Game freezes at first screen!

[Dik-Mo]

I cannot find another thread on any forum that has my specific problem. When i start the game it goes to the first screen, which if you can recall is the screen where it says Empire Total War in gold writing with all the copyright stuff below it. Only problem is it get stuck at this screen forever. When i first purchased the game, i played for a week with not a sing CTD or bug. Since the two patches i have not been able to get past this screen. Ive heard u have to leave it for a while but i have left it overnight and it has not moved. It just freezes here with the cursor in hourglass mode. Ive found similar problems on other threads but not this exact one. I appreciate any help anyone can give me. The week i got to play it was great and it was one of the best Total War games id played and id hate to have to get a refund. My PC Specs are :
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
RAM: 2048 MB
OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (Build Service Pack 32600)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
Sound Card: SoundMAX HD Audio

[IHV]

Try deleting all your savegames (or move them from the folder) and let Steam verify the game data.
Seems to be the most common solution.
If it worked for you before it should work again.