DirectX version installed? If you are above 7.0a, you might want to try DirectX Buster to revert to 7.0a. In my experience, driver 2041 is best if on 7.0a. Otherwise stick to 2015. Diamond's drivers are about that revision and work too. Later drivers get crashy with newer DirectX. 2048 has broken aspects that make it not worth using.

http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/index.php?catid= … menustate=38,36

Another possibility is a driver/PCI issue between the sound driver and your motherboard. Vortex 2 drivers sometimes have troubles on newer chipsets. I haven't seen that message before though. What Aureal devices are installed in device manager?

I am using directx 7.0a. Under device manager sound/Vortex AU8830. Game port, MPU-401, PC Audio, Sound Blaster Pro Emulation.

I tried road rash on my XP machine with an X-Fi Gamer I got a midi error in the same spot. Final Fantasy VII, which also uses midi and wavetable? Seems to run fine. As does Quake III and unreal.

Its a shame, because I really like road rash, but it seems like the problem has something to do with the game? I can't find any information online about it.

If I click ok on the error message, I can get back into the game and run the race, and sound effects work, although there is no music. Problem is the race starts wtihout me, so I start out a couple second behind. Not really playable.

I had the same issue, with the error popping up and MIDI music being stuck.
What helped was using the 2048 drivers and also making sure that the card has correctly configured resources for DOS/legay sound emulation (reserve the appropriate addresses in BIOS).