I've searched through the boards and found that 1.) this is a common problem and 2.) the commonly suggested fix doesn't work in my case.

Problem I run Houdini Apprentice. Splash screen appears, and then I get the Windows “This program has encountered a problem and needs to close” error. I've tried both build 295 and 375.

System specs
AMD Athlon 3.0 GHZ dual-core
Win XP Pro
4GB Ram
Nvidia Quadro FX 3800

Other 3D apps I run Maya, ZBrush

I've got release 190.38 of the nVidia drivers, so I'm honestly stumped.

Is this happening everytime and you can never open it? I've had this happen before on occasion but it usually runs for me.

The former. Every time so far (over a dozen attempts, including uninstall/reinstall at least four times)

The problem is that you haven't mentioned exactly which of the things you've tried so that we can eliminate the possible causes.

Are you running 32-bit or 64-bit?

Have you tried setting the environment variable, HOUDINI_OGL_SOFTWARE to 1 prior to running Houdini?

Which executable is it actually crashing in? Are you able to start up the “License Adminstrator” from the Start menu?

Right, I run 32-bit Windows, and have tried the environment variable - it didn't work. Hmaster.exe is the executable crashing, and I can't run the License Administrator. And re-installed it a few times.