I have a problem with the game crashing after the intro clips (illegal operation crash)....
I reinstalled the game into different directories, no go.
The first time I started the game it seemed to work fine but when I changed the display mode to T&L and then tried to press right arrow again to the next mode I presume, it crashed and now it doesnt start....
Any ideas?

When you un-install the game, have you made sure that the user options or any remaining 'settings' files are not lingering in your user directory? How ever many times you might be installing the thing, it might be still accessing that file.
What I would suggest is to install the game on another computer just to check if its the game or your hardware which is causing the conflict.