Faster Action Games won't play

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.games (More info?)

My problem is that any game we have that isn't Sims or a child's game will
not play on our system. All of our sound, video and game controllers are
working properly. I can load the games on my system, but once we try to play
them, we are booted out of the game and the desktop comes up again. One game
even tells us that our system is unstable and tells us to reboot.
Can you help?
Thanks!
Tracy