As some of you, I've also had problems loading Fallout 2. With the help of some of our forum regulars we were able to figure it out and thus I decided to modify the article I made on installing Fallout 1 (manual), I've updated it to include a manual install of Fallout 2 (which can help locate the problem).
Link: Fallout 1/2 Manual Installation Guide
Link: Fallout 1/2 Manual Installation Guide