I don't blame you. I'd be frustrated (PO'd) too. During your uninstall (getting ready for the reinstall) did you choose to delete your saved games? There may be something lurking in My Documents>SH4 folder that is causing this (a guess at this point). Maybe by deleting that folder so the game has to recreate it will help. Also, a defreag can't hurt if you haven't done that yet. Programs can do strange things if they are too fragmented.
Hang in there! There
HAS to be a solution to your problem

!!!!