I tried to upgrade my pc from Direct x 7 to 8.1. Upon restarting the pc, i get a stream of messages saying 'could not upgrade file %1 from %2. Once it eventually restarts, it finds a new piece of hardware 'unkown hardware' which it cannot find a driver for, and eventually starts. Then when i try and run an application which needs Direct x 8.1, it tells me I do not have it running. I tried running 'dxdiag' which also tells me that the version of 'dxdiag' i am running is not compatible with 'directx 8.1'. Apparently my pc 'half' has directx 8.1 installed, but nothing can use it. I cannot remove it, and i cannot over write it. Ive tried the fix (Q283069) from the Microsoft knowledge base which tells me to find the 'wininit.ini' file, rename it and reboot, but there is no such file on my pc..... How can I install directx 8.1 properly and get rid of all these errors!!!...Please help'!! Ta Nick .

You can uninstall directx 8.1 and reinstall 7. 8.1 is error prone. You can get the uninstaller and previous versions at directxbuster

Are you running Norton System Works? Specifically System Doctor? If you are, you may want to have a look in the c:\windows\inf folder for 50,000 - 90,000 "extra" OEM(a number).inf files that shouldn't be there: Computer Stops Responding (Hangs) During Setup, Installing Updates, or Adding New Hardware (Q281967)

You can also do a system restore to before when you installed the 8.1 to get rid of it. It should work, as I've done that to get rid of it once before.