It crashes on my machine, which runs HL2 and the beginning of the BioShock demo without any problems.

Could this be the problem ( taken from log file ) :
STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : --------------------------------------------------------------- IN : GUI CLASS

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : [GUI - THEME] IN : GUI CLASS

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : --------------------------------------------------------------- IN : GUI CLASS

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : load GUI theme definition: data/gui/F3Dskin.theme IN : GUI CLASS

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : Load : data/textures/gui/theme/default/WINDOW_00_a.psd IN : TEXTURE FACTORY

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : not loaded : -1 IN : TEXTURE FACTORY

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : loading IN : TEXTURE FACTORY

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : assigned. IN : TEXTURE FACTORY

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : - skin_part_ID : 0 IN : GUI CLASS

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : - skin_part_name : WINDOW_00_a IN : GUI CLASS

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : - image_file : data/textures/gui/theme/default/WINDOW_00_a.psd IN : GUI CLASS

STATUS INFO : @ 10:22:14 MSG : - image_ID : 0 IN : GUI CLASS