Unable to install SH3

[torpedobait]

I brought up SH3 to have a little variety after playing SH4 for years. There were some strange anomalies, like the F9 and F10 keys not going to their respective gun platforms, and going to flank speed brought the boat to a dead stop! I also found that using the UZO with a right click to give it free swinging resulted in a torpedo firing when I right clicked again. Very strange.

So thinking I had a corrupt install after all this time, I used the Control Panel to uninstall SH3 and deleted the SH3 folder from My Documents. See my signature block for system specs. Once all that was done and the only SH3 entries I had were for JSGME and SH3 Commander, I attempted a new fresh install from the CD.

This is where my trouble began, after loading the CD into the drive. The initial screen came up giving the options, and I selected "Install". I got a box showing it was configuring the Windows Installer, and then Nothing! It freezes there and never completes the configuration step.

Has anyone encountered this? I've searched the forums and Microsoft Support pages to no avail. I've tried starting the installation from the CD automatically, by running Autoexec, and by running Setup.exe direct from the run command. Nothing. The installer hangs at the same place every time.

I can't tell if it is an SH3 CD problem, or strictly Windows. I did pop in another CD of about the same timeframe (Janes F-15), and it passed the installer configuration just fine. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!