directx / registry problem

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been having a bit of a 'registry nightmare'!:S
anyhows im having to re-install a lot of software, while re-installing soundforge 7 (dodgy version i hasten to add! ;) ) i get an error saying i have to re-install directx
when i run dxdiag it says 'directx version: not found'
i d/loaded the latest version from the microsoft website (dxwebsetup.exe), when i run it, it wont install and i get this error logged in /windows/dxerror.txt

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[07/05/06 17:32:16] module: DXWSetup(May 31 2006), file: psheets.cpp, line: 545, function: PreinstDlgProc

CDXWSetup is not initialized.

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[07/05/06 17:53:12] module: dxupdate(May 31 2006), file: dxupdate.cpp, line: 189, function: GetDXVersion

Failed API: RegQueryValueEx()
Error: (2) - The system cannot find the file specified.

Current DirectX may be a older version which does not have the version value in the registry.

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[07/05/06 17:53:12] module: dxupdate(May 31 2006), file: dxupdate.cpp, line: 4504, function: DirectXUpdateDownloadPlugIn

GetDXVersion() failed.

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[07/05/06 17:53:13] module: DXWSetup(May 31 2006), file: dxupdate.cpp, line: 386, function: DownloadPlugIn

DirectXUpdateDownloadPlugIn() failed.

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[07/05/06 17:53:13] module: DXWSetup(May 31 2006), file: psheets.cpp, line: 498, function: PreinstDlgProc

DownloadPlugIn() failed.

been doing this for the last week or so - tried everything i know
thinking of re-installing windows (also dodgy!;) ) next!
HELP!:S :S :S