Hi Jim,
Well I fixed the problem, but not quite in the fashion you suggested though it got me to where I needed to be. I figured I'd pass the info along in case anyone else ran into the same issue.
Updating the video driver did not solve the problem. I was able to update DirectX to version 11, just so happens I had a Windows platform update waiting to be installed and it apparently has some Windows 7 features that they are putting into Vista, that was included. That, however, also did not fix the problem. After doing a bunch of reading today I discovered that there are many add-ons to DirectX that don't fall under the core program as it were. I downloaded and ran the DirectX Web Updater which went out and found a bunch (2 dozen in fact) DirectX SDK updates that I did not have and installed them. It then started working at that point.
Anyway, thanks for your help.
Steve