'Failed to find DirectX 9.0c' - trying to run Sims 2 on Bootcamp XP

It seems this problem is quite common as there are many other threads like this all over the web, however none of the solutions offered work for me. I am hoping if I post my individual specs etc. someone out there will be able to make my Sims 2 game work. So, here we go:

I am trying to run The Sims 2 on XP, which is a 20GB partition of my iMac using Bootcamp. When I put try to run the game however, I get this error message: Failed to find any DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics adapters in this system! Please make sure you have a direct X9.0c compatible graphics adapter and have installed the latest drivers provided by the manufacturer. The application will now terminate.

I have an ATI,RadeonHD2600 chipset, which is apparently high enough to run Sims 2. As others suggested, I downloaded this:

http://www.filehippo.com/download_directx/

And this:

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/radeon_xp-32.aspx

The latter link seemed to work okay (said it was downloaded + ready to go) but the first, the DirectX, didn't know where to install to and I ended up just going for C: drive. It also said it was installed correctly, but the same error message occurred when I tried to run Sims 2.
I tried enabling the DirectX features for my video card like the EA website suggested:
https://help.ea.com/article/RN1268

But the buttons saying 'disabled' were greyed out and I was unable to enable them.

So, without further ado, I leave it to you to try and figure out

How do I delete a thread? I have solved this issue.

I don't see that coming, Mail..

Of course not.

Right. Nice to see you have such faith in me, it really inspires confidence.

I downloaded and installed Windows 7 instead as XP would not recognise that I had DirectX 9c even when I had installed it and my dxdiag was confirming I had it. So, not a solution for everyone.