After a couple of months of trying and even getting MS to send me new FS 2002 disks, I'm finally flying FS 2002. Here's a synopsis of what I did to install FS 2002.

Problem: locked during installation at about 27% on the same file several times.

Possible solutions (I don't know which really worked):

1. Enabled raid controller on Abit KT7a mobo
2. Flash bios to R73 version.
3. Put all drives on seperate IDE channels.
4. Disabled disk caching.
5. Set FSB speed to 100 mhz from 133 mhz.

After installing FS 2002 I went back to my old configuration without raid control and just 2 IDE channels.

However, FS 2002 sims to lock up after running for a while. I'm certain that this is an FS 2002 to issue since this doesn't happen with any other sims. IL2, Medal of Honor, CFS 2, Operation FlashPoint, Panzer Elite, just to name a few.

I'm loving the visuals and I'm getting excellent fps at about 40 plus. See PC config below. Now I just has to solve the lock up problem.

OS WinXP

Antec SX830 case
Enermax 430w PS
Abit KT7A mobo
1.2 Ghz Tbird AMD
768mb Crucial 133 CAS 2
2 Maxtor 40g 7200 rpm
TDK 24x CDr
VisionTek 64mb Geforce 3
SB Live
3Com Ethernet

The trouble shooting was definitely worth it. FS 2002 rocks for me.