Unable to launch Audacity 1.2.6

I have been unable to launch Audacity 1.2.6.  

I installed the program on my laptop which runs Win XP Pro. Unfortunately, upon clicking the application icon, the program proceeded to hangs up, that is, the main program box appears but only the menu bar displays. Moreover, the windows "hourglass" appears signifying the fact that the program is non-functional. I looked in the Taskbar Manager and it showed that the program was "running". However, I could only end the program by means of the Task manager.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled the program several times to no avail. Since I previously ran previous version of Audacity I can't understand the problems I'm now encountering. I've naturally uninstalled all previous version of Audacity).

Can anyone suggest a method for trouble shooting this problem?
TIA.

Wndy