[improbable]

I got the 3 CD http download of FS2. Installed fine, updated fine, played through the first few missions fine.

Now I'm on the first mission against Shivans. Every time I try to play it, I notice a sound sort of like the engine noise for the Shivans, except once it begins (after I make contact) it never stops, and seems to gradually gets louder. Eventually, I get a quick blue screen, and my computer reboots.

Relevant specs:
Athlon 3200+ processor
768 MB of RAM (a 256 stick and a 512 stick - two different brands)
ATI Radeon 9700

The comp is about a year and a half old, and the only problem I've had with it was the failure of both RAM chips within a month of each other under rather mysterious circumstances.

Anyone else had problems like this?

[Turey]

Have you installed FreeSpace Open? Many of the retail bugs are fixed in FreeSpace Open.

[improbable]

Seems to have done it, thanks!

(although I had to make a daring break from the n00bs guide and make a modification to the "Video" section)