Exception access violation?

[sndbarry]

This really is the most frustrating game I have ever played, in that it is loaded with so many crashes. In my case, always with the "exception access violation" problem. The last time I encountered it, after unsuccessfully trying everying on Frictional's troubleshooting list, including uninstalling and re-installing the software, I eventually figured out that the reason it was crashing at the same place over and over was that I had (unawarely) not finished/solved one of the puzzles in the previous room. It seems like a very bizarre way for the game to handle an unsolved puzzle, and something that really needs to be sorted out.

Naively believing that, being near the end of the game, I would eventually be able to finish it, I am now encountering the very same problem once again, this time in the Nave, with the monster in the well. It crashes repeatedly as whatever is in the well is apparently about to be raised up by the rope. Is there something esle I have failed to do/solve? I have all the orb pieces, I have two of the three items I'm supposed to retrieve and I am in the process of getting the third, so what is the problem THIS time?! Can anyone help? Offer any thoughts? Ideas? Is it time for me to simply give up on this game?