Vista - Battlefield 2 patch/updates

Trying to update BF2 to the 1.41 patch and install addons. BF2 itself installed fine and appears to launch fine, but when I try to patch or install any of the expansions, I get a message telling me Battlefield 2 must be installed?? I have reinstalled numerous times and still same thing. I have checked all posts I could find and nothing covering this.
My system is a Gateway FX series laptop
P-7805U
4 GB DDR3 RAM
1 GB NVIDIA 9800M GTS
CORE 2 DUO processor P8400 2.26Ghz
I am running a RAID 0 Config if this matters.

Any help will be appreciated.

Are you sure you downloaded the correct patch?
Is BF2 installed in the 'standard' folder?
Did you try running the patch 'as administrator'?

Are you using the EA Download Manager for both downloads and BF2 install? Since the beginning of April the EA Download Manager has been the culprit in a rampant crash to desktop scenario for many people while playing online if running the game through the DM. I was one of them. The fix: I got rid of the EA DM, reinstalled B2 from disk and have had no issues since. This has also worked for people on other forums who started having issues with BF2 for no apparent reason early in April. So, I would beileve if you are using the EA DM there is the potential for download/install problems as well.

I did not use EA downloader, the patch I downloaded from File planet. I've tried running as administrator and I only installed game in default directory? Both expansion packs and patch just keep telling me cannot find install folder for BF2? Like I said before, it's there in Program Files(X86)

you could try setting priviledges for the BF2 folder to allow 'users' full control:

Right click BF2 folder in program files
open properties
open 'security' tab
push 'edit' button
select 'users' from the 'group or user names' window
check the 'full control' option in the 'permissions for users' window
apply

and then try =)D

have you made sure the file path of the patch is pointing to the right directory , it could be that simple

Well I've tried, but I don't seem to get the option to choose a directory to install the patch or expansions. I'll try what the above post has said and see what happens with that.

Negative, still get the message:
Can't find install folder for Battlefield2(TM)

Bit of a pain but follow this to uninstall BF2 completely,

ANSWER

and start all over again. Then when installing if you aren't install in the following order,

BF2
SF - if you have it
the 1.41 patch (no need for any of the other patches as 1.41 is inclusive)
EF
AF
Patch 1.41 again

try this

Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts\EA Games\Battlefield 2

Then right click on the right hand window and go on NEW string value,then enter InstallDir for the string name and for the value enter C:\GAMES\Battlefield 2 ..... (or whatever your BF2 Path is)