P8j6, thanks for the extensive info - now we know at least there's no obvious problems, so we must go even deeper 😀 The issue doesn't seem to be a known one, unfortunately.
Right now my guess is: either it's some problem with the sound, or with your mobo chipset. With VIA-made chipsets, all sorts of problems may occur if one doesn't install the VIA 4-in-1 drivers: at all, the right version, or in the right order:
VIA 4-in-1 driver experiences
"For KT333, KT400, KT600, KT880 and newer use 4.56 under Windows 98 - you should manually install all devices (CPU to AGP bridge, CPU to PCI bridge, etc) - sometimes they don't install correctly."
Which 4-in-1 version do you have? Also, did you have any issues in other Win9x games on this system?
To quickly check if it's a problem with sound<=>chipset combination, try temporarily disabling your soundcard in in the device manager and run the game/sneak peek again. If it doesn't freeze - this will at least point us in the right direction, and if it does - my best guess will be the chipset drivers.
P.S. KernelEx is an unofficial compatibility layer for NT programs, enabling you to run them in your Win9x environment. It's known to break certain native Win9x things if enabled for all programs (its default installation option), but it has to be deliberately installed first, so if you don't use it - it is safe to assume it's not the culprit.
