Problems running 256 color games on my laptop

[pretty puppet]

It seems like I have very little luck running my old games on my windows XP laptop. Usually I just give up, but there's one in particular that I've been itching to play. Unfortunately, regardless of color mode/compatability/whatever, I get the same error message:

DRBRAIN3 caused a General Protection Fault in KRNL386.EXE at 0001:8A07

Since the game is out of circulation, I really don't know what I can do about it. Are there any tips or tricks to getting these old (pre-1997) games to work on newer OSes?

[hatbocs]

If it's a dos game try using DOSBox.

Could you say what game it is you're trying to run?

[Xemnas]

Another option would be to download an emulator for OSes (e.g. Virtual PC), and install an older version of Windows onto a virtual hard disc.

[pretty puppet]

Could you say what game it is you're trying to run?

It's Dr. Brain 3, but I get similar problems with other 256 color games. I'm trying Virtual PC right now...

[coolnos]

hi

try checking the "Run In 256 colors" option, but i guess u have already tried it...

so as my friend Xemnas Said use A Virtual Machine, although i suggest that u use vmware... its loads better than virtual pc...

Cheers,

[RandomEE2]

Try running it in compatibility mode with an older OS. Right click > Properties > Compatibility

[pretty puppet]

I've tried running it in all of the older three compatibility modes, as well as in 256 color, but thank you for the suggestions. I might just drag out my ancient laptop and see if I can get it to start up... running a virtual machine would be more work than I'm willing to do seeing as I don't have much space on my computer at the moment.

[Loneua Technologies]

Well,

You can use Virtual PC or you can Dual-Boot XP and Windows 95.

Also you can use the compatibility mode in XP. Lastly you can

use a 3rd Party program that will compatibilize it for you.

[pretty puppet]

So now I have Virtual PC and the game will boot in Windows 98... but not much else. I can get to the title screen and select my name, but whenever I try to load one of the minigames I just get a "this program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down" message. If I remember correctly, this used to happen on my laptop too, but I thought it was just because my computer was so crappy. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be? :/