Thanks for that, I might give it a try. Im a bit doubtful though, I have already had to do a system restore once and I dont fancy doing another.
I think this is the problem: DirectX Download Page
If you look at the supported systems, Microsoft XP SP2 is not listed. That explains why the damn thing wont install, but now I wonder how long it will be before we see a version of DirectX9 that will install onto an SP2 system.
This is so frustrating, and there seems to be no official word on the issue or when it will be fixed.