Used to do this because of the refresh bug at startup, needs 60hz at start, presume you should be at that though with todays monitors..
Other thing is , you haven't used your old settings file have you ? this can cause a problem starting as well..
just posting this from
http://www.tweakguides.com/BF2142_3.html
Refers to XP BUT the main point is the refresh rate problem ..
"Launching/Loading Issues: The most common problem with BF2142 is that the game crashes to desktop or goes to a black screen when you first launch it. Aside from the DX9 issue above, the main reason for this is either incompatible hardware (make sure you meet all the minimum specs, especially the graphics card requirements - see Official Support above), or more usually the fact that you're not running at the default Windows XP Refresh Rate of 60Hz. The game tries to launch at 60Hz initially, so your system must be running that same refresh rate, otherwise the game will abort. If you are using any refresh rate override program/method, disable it (e.g. if you're using Refresh Force, click the 'Restore Original Settings' button and apply). Alternatively, see the Advanced Tweaking section of the guide for details on how to set a custom startup resolution. Once you've got the game running, you can then change the resolution to suit your taste in the in-game settings, and importantly you can select a higher refresh rate. Then you can reapply any refresh rate override and the game will launch without any problems. Finally, if nothing else works you can try deleting your user profiles, though this obviously removes all the customizations you've made. To do this, delete all the files/folders under the \Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\Battlefield 2142\Profiles\ directory and restart the game."
Hope you get it sorted, loved playing this game on titan mode.
