FS 2004 Trouble

I just got microsoft FS 2004 today and a new Saitek X45 joystick throttle. I installed and updated the drivers on the joysticks and they work fine, but after I installed FS, I found that I couldn't start any flights without the program either freezing or completly shutting off. I tried to fix this by re-installing the game, updating graphics drivers (my graphics card is a radeon 9600xt), and I reduced the hardware acceleration by two notches. So far, nothing has changed, I still have all the same problems. Any suggestions?

Do you have DirectX 9,0c installed yet, get that.
If you give us your computer specs we can get a better idea of what we're dealing with.