Unable to launch Civ V

[gunnergoz]

I have been playing Civ V successfully for months, even after the latest patch, but then I had an in-game crash after which Civ V no longer launched. When I pressed the button for a DX10/11 launch, nothing ever happened and oddly enough my cursor disappeared, but only in the Civ V launch window.

I deleted the cache file - no change.
I deleted the game from Steam and reinstalled - no change
I updated my Nvidia drivers - they crashed my system and I had to revert to the earlier ones.
Restarting the PC does not help.

I am running an HP9494NR 20" laptop with a 2.1GH dual core processor, 4GB RAM, Nvidia 8800GTS card with 512MB of video RAM. OS is Vista HP 64 bit.

As I said, the game was running fine for a long time but after this crash, I am getting different behavior from the game and it never actually launches as noted.

Other applications work OK after the crash so it seems to be specific to the Civ V files.

Any ideas?

BTW I have also tried reintalling directX 11 - no change to startup fail for Civ V. Mouse cursor still disappears in Civ V launch window. Nothing launches with press of button for game in DX10/11 mode.

PS heres the DXDiag part about video:

Spoiler :

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 7/11/2011, 12:28:52
Machine name: ED-HPPC
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.101014-0432)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: HP Pavilion HDX9300 Notebook PC
BIOS: EPP runtime BIOS - Version 1.1
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T8100 @ 2.10GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 4094MB RAM
Page File: 3247MB used, 5146MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 64bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Sound Tab 3: No problems found.
Sound Tab 4: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8800M GTS
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0609&SUBSYS_30D4103C&REV_A2
Display Memory: 2285 MB
Dedicated Memory: 493 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version: 8.16.0011.8766 (English)
DDI Version: 10
BGRA Supported: Yes
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/3/2009 06:02:06, 9613416 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp:
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4549-11CF-B251-DF101DC2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0609
SubSys ID: 0x30D4103C
Revision ID: 0x00A2
Revision ID: 0x00A2
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C
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DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled