Well, I have checked the sound card, removed the CD-RW drive, reconnected the zip drive, formatted the hard disk, and reinstalled Windows XP. I decided to install FU3 before I did anything else....and guess what ? It installed without incident.Now, you could say that this increases the probability that the CD-RW drive was the problem, but I am not so sure. You see, there is one other aspect of my system that I had not considered properly, and that is the graphics drivers.Before I purchased Windows XP, my system was running under Windows ME......with Detonator 30.82 drivers. FU3 always installed properly. When I installed Windows XP, I also installed Detonator 41.09 drivers. A message appeared during the installation, stating that the drivers had not been WHQL certified. I ignored this and installed them anyway.Every installation of FU3 that I attempted occurred AFTER I had installed the Detonator 41.09 drivers. Also, when I reinstalled Windows ME, and experienced yet another FU3 installation failure, I did so AFTER I had installed these same drivers. In other words, the one major aspect of this install of Windows ME compared to all of the others over the past two years was the version number of the graphics drivers. In my opinion, that is potentially highly significant.I have seen reports that some users have experienced problems with these drivers on their systems, and it is quite possible that I am another statistic. In fact, it makes a great deal of sense. That's because this latest install of FU3 was done BEFORE the installation of any Detonator drivers. I didn't do this because I thought that the graphics drivers could be a problem. I just started thinking about it after FU3 had been successfully installed.I am reluctant to accept that this is the definitive solution to my problems though. The past week has made me extremely paranoid :-) and I refuse to accept anything until I have used the current system setup for at least a few weeks. If I can run XP for that length of time without any major problems, then I may start believing that the correct solution has been identified.Until then, I will just keep praying at bedtime :-)Chris Low,ENGLAND.

Chris,Glad to see that you have made some progress. Trouble with these things is that you can go round in circles, tie yourself in knots and get totally and utterly frustrated. I can't remember what graphics card you have, but I have had similar problems with my "low level" graphics cars Nvidia TNT2. Hasn't affected FU3 as I have done all my driver upgrades after I installed FU3 but it was only last night that I managed to get the latest driver from Nvidia.com to work. Previously I was using the driver that came with my card which was around 18 months old.12 out of 10 for perciverance. Time for you to get some more flying hours in.Andy

Chris,I keep saying around here that EVERY time I try a driver later than my 30.82 I have problems with FU3. This PC (previously 98SE) was upgraded (there's an oxymoron) to XP and runs DX9 and 40.xx drivers fine with an old TNT M64. But FU3 no longer works :-( It just goes to the desktop after the map :-( :-(My home PC still runs the old stuff! I'm glad to hear you've had some success. If you managed to install anything from the CD drive it's probably OK. Mine actually went flaky on the very day I switched to XP!! Sheer coincidence (it was 3 years old and runs all day) but it really 'put the ###### into me' during the install process when I had to rebuild the PC :-eekI know how you feel. It takes a while to get confidence in the system again.:-wave Jon Point*************************([email protected])*************************

Hey, Chris!http://download.guru3d.com/detonator/Try this link...therein, you may find your solution.Fly First...Play Later...--Noel

Noel,Thanks for the link. I see that Detonator 30.82 drivers are available for Windows XP, so I will download those tonight. I was intending to search the internet for those drivers, but you have saved me the trouble. What's more, they are WHQL certified (which is something that the Detonator 41.09 drivers were not).Thanks :-wave Chris Low,ENGLAND.PS. I will remember to install FU3 before any updated graphics drivers in the future :-)

Chris, while you're there, be sure to check you're using the betterdriver for your card/ o.s combination, later is not necessarily better,I went back to the 30.82 driver for my GeForce 2 :-)based on user's info from their forum, here's a linkhttp://www.guru3d.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=21:-wavePete

Pete,The 30.82's worked perfectly with Windows ME, so I have downloaded the XP version of these WHQL certified drivers.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

Chris,See my latest post regarding Detonators. Yes, it is normal to have problems when switching from 3x.xx to 4x.xx but, with the help of a little utility, I fixed it last night :-) :-) :-)Funny, I had tried 'Detonator Destroyer' before which is supposed to work !!?! Anyway, this little beastie (see post) sorted my system out in 15 seconds!PS the 43.51 WHQL drivers work fine in FU3 :-hah:-waveJon Point*************************([email protected])*************************

Jon,The Detonator 41.09 drivers seemed to work fine with FU3......but I need to get the bloody thing installed first ! :-) However, if I do solve this little dilemma, then I will take your advice regarding the 43.51 drivers. That little utility that comes with it sounds very promising.Chris Low,ENGLAND.