@Firefly
Hmm, both of these things say that my hard drive is in good health

@SJActress
Thanks, that's a nifty program.  It didn't seem to fix my Sims problems, but I'm definitely going to keep it for other stuff.

@wizard_merlin
I patch from the launcher so I think everything is all patched up.  And I'm posting here because the official Sims 3 forums kind of suck.  I did have some mods and pirated stuff before, including awesomemod, but I deleted them when I reinstalled so I could see if I could run TS3 if it was completely vanilla.  As for how long I've had this problem, it's been at least two years.  One thing I probably should have mentioned; I CAN play my game if I leave it frozen like that for about 3 hours.  Then it just pops back to normal and plays well, without freezing.

I have had this problem for a long time, despite the fact that my computer's specs are well above the minimum requirements. Every single time I open the Sims 3 it freezes just as the EA logo appears and the program stops responding. I am patched to 1.55 and have all of the expansion pack besides Island Adventures. I also have High-End Loft Stuff and Outdoor Living Stuff. I do NOT have any custom content, mods, or pirated games.

Here are the things I have tried, none of which have worked:

Running TS3 as administrator

Running TS3 in Windows XP (service pack 2) compatibility mode

Updating my video card

Making sure I had DirectX and an updated sound card

Starting TS3 in windowed mode (by changing the full screen setting in options.ini to "fullscreen = 0")

Removing my Sims 3 folder from My Documents/Electronic Arts

Reinstalling base game, expansion packs, and stuff packs (this one made my game work for a while but then it randomly started freezing again about a week after reinstall)

Adding all the application in the bin folders to the DEP exception list



Here is my DxDiag info: http://pastebin.com/1ys2vtTC


Hopefully given all this information, somebody will be able to help me. Thanks in advance. I'm really not sure what else I can try that I haven't already so I'm at a loss.

My game keeps freezing and crashing whenever the trait screen comes up, whether it's for aging up or in CAS.  No FSE screen comes up, the game just freezes and stops responding.  My game worked just fine after deleting awesomemod... It made me really sad that I had to delete it because I love awesomemod  
Is there any way the trait aspects of awesomemod could be removed?  I think that might be what's causing my problems. I was disappointed to see there's no trait options for the config tool.
I don't have any other mods or custom content but I do have a bunch of pirated store items in package form, if that makes any difference.