Try deleting your fs9.cfg file. I had a case where FS didn't start at all, re-installed everything, including WinXP - did nothing. Deleted that one file, and all was golden.

Hmm that didn't make a difference.

I finally tracked it down. Running FS with hardware acceleration enabled in the settings menu did it, but having it off eliminated the problem. But the graphics are ugly of course. :-( How can I fix this?

I think FS is reacting to some other problem. You mentioned a STOP error. Do what the STOP was? Have a look in your event viewer for any error messages. --qnh

I reformatted since then, so I don't know.