Well...I Thought I had it working....
I've tried the FAQ (reading and re-reading several times), taking down the sound and video accel. sliders, updating drivers, safedisk, uninstall/ defrag/clean boot/reinstall...even windows compatability. uninstalling Nero and divx, making sure I had an updated indeo. Tried a clean install without the patches...just to see.....nothin'. so...if there's any suggestions...I'm listening. maybe I over-looked something in my frustration
at least multi works....for the time being