RCX firmware download problem
This did the trick for me.  My situation mirrors the original poster.  

http://neuron.eng.wayne.edu/LEGO_ROBOTICS/software_setup_tutorial.html

There are 4 parts to this.  BrickControlCenter (brickcc), a driver for the IR tower, an image of the firmware and some other piece of software called the NCQ.  

I did not install the driver since I was using a USB to RS232 adapter and BrickCC worked just fine installing the firmware.  

Added bonus, the brickCC is a full on IDE for the RCX.

Also, Swap memory has to be set to at least 4GB because of some limitation on Director 6 which causes the MindStorm program to stall sometimes as it determined that it's 3MB requirement is greater than the available gigabytes if they're 3GB or less.  Clever.