Direct X Installation Problem

I have an HP laptop with XP Pro installed, SP3. I bought a game that requires DirectX that seems to hang at that point of installation. About a year ago, I had no problem playing this game on the exact same machine.

I've tried the most recent Microsoft Download of DirectX, along with I believe like version 8 that came with the game. Both of them hang on the point where it seems to be looking for prior versions or compatible components.

The dialog box just locks up and doesn't respond, so I have to go into the task manager to stop the DirectX installation process. I'm baffled, and couldn't find anything relevant in google searches.