Yup, I am getting the exact same problem as you and I even did the exact same things you did to fix this problem but its still not working. All I get is a message saying "The server is undergoing inspections or updates. Connect to
http://www.silkroadonline.net for more information." this msg comes up when I click to open silkroad from the icon.Under that message I press Ok then the Silkroad screen comes up which has Options, Guide, Movie & exit but guess what? NO! Start button or messges ontop (News from joymax).
So yeah, Iv tried all sorts of stuff but I still cant get it to work. It used to work fine for me when I used to play long time ago but now its just messed up.
