Why does my game crash randomly?

[Ripley1]

I've been trying everything i could think of to get my Civ 3 to stop crashing. It does it randomly, either as soon as I load a game or somewhere within 15 minutes. I tried updating all my drivers and made sure direct x 8 works and all. I tried everything. I can't find anything wrong with my computer. Since none of my other programs crash I'm beginning to think I have a lemon copy or something.
I have Windows ME and more then the minimum requirements for the game.
Is anyone else having this problem? Someone please help?

[ABC'd]

Do you turn off autosave at the opening screen? Try that. I was crashing randomly and the autosave games that I had would crash at exactly the same point every time no matter what I tried. I think they were corrupted in themselves. I still haven't determined if this is exactly the cause but I am working on it. I made a cardinal sin as a programmer in that I tried two things at once to see if it would work. I turned off autosave in the opening screen and instead of the maximum number of civs on a large world I just tried 7 besides mine on a large world. I am a ways into this game (1270 AD) and (knock on wood) I haven't encountered any crashes. I am going to play this game out to see if it will crash but I am hopeful. If it works I am going to up the number of civs and see if that will crash things. I have posted in the consistent crashes thread but have received no reply so this is either a no brainer or I have done something already covered. Hope this helps.

[Ripley1]

I tried your solution, it sounded interesting but nope, still crashes I'm getting help from tech support though, just takes a few days to hear back from them. Hopefully i find something that works. I'm beginning to think my sound card is dying, it might be worth investing in a new one.