thanks maz, but i got it. Im running a 2.8ghz laptop with 512k and XP home, usb mouse. running sfc windowed, and i had inadvertently used ezini to make the resolution too big for the laptop screen which was totally freakin it out, lol. i normally set my (now dead) desktop to 1280x1024 and thats what i set this to. however, the laptops screen (it looks like a letterbox screen, but its 17" wide, woot!) will only take the 1154x980 or whatever size range that is)
So, as usual, when something that normally works stops, its some dumbarsed mistake made by the operator! lol