Quote: "I don't know if there is a dbp requirement for it, but I seem to recall always ensuring I had a minimum of SP2 or I would always have issues across the board in terms of software... I'm not saying that I noticed any correlation between them, it's just way too long ago to recall, but it is an additional possibility to consider."
I have SP2 installed, which is the last SP version 64 Bit XP can go to.
Quote: "Again a loooong time ago...back when my Q6600 used to work - or at least when the rig its sat in did - it sits dead in the water in hope of a fix about 10 feet away from me, day in day out. I cannot bring myself to throw away my first machine that was not a second hand purchase! "
If it is the Q6600 that's the issue, you can buy new ones for ridiculously cheep on Ebay (got mine for this PC for around $5). Although it could be something else wrong with it: RAM, CMOS battery, harddrive, or god forbid the motherboard itself. If you do to try to fix it, then I wish you luck!
Quote: "You need to install DirectX 9.0c. I don't recall if you need the SDK or just the runtime libraries. You can try this:"
As stated in the first post, I did try to install the June 2010 runtime, but that didn't fix it.