the title pretty much describes my problem: kotor's main menu won't load. all i get is a black screen with the mouse cursor and menu music playing. no malak in a bouncer pose, no smoke on the bottom, etc.

steps i took to attempt to solve it myself:
play with graphics settings
remove all of my mods
re-install kotor (and the 1.03 patch)
run system diagnostics (no problems found)
run anti-spyware checks
run virus scanner (full disk scan)
scan hard disk for errors
defrag the hard disk
made sure window's firewall is inactive

i'm going to try uninstalling a game (chronicles of riddick: efbb) that i put on recently and see if that helps.

system specs:
athlon 2600 xp
512 Mb RAM
nvidia geforce fx 5600 (256 Mb)
integrated sound
120 Gb hard disk (w/ 85 Gb free)
software:
directX 9.0c
latest nvidia drivers

thanks for the help. :)