Football Manager 2009 re-installation problem

I couldn't find a forum which seemed more relevant.

My laptop was taken down by viruses so I had to bring it in for repair. They cleaned everything on the laptop so I've had to re-install lots of stuff.

I re-installed FM09 but it isn't working properly. Every time I try to run it, I get the following message:

fm.exe - Unable to locate component

This application has failed to start because d3dx9_37.dll was not found.

Re-installling the application may fix this problem.

This is the same CD I used to install it previously and there were never any problems before so I'm puzzled as to why it would occur now.

Does anybody have any ideas?

Yup, you need to find that .dll file and copy it into the Windows System32 folder I think. I remember this bug from 09 installing on Vista. (something to do with a .NET dll if I remember correctly).

Don't know how trustworthy this link is, but you could give this a try: http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?d3dx9_37

I couldn't find a forum which seemed more relevant.

My laptop was taken down by viruses so I had to bring it in for repair. They cleaned everything on the laptop so I've had to re-install lots of stuff.

I re-installed FM09 but it isn't working properly. Every time I try to run it, I get the following message:

This is the same CD I used to install it previously and there were never any problems before so I'm puzzled as to why it would occur now.

Does anybody have any ideas?

First get yourself some anti virus software. You shouldn't have to take your computer to a shop to have a virus removed. They probably charged you quite a bit for something you could have done for free yourself at home.

Here's a link to some free software. Its pretty good and a lot of people on this forum use it.

http://free.avg.com/gb-en/download-avg-anti-virus-free

Secondly make sure that you have the latest version of directx installed on your computer.

The problem has now shifted (after I re-installed it again).

Anytime I try to load FM09, a box from Sports Interactive comes up and asks me to enter the code. Once I click "Paste", a message comes up saying: "It would appear what you have attempted to enter is not a valid unlock key. To purchase an unlock key, please visit: http://www.sigames.com"

This isn't true. The code worked before just fine. If I click "Next", again, it doesn't work. The message I get is: "We're sorry, but this installation of Football Manager 2009 could not be activated for the following reason: The application was unable to connect to the internet Please check your connection. For help, please visit: http://www.sigames.com"

I went to their website and their solution is to download another activator. All links to it are dead. I don't know what else to do from here. It's beyond frustrating at this point.

Install through Steam?