No such luck with the graphics drivers update. I should also add that I have two graphics cards. An intel HD 3000 in addition to the one I mentioned in the OP.

Try looking in the system log - since you have a sound of error (warning sound?) maybe the description is there.
It's in control panel\administration\system log (My Win7 is in Russian so that's probable translation)
From my POV the problem (if your system is not overloaded with many useless programs) is in the optimus. That's nVidia solution for their mobile videocards which often cause more stress than usefulness due to inability to run some games.
I'd suggest trying to manually (through nVidia control panel) make the game run through 540m (if it's running on intel HD) or clicking right mouse button on a program (or maybe a shortcut is sufficient) and running it using 540m. Or otherwise using HD3000. Either way I think both of these cards should be enough to run the game - it's not that heavy on video.

addition:
I actually have the same issue. Although it's not happening right at the start but after a few minutes. Appcrash is happening in Screamer4x4_gl.exe. After I'm seeing desktop nothing works - after any click I get a notification sound just like the one when program is not responding. After restarting explorer (not the whole system) I can operate normally only with any newly opened program. All programs running at the moment of crash are giving the same sound and just are not answering. But killing the process and starting them all over gives the result.
So count me in with this issue. Just not before the menu.
Win 7 64 with all latest updates, Video AMD Radeon 6950. So I'm guessing it's not about the videocard.

Be sure to contact Support, and remember the 30-day money-back guarantee.

It's possible the problem lies with nGlide. If you haven't already, try out different options in the "Graphic Mode Setup" or "nGlide Settings".

Sorry, best advice I can give.

Hello again. I have gotten the program to work for me. Inside the installation directory there is an executable called launcher.exe. I got mine to function by clicking play glide in the launcher.

Same situation here. The game runs just fine and after some races (sometimes more, sometimes less) it srashes while loading the next map. Sometimes crash to desktop with every program "frozen", but most often the game just freezes itself. When I have to lock out of my windows account (with ctrl+alt+del)...

Edit:
Hmm, the launcher.exe made it worse... nGLide has only low resolutions, D3D and OpenGL crashed immediately. I will open a support ticket now and see what GOG staff thinks about this issue.

A short update: GOG support gave me the following advice:

- preferably use the nGlide launcher that is more stable
- install and run the game with "Run as Adminstrator"
- and the standard issues like updating DirectX, Graphic Drivers, etc.

However, the problem is not solved but the freezing occurs less frequently after I reinstalled the game with "Run as Administrator" and always start the game with this option. So it becomes playable for me but as I said, it still freezes from time to time...

So, any other hints are appreciated.

I cant get the game to run at all on my Windows 8.1 based system. Same issue, screen goes blank for a second, then goes back to desktop. Tried everything on this page, still cant get it to run. First gog game I have purchased that I have never been able to get to run, any thoughts?

Just bumping up the post to say same issue here too.

Not happening at the start but after a few minutes. Appcrash Screamer4x4_gl.exe. Then desktop locks (partly) I just get a notification sound just and need to reboot.

Tried different settings in video options but ultimately get same issue. Real shame as the game looks incredible in 2560x1080!

Got a friend to install this on his Windows 7 based machine and getting exactly the same issue as me, GOG needs to fix this.

Hi, I've the same problem as Nordwolf and Krankor.
Although I did manage to drive the tutorial race in D3D-mode. But when I want to start the first championship-race, I got the CTD on the loading screen.
OpenGL and Glide doesn't work.
At least I can regain control of my windows session with logging off and on.

Windows7 64bit, i7-3820, Radeon 7970GHz.

Same Here.

Game won't start. It just crash to desktop.
Furthermore, after that, explorer.exe and other various applications lock up, and i have to kill them via Process Manager.

It seems that the exact same thing happens to most of us, so i'd think a universal patch wouldn't be that big of a problem to develop.
Please fix it GOG.

I just really wanna play the game D:

Same here. Crash using nglide version. Dropped to desktop but nothing is accessible. I have fairly recent drivers but can't update because the latest drivers cause several work-related apps to fail.

AMD Radeon R7 200 Win7 64Bit.

Another one with the same issue here... :(

I have an i7, GTX780 and I'm running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. All my drivers are up to date.

As in the OP, the game crashes immediately with no message. My system is then screwed up and I have to reboot. I've tried everything in every post in this thread...

Come on GOG, this has been an issue since at lest May and there's been no comment from you guys... :(

I had the same crash-freeze problems and could resolve them on my windows 7 x64 with Radeon HD5770 (DX11), Core2Duo E8400.

Short story:
It was the Logitech SetPoint Process, when I kill "SetPoint" the game starts properly.

I used the GL-version, which gave my the best results. Neither admin privileges nor any compatibility settings were necessary to play. (I use an unprivileged user with active UAC.)

Long story:
I used the admin user and msconfig as suggested in the troubleshooting tips* to perform a "clean reboot". Please BE CAREFUL there and know what you do. With startup items disabled, but all services still enabled, I was able to play the game already. After enabling the processes haphazardly and some reboots I finally found the SetPoint process being the showstopper. I went back to normal reboot and simply killed the process before launching the game, which was successful.

For launch tests make sure the task manager is closed, otherwise it will be frozen like the explorer and other opened applications. Launch it with ctrl-alt-del after a game crash and kill the game executable and the "explorer" process, then on tab "applications" click "new task" and start a new "explorer". That will fix the frozen desktop manager without a reboot.

EDIT: The game also revieves from a bad launch, when I kill the SetPoint process after the launch. So it might be easier to find the bad guy by closing processes, without a reboot and "clean boot".

*) Gog.com > Games Support > screamer_4x4 > Crashing in general