Vanillla CD error from Civ 3 Complete, fresh install

[CommandoBob]

The Issue:
When I try to play Vanilla, I get this message:

And of course, the CD is in the drive.

The History:
Bought C3C to play SGOTM 10. Machine is Win98SE. Began installation, saw that it wanted PTW and Vanilla uninstalled before C3C installed. Copied saved game folders to a safe place. Went to Add/Remove Programs and uninstalled PTW. Vanilla still existed, nothing in Add/Remove for Vanilla. Deleted Vanilla to recycle bin and oblivion.

Defragged computer (it was way past time to do the defrag).

Installed Civ 3 Complete, all three disks. Created desktop shortcuts to Vanilla, PTW and Conquets. Replaced saved games. Downloaded SGOTM Mod Pack.
Ran PTW fine, version 1.27. Ran Conquests fine, version 1.22.

Breaks on Vanilla.

Vanilla exe is 'Civilization3.exe', size 3,095KB, dated 8/6/4 at 7:25am. It has no version information when right-clicked.

Note that none of these have been manually patched; they came directly off the CD.

I don't think the Sticky Thread applies here. Nothing has been patched and Conquests runs fine.

Any ideas?

 

[CommandoBob]

Text of email to Atari, through their support site:

I have posted a thread for this at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=170203 .

In a nutshell, I have Civilization III: Complete, newly installed. I can open and play Conquests (C3C) and Play The World (PTW) but not the vanilla (first release) of Civ 3. It is only when I try to play vanilla that I get this error (Please Insert the Civ III Complete CD).

I had Civ 3 Gold installed, but uninstalled and removed it before installing Complete.

I also copied the .exe from Gold onto my machine, to no avail. When pointing to the Gold exe and the Gold CD was in the tray, I got a message to insert the Complete CD. When pointing to the Gold exe and the Complete CD was in the tray, I got a message to insert the Gold CD. Busted both ways.

Any ideas?