Problems with "the Sims" and WindowsMe

[icequeen]

Hi, I've heard great things about you guys here at Anandtech, so I was thinking maybe someone could help me.

It seems that if I run the Sims for about 10 minutes, my computer freezes up and I have to reset. After rebooting, the Sims kicked me out onto the desktop. I didn't get a Windows error either time. My system is a celeron 366@550 (rock stable and runs cool at 34 c), Abit BM6, 3dfx V3 2000 (not overclocked), Monster Sound 300, WD 13g 7200rpm ata66 (running on the ata 33 ide channel), and Windows Millennium RTM 4.3000 *cough*. I suspect it's an undocumented WindowsMe "feature" (ie. the Sims and WinMe don't play together nice). Has anyone experienced similar problems with this configuration?

 

[nemouk]

When it freezes up does the sound loop? If so it is a sound card driver/IRQ problem most probably.

Check for IRQ conflicts just to make sure there are no conflicts.

Can you play any other games or intensive applications in ME? If not then you know it is a wider problem and you can narrow it down. If you can run RC5 or loop Q3 for hours then it is a Sims based problem.

Other things i can think of is trying different video drivers, and virus scanning. But check the IRQ and sound suggestions first, as these are the quickest