How to get a program to actully start-up?

[VLC]

PLEASE SOMEONE HELP -
CODEMASTERS SOFTWARE DOESNT WORK AT ALL

1. ive got codemasters 'music 2000' cdrom, but at install it says - 'dxsetup returns error SETUPERR_CANTFINDINF'
then doesnt install. [duh!]
- even tho my win98se 'dx-diag' prog shows no errors, an my dx-setup of version-9, works fine with all other software on my pc.
ps- the game cd's own dx-suite wont reinstall as it says i have newer version already present!

2. so i had to install it via its cdroms 'setup.exe' prog.
but after it installs ok, when i goto click its start-up icon or menu shortcut, to finally use it, all it does is just change the screen res for a few seconds, then flip back to normal, BUT nothing else!

so what do i do - as i posted this query on their forum but got NO help at all !