Crashes on loading screen

Hi, just updated crossfire as i havent played for a few months, only to find it won't work. The start screen appears but the button will not work, and none of the news feeds come up either. I've already tried a re-install, cleared my dns cache, internet connection is ok, pc normally runs this fine (has done for 2 years so far) and is running everything else ok at the moment including BFBC2 without any problems. Any ideas ?? this one's got me stumped