BINGO !!! The eagle has landed
Thanks Forseti....you are a legend.
"Check this by going to Help > About? An update to CS3 (version 10.0.1)"......this is what did the trick. I noticed there was no RAW mentioned in the drop down however there was a lot of updates hidden in there....so i downloaded all those and next minute the RAW appeared in the drop down.
I had a feeling that would do the trick. CR2 opened instantly in CS3.
Much happiness now and i thank you for saving my stress levels.
cheers John