SimCity4 - failure to launch!

I've got the weirdest thing happening: from the same 2-cd set of install discs, the game works just fine under XP Pro SP3 on an HP notebook that has the only vaguely useful Intel graphics driver, works just as fine under Win7_64bit ..but utterly fails/refuses to start - or even install properly on a desktop box that has an MSI G31 chipset, 2GB RAM, an E8400 CPU and, so far, have tried a PCIe GeForce 7300 and even my 8800 GTS (tho' that was for another title that was misbehaving too) and no matter WHAT I check/do, the bloody thing refuses to start.

By which I mean: if just launch from the icon,nothing happens; if I go 'run as' and select administrator and then watch the task manager like a hawk, the exe shows up for an instant before vanishing from the process list again.

Needless to say, the EA site is vastly less than useful so I'm turning to the collective for any input, if you please?

You didn't mention which OS you're running on the desktop box...

OK, getting over my bout of ID-10-T ..the two other systems (besides mine which has the Win7_64 (7077)) are both XP Pro SP3, both of which I had previously set up. FWIW I've checked Java, .net framework and DirectX libraries and those are all fine/up to date ..yet the damn app is happy to work on the notebook, but not at ALL interested on the desktop.

I've tried official WHQL drivers and the Omega drivers on the desktop, to no avail; about the only clue I DO have is that when I disabled DirectDraw/Direct3D acceleration the program actually started to the point of giving me the 'in game' mouse pointer and played back some of the splash-screen audio ...but not so much any video. Of course, with DirectDraw back on we were back to square one.

Short of the (crazy) last-resort of formatting the damn thing (which really shouldn't be necessary, but sometimes you just get that feeling!), IS there a sane way out for me here?

So, has this game attracted NO interest at all from anyone here - ever? I only ask 'cos that would seem the only way that no-one would have encountered any problems - like, say, the one I have here...