I would also point out that you have under 1/2Gb of RAM. This will also pose a problem for Maya, when you have other apps running. Maya 2008 takes about 275Mb of RAM to launch, with you only having 480 (512Mb) for RAM available. This may cause the exe to close due to a lack of resource available to run.

Remeber your OS will take RAM from you as soon as it can and this will reduce any RAM available to you.

I would recommend at least 2Gb or RAM to allow Maya to run smoothly, 1Gb would be sufficient, but you will find it will be slower to work.