in the bargain section of stores, you may as well just go buy one.

Bite my shiny metal Tie Fighter!