quake 3 engine games lock-up my computer

[deathfalls]

i experienced a problem trying to run return to castle wolfenstein on my computer, it would barely load to the main menu when first starting the game, and lock up my computer. i have tried different things to remedy this, trying to run the game after each try: uninstalled, and then reinstalled video drivers, downloaded and installed the latest version of directx (8.1). i recently got star wars jedi knight II: jedi outcast (also a quake 3 engine game, as is RTCW), and it does the same thing...any ideas of what could be causing this problem? any suggestions i should try? oh, and here are my system specs:
Pentium III 933MHz
128MB PC133 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX400 (32MB)
WinME

 

[Maggotry]

Try un-installing the game using the add/remove tool in the control panel. Then delete any folder the uninstall left behind. Disable any progs running in the background (anti-virus is notorious for screwing up installs...including vid drivers). Then re-install the game. If it works, then apply any patches available. If it doesn't try disabling background progs, then try to run it.

You did disable your AV software when you updated your drivers, right?