Does anyone know why I keep getting the following error message (generated by the game) whenever I select 'Player Car' or 'Location' on the main menu screen?

openhandlea - OPEN FAILED ON 'nul'

I know this isn't an exclusive XP issue since I have been able to run the game on 2000 and on this XP Pro machine for many months prior to this problem. Thus a system's configuration change is probably the cause.

I have tried everything I can think of including:

1. Doing a full reinstall (after manual clean out of disk and registry).
2. Applying all offcial patches.
3. Running the game from 800x600 16bit colour desktop.
4. Running the game in various compatibility modes.
5. Disabled all but my 1st CD-ROM drive, PIO only mode, disable caching.
6. Disabled DirectX acceleration for video and sound hardware (tried running the game in software rendering also).
7. Installed the VIA 4in1 4.49 drivers.
8. Reinstalled the drivers for my input device (logitech wingman formula force 4.20).
9. Removed all non signed drivers and non essential devices.
10. Ended all processes, background tasks and unessary services prior to running the game.

All of the above are standard troubleshooting tatics and none have worked. EA tech support was no help (we don't support that game on XP blah blah blah) the ppl on NT compatible don't have a clue. Can anyone give me any more pointers? Attached is a file generated by dxdiag.exe detailing my system specifications (if more are needed just ask and I will update my post).

Thanks for any assistance you can offer.