Could not create the direct 3d device

Hi

Hopefully someone can help me with the above problem…i have a dell c640 2gig laptop 256 ram and a mobility radeon 7500 graphics card. i have the latest version of direcx and the latest video drivers for the card. Im trying to play a game called earth and beyond, but when i log in and go to enter the game it hangs and come up with the error message “could not create the direct3d device” im not sure what else to try…im open to suggestions (hitting with a hammer seems the fav at the mo ) thank you in advance for any suggestions…rob