Strange CTD issue

[Kaidonni]

I've uninstalled the game permanently now, and am proceeding to dispose of it.

That said, NONE of the other CTD solutions would be of any use. I've always used the resolution solution, keeping campaign map at 800x600 and the battle map at 1024x768. Upgrading the drivers didn't do any harm to the running of the game, except slowing down the loading. The resolution solution has worked since August 2006, and the upgraded drivers were no problem, either, to my surprise (and joy).

It reinstalled fine, also. Quickly tried vanilla...nothing strange. But then trying a mod that had worked for several weeks...redownloaded XL 3.0, and it started again. But it's rather...irregular. On Saturday, it seemed to only be on GA, didn't happen on Domination. But Armenia, a faction I previously played on GA, crashed today on GA. Made no sense. Worked fine the previous weekend. Always on the campaign map - sometimes immediately, sometimes a delay.

It always crashed moments after loading the campaign map with my particular CTD issue. Tried a custom battle, seemed fine.

This only started Saturday. Maybe the computer needed rebooting, but I'm not waiting for my brother to get around to doing that. Better now to consign the game to the bin. I ain't reinstalling again, or waiting for him, or risking damaging his computer by rebooting.

If the DVD is damaged, making a backup is pointless because the files would probably be corrupted or something anyway.

Again, no point looking at the other CTD solutions because this issue started way beyond the point the other CTD issues reported due to newer drivers, etc, would have struck. The game stopped working for no reason... Literally nothing has changed in over a year, except the drivers, and they didn't cause problems either. So, I'll be off...the end of Total War for me...

EDIT: That all said...

The default monitor is on HIGHTECH RADEON 9600XT (I take it those are the video drivers). Windows XP Professional, Version 5.1 (Build 2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519 : Service Pack 2).

But, like I said...since this only started Saturday, and there were NO changes at all in the last year and a quarter that would've done this, not even upgrading the drivers...either the computer needed rebooting, in which case I have no idea if it was (knowing my brother it wasn't, and I'll have to mither and start a row to get something that simple done)...or I'm permanently screwed because he was supposed to make a backup just in case anything happened to the DVD...and if something has happened to it, it's no good now to make a backup. I uninstalled anyway, and reinstalling will be a pain, and a waste of time, just to find out the fact that this game is utterly screwed and I'll never get to play it again because I didn't have the guts to start a row about making a backup (that's the only way my brother does anything...by mithering him then starting a row). As you can see, I'm not very happy about a game stopping working for NOOOOOO reason. It's totally random.

EDIT 2: Rebooted it myself. Seems fine unmodded now. After reinstalling and rebooting. But, new problem...all of the internet bookmarks have literally VANISHED. I was gonna come here, and say what I did to try to fix any issues with the game, and...this is new, definitely. In all the times I have rebooted, the bookmarks for the internet have NEVER been wiped. Great...just great...