Vista - Witcher strange Crash (can't even start the game)

I know some of you have had no problems with this game. Others have had more than their fair share as well. I fall in between. I can't even get the game to play to start having problems. When It launches I see the mouse cursor change over the screen is black for a moment and then it goes grey and the system becomes unresponsive, completely, i have to power it down. I have tried running it as admin, tried running it with xp compatibility on as well. All to no avail. I have tried searching the poorly organized Witcher forum again, I could not find people having the same problem. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know I'd love to hear them, since I'll at my wits end with this game. see below for specs and notes.


Operating system:
Vista x64 Ultimate (sp1) and all updates

Here is a quick run down on my setup.
4 gigs of ram ocz ddr3 @ 1333
Intel core 2 quad 9550 @ 2.83
Sapphire 3870 hd 1gig gddr4
Asus Pe53
2 500GB western digital HD

My drivers are up to date.
The witcher is patched to the latest patch 1.3.