Vista 64-bit Issues

I have gone through many of these threads and it has gotten me pretty far, but I am still having problems. I just bought a new computer with Windows Vista 64-bit. Tried to get CIV IV running (just the original game, no expansions). Had a lot of problems, eventually downloaded the two patches and then some of the Direct X stuff shown in other threads and got it top load, start, etc. So it pretty much runs now, but with the following issues.

1. Sound does not work.
2. It crashes. Sometimes not for a half hour, sometimes after two minutes. The first thing that happens is that the montior will flicker like crazy. If I ALT-TAB out of the screen and then go back into the game it fixes this issue, but it obviously is an issue. Then eventually it just crashes and I get a Windows message that CIV IV has stopped working and that Microsoft will notify me if they find a solution. I have tried to view the event log, but I really don't know what to look at.

Any ideas on what I should try next?

Thanks in advance.

It sounds like other software/drivers are out of date. It runs like a champ on my rig. Audio, by default, is a crapshoot for the Civ IV setup; make sure in your speaker options in-game you have stereo, system config, or something relevant to your computer selected.
Post your system's specs/drivers in greater detail and perhaps someone will see more.