anenemity

I decided to revisit an old game (Shivers, from 1995) and have had one heck of a time getting it to work correctly. I knew I'd have to go through some hoops to get it to install on Vista, but now I can't get it to run. The error message "Failed to initialize Directx3D (0x8876086C)" occurs when, under the Compatibility tab in the .exe's Properties menu, I check the "Run in 256 colors" box. It doesn't matter what combination of other boxes I check. If I do not check the 256 colors box, it gives me "Please insert Shivers CD #1 into you! NO ENTRY FOUND!" (The CD is in the drive)

Most of the threads I've seen with this DirectX problem have been because people are trying to run a program beyond their graphics card's capability, or with an outdated version of DirectX. This is not my case. Here are the Shivers game requirements:

Windows 3.1 or greater
486/33
2x CD-ROM
8 MB RAM
3 MB Hard drive space, 15 MB recommended
SVGA, 256 colors
Sound card with DAC
Mouse

I have a Dell Studio 1555 with an integrated Mobile Intel (R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family and far exceed all the requirements (as I suspect any computer made in the past 10 years would). Here's what I've tried to solve the problem:

1. Ran dxdiag. I have DirectX 10 with all accelerations (DirectDraw, Direct3D, and AGP Texture) enabled. "No problems" in all notes areas.

2. Updated drivers for my chipset. Though Windows told me I had the best drivers, I checked Dell's website and grabbed what they had, anyway.

3. Reinstalled DirectX even though there weren't any problems in the diagnostic tool.

4. Tried to run in every compatibility mode available. The error message was dependent only upon the 256 colors box being checked.

5. Disabled the chipset entirely.

6. Fooled with different screen resolutions, even editing the RESOURCE.WIN file to accommodate Vista's higher resolution options. (Shivers uses 640x480).

I've read on many forums that people have gotten Shivers to work on Vista with only the standard installing-on-Vista problems. I haven't seen this error mentioned anywhere and am at a loss as to what to do. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!