Hi Raze, thanks for your help.
I did the dxdiag run and it didn't report any problems.
Also on that tab, you could disable the DirectDraw, Direct3D and AGP Texture acceleration
I tried disabling DirectDraw and Direct 3D but then the game won't start.
The AGP Texture acceleration is not available. So I think this is what causing my characters to stay white. Also lowering the hardware acceleration did not help.
I haven't tried your second option yet, it's a bit too complicated and I don't want to go through all that trouble.
I think my graphic card is just too old (about 7 yrs) and that I should get a newer one.
Thank you very kindly though for all your help and support, I really appreciate it.