Okay, I know I keep posting on problems with my computer and I'm sorry, but this puzzled me a little.

My big present was an ATI AIW 9700. Great card. Just beautiful. But I can't test it out! Granted, the games I tried haven't rated very well on the stability scale, but they should work a little.

I tried GTA3. I tried it at slightly higher than 800x600 which I ran it at before with choppy results. It froze about 20 seconds into a session. I also tried Morrowind which came with the card, and it froze before the game even started, sometimes as the Bethesda Software logo loaded. We're not talking application freezes either. Total system freeze and all I can do is press restart.

Does this sound like another factor of my mobo (which should be replaced soon), or of some other problem, perhaps related to Win2K, bad drivers, etc?

Well, in my experience, Win2K doesn't freeze. Programs freeze, etc. But the OS always kept right on running. I'm always able to hit Task Manager and kill whatever's annoying me. But I'm no Microsoft posterchild.

I love ATI cards, too (was totally giddy when I saw the ATI logo on the back of my new GameCube). But I do hear not so nice things about the drivers written for said cards. Beyond that, I would check to make sure everything is updated. DirectX, audio drivers, video drivers (I understand the card is new but it couldn't hurt to check), etc.

When you've exhausted anything you can think of as far as software goes... then it's time to start looking at hardware. So what would make you think it's the motherboard?

I think your board has a VIA chipset on it. Perhaps you should try installing the latest 4-in-1 Drivers. It couldn't hurt.

Actually, Rob, I followed the instructions that came with the new hardware for once The first thing they tell you to do is to update the chipset drivers to make sure the AGP drivers in particular are up to date. I did so. Perhaps the nVidia chipset will fare better

Deadfire: thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to see if there is a driver I haven't updated yet (I installed so many when I put this card in). The reason I suspect the motherboard is because I've been having problems with it from day one. It has always given me strange memory difficulties, and freezes were common before. It will be replaced anyway in the coming week, so I guess I'll know then.

I'd blame the motherboard. As it's leaving soon, you can blame it all you want.
As you've already had problems with memory, the mobo is the best suspect. Don't all those games put high loads on memory and such?

I'm sure that's true. And if the motherboard can't deal with the memory properly, it's gotta screw up.

Oh, and since I was first complaining about the mobo, I've noticed other stuff. Like the USB ports don't always work, the CF drive bay is recognized 10% of the time, and the front case lights never light up despite being plugged in correctly. Soyo blows.

i seem to recall having problems with an old mobo and vid card combo of mine that was caused by the mobo not supporting 2x agp and the card being set to use 2x or something like that. i think current settings are up to 8x but might this be something to consider? or am i way off?

dust off and nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.

I'm far from a mobo expert, but I've found on the few VIA chipset boards that I've dealt with for my friends that they tend to work better if I don't install the 4-in-1 drivers. On the other hand, I've had so many problems with VIA chipsets, both with and without 4-in-1 and under both Windows and Linux, that I doubt I'll ever buy one for myself or recommend one.

Please tell me that I'm an idiot and what I'm doing wrong.

Actually, I've heard the same things. My solution? Wait for my Asus board with the nVidia nForce 2 chipset on it

This may be true.... to an extent. When installing 4in1, you are asked some questions. The most moronic is whether you want to run AGP in normal or turbo mode. Anyone who selects turbo mode is asking for trouble. But, turbo sounds like a good thing, so it is often the chosen option.

I really have had no problems with the newer VIA chipsets. My webserver has a Socket370 VIA chipset and it once ran for 3 months before the power failed.

Hmmm. Maybe that's it. I think I always assumed that ``turbo'' meant 4x (or whatever the faster one would be).

However, as I said, I've also had problems w/o 4-in-1 and under Linux. Maybe I've just been using bad mobos that happened to have VIA chipsets.

Interesting, I never got any of those questions. I might have just installed the latest AGP drivers, but I'm pretty sure I got the whole package.

I know the card can run at 8x, but the mobo is only 4x. Do you think the card is trying to run at 8x? I thought it was automatic.

I've got an older ASUS (TUV4X) mobo with the VIA chipset. Never again.

-Zeke