DirectX 9.0c problem?

I have the sims 2, sims 2 h&m, & the sims teen style stuff downloaded on my computer. I used to have the sims 2 and the sims 2 h&m and it worked fine, but then something broke in the computer. after my dad fixed it, some stuff didn't work. for example, dvd's don't work anymore on my computer. to play videos on windows media player, i had to download some sort of ffdshow thing. i also had to redownload the sims games on safe mode to get it to work. (23% problem, google it). And NOW i'm getting the Failure to blah blah blah because of DirectX 9.0c is not compatable to the driver. Now, i'm not computer geek. I don't know what drivers and chips and all that stuff does, and i'm fine with that. here is my question. what do i do?

I have Windows XP, but i dont know what my video driver or whatever is and i don't know HOW to know. i'm lost when it comes to computers, i just want to play my game.

please break it down in plain english and help a girl out here?

Thanks.

ALSO, on the display tab of the DirectX Diagnostic Tool, it says Direct3D Acceleration is not available, while the Direct Draw Acceleration is enabled. i dont know what that means or if it helps. If there is any other info you need, please ask.

I think i will just get a new video card or try to play the game on another computer because this is seriously stressing me out