Hate to be a naysayer because I am sure that you guys are frustrated - but if the game works flawlessly for me and not for you - the game is not "bugged" - it has to be a hardware/driver conflict. The shear numbers of different hardware configurations out there make it almost impossible for a game to be released that does not have some initial issues for some percentage of the PC users out there.

Hope that didn't sound condescending - I worked for a few years as a service tech for Gateway and one thing I learned was there were always issues with all new software - the only way to avoid this is to go Apple - I would but they are too frickin expensive.
@Aegis - the reason I asked if you have an ATI card is that I have been reading some compaints from ATI owners - if you have a smooth running system otherwise you may have to wait for even newer drivers or a workaround from Bioware. Directx and ATI have had issues for years. By the way I am using a Geforce 2 and have had no problems.
The only two additional things I would suggest are:
- First - Reload Directx 8.1 - this may be necessary to "recertify" your new drivers - if that doesn't work...
- go into msconfig and disable all of your startup items (except systray) - if this works it indicates that you've got something running in the background that is causing problems - this is very common. Hope you get things working soon
