NBA live 2001 under XP?

[AirTime]

Hello,
I'm running XP Pro and NBA live 2001 US won't do it! After starting the program it said insert CD, although the original disc was in. So I tried to evade that problem (seems to be an EA problem, as the same happened with NFS4) by installing the no-cd patch.
Now, NBA won't start at all!! If I open the task manager, the thread for nbawin.exe will show for a short time and then vanish. On any other attempt nothing at all will show in the task manager.

Any opinions? I'd really appreciate any suggestions.

Joe

PS: compatibility modes don't change a thing, tried 'em all!