oh ok well that is REALLY important lol i wish you had metioned it sooner.

you can find ou which version you are running by going Start>Run>and then type dxdiag this will tell you the version you have. also, it tells you if there are any problems with the directx files. if you need to upgrade or reinstall then go here
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?F...197&displaylang=en
but im sure you can get it from Windows Update when did you last go?