I just tried my first game after upgrading to XP.The game installed,so clearly the drive is reading the disc.When I tried to play the game an error box came up AREA 51.exe has encountered a problem,a report can be sent to MS.
I tried a commercial DVD,a music one,and that played(after I installed a decoder).
I'm sure there is a simple answer! Any help welcome.Thanks.

Check your Event Viewer:

Start/Run/ eventvwr

Open the System as well as the Application tabs looking for Warnings or Errors relative to this issue.

Have you installed XP drivers for your Graphics card?

Check Start/Run/ dxdiag | display

What is the device? Search the manufacturers' site for XP drivers.

You will probably need to uninstall the present drivers | reboot | install the new.

Thanks for this.I have XP drivers for the graphics card.Do you suggest trying to find XP drivers for the dvd drive? It is quite old now,5 years in fact.I do notice it is much slower reading a disc than my newish cd drive.Attached is the start ofthe error report from event viewer.Many thanks.
[Error Information]
3.4.76.0; 3102; ES: 10003, 7, 10004, 10002, 0

[Protected Product Information]
CompanyName = Midway
ProductName = Area 51 DVD
BuildSignature = 3.04.076.000, 04.06.05
ProductGuid =
BuildGuid =

XP generally has all the drivers it needs for disk drives.

As to the errors I am not really following what you came up with.

In Event Viewer if you double click a line that appears relevant what is listed as:

Event ID?

Source?

Description?

Where did that Area 51 DVD data come from?

Sorry for my confusion.

I gave up on the DVD drive & installed a new one.It reads the game fine,installs it,but still the same error message.I am speaking to Midway support,who seems helpful,so will close this post.Thanks for the help.