Ok guys, I finally solved it. After doing system restore countless of times and reinstalling ALL available catalyst drivers, I did the one thing that got me going. I inserted the win xp cd and rebooted. After the standard blue screen installation screen, I chose to repair my existing installation. Windows recopied all the system files without touching any of my existing programs. I had to reinstall the service pack and just about every patch out there again. But the whole process took about an hour. Better than the 10 hours I spent trying to fix the problem. Now I have the latest catalyst drivers and my card is displayed under "display adapters". I can now use ragetweak and other programs normally. My advice is to NOT start any programs or games after reparing windows without FIRST applying the service pack, patches and any other mobo drivers needed.
All is well now in SHAGG LAND.
Hope this helps anyone out there. DONT USE ANY REGISTRY FIXERS. simplest way is to repair.
Peace
P.S. Because i didnt know my cards serial number (9600 pro purchased only 2 weeks ago), ATI said they couldn't help me. Even though I told them the hassle I would have to go thru to GET to my pc. I understand they want to only service actual owners, but hell, they had me on their system as having purchased 8 other of their products in the last 5 years..GEEZ