Well, let me through my 2 cents in. First of all, I would agree that windows 98, or second edition is better for running games than ME, that is the concencis of my friends and I. Secondly, if nothing else works, try decreasing your hardware graphics acceleration. This worked for me for a couple of games that were having errors where they shouldn't. You can do this in control panel under "system" there will be a button labeled graphics on the last tab. Go in and lower the slider one notch to the left if it is full, much like the advice you got for the sound acceleration. If it still doesn't work try lowering it another notch, (restarting the computer after each change of course). But make sure you never bring this slider ALL the way to the left, as this can cause errors, but one slot from the left might just help you. This works for some games, as it was explained to me by a tech support rep, because the computer technology is now advancing much faster than that used in the games. It works for games like "Warlords Battlecry" for me, and since your computer is a little better, and I imagine a lot newer than mine, (since mine cost a damn fortune about 2 years ago
, 750mhz, 248ram), this technique might work for somewhat newer games like SOA for you. Well I hope this helps. Otherwise try getting the newest drivers for your sound and video cards from their manufacturer's websites.