problem loading cubase 5 projects

I cant seem to load my old projects after adding the plugin locations in cubase 7 elements trial.

My old projects were from cubase 5 (forget the exact version). Cubase 7 elements loaded the project when i first installed it, before i had it load any of my VST plugins. I then updated plugin path & now it wont load the projects and it just gets stuck on the loading screen. The progress bar doesnt move and the software becomes completely unresponsive.

What can be the problem? It gets stuck when loading the track which contains the VST instrument sylenth1, or when loading one with kontakt. I even removed these instruments from the project & removed the instrument files entirely and it did not seem to help.

Using 64 bit windows 7, 64 bit cubase elements, 32-bit cubase 5

update: Trying to add more than 20 tracks seems to cause the program to become unresponsive as well. And its not 20 individual instruments, some of it is audio and 3 of them are the outputs from my TI2.

Duplicating tracks regardless of amount of tracks seems to cause it to freeze up too.

This seems to happen only in 64-bit elements. Loading up on 32 bit seems to run ok. I would like to use 64-bit, however.

Bump. Still getting this issue. The 32 bit of cubase 7 didnt seem to have solved the blue screen issue with my virus TI2. I would like to try using 64 bit but it wont load my projects. Anyone have a solution??

Any help would be appreciated, especially before I upgrade to 7.