I had the same problem.
I have a 128 mb Radeon 9700 graphics card. DirectX9 was already installed (playing on EQ1 beforehand). I was crushed after waiting for the 2 1/5 hour download to finish.
Find out what your graphics card is, visit the manufacturer's website and download the latest update. After you do that, you don't need to reinstall the game (your system might prompt you to reboot though). You should be good to go after that.
I did this and I'm playing my little heart out!
---------------------------------------------------------------
Judea
13 Druid Innothule