Windows crashes at more than 640x480x16

[timrburnham]

Every time I boot up Windows, it crashes either before it gets to GUI or about ten seconds later. It can be fixed if I boot into safe mode and change graphics to 640x480x16. I have the correct, latest drivers, and it is a Diamond MM Stealth64 VRAM (Yes, I know it's old).
Thanks.

[tha 4NiK8R]

VIA chipset on your mobo? If so install the 4in1 drivers.

[Zerotech]

I had a Diamond Stealth 2500 a few years ago and it was simply NOT compatable with Win98. It worked great with Win95 but never stabilized after the upgrade. If your card has one of the Alliance ProMotion chips on it, I wouldn't hold a lot of hope for Win98 compatability. <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">

[Zerotech]

After a quick recheck, I find your card uses the S3 Vision 964 chip. I would suggest removing the In Control software and using either the S3 or Diamond drivers built into Win98 (as well as the suggestion of 4in1 drivers if you have a VIA-based motherboard).
Hope this post is more helpful than my last one, good luck. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[timrburnham]

Thanks... I'll have to check out on the Win98 compat. I've already tried the Win98 cd drivers, and they do the same thing... I'm not sure about the VIA, I'll have to check. I might just try them anyway... where can I get them?
You guys rule... thanks for the tips.

[Budd]

i'm not sure, but is your video card an AGP video card? if it is, you'll need to install your motherboards agp driver (unless it is a intel chipset).

[Terrence]

I see your video card is a bit old, and this raises the question, how old is your monitor? can it handle high resolution, above the 640 x 480 boundary? If it is a good monitor, I would just invest about $100.00 and get a decent video card.

[Zerotech]

Definitely make sure that you have a VIA-based motherboard before loading VIA drivers. Loading wrong mobo drivers can REALLY screw up your Windows installation.

One trick to try is booting up in Safe Mode (hold F8 during stat-up) and checking the Device Manager for extra hardware listings for things not installed in your system (ie extra COM ports, drives, video cards, etc). Eliminating extra entries helps the system run MUCH smoother.

Give me some more specs on your system (motherboard, CPU, card slots) and I'll see what detailed help I can give you.

[timrburnham]

I never knew Creative Labs made motherboards before I bought this system. Anyway, to answer zerotech's question, it's a "Creative Labs" (I'm still not quite sure about that) M003 slot 1 mobo w/ Intel i440BX chipset. Celeron 566 processor, with slot 1 to socket 370 adapter. 192 MB memory. No other cards installed at present.
Buddy Holly: it's a PCI card.
Terrence: yeah, I know. It's a pretty decent monitor, a Sony Triniton MultiscanHG 1430, I think. If I could be absolutely POSITIVE that a new video card would work correctly, I wouldn't hesitate to get one. At present, I'm still kinda thinking in my little mind that it's a mobo problem.
Thanks guys. Hope this little bit of info can help you help me <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[Zerotech]

Okay, the Intel 440BX chipset needs no special drivers (one problem out of the way).
Check your motherboard's BIOS, you should have your primary display set to PCI and enable 'assign IRQ to VGA' (in case your card requires bus mastering).
Use the e-mail address in my profile and let me know what city/state you're in. If it's not too far away, I can send you one of my many orphaned video cards and clear the problem up once and for all. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[Zerotech]

Hey Tim! Here's a link to a description of your motherboard (yes, it IS a Creative Labs): http://www.tigerdirect.com/sectors/blasterpc/motherboard.asp

(Special thanks to Obi1kenobi for posting this link in the motherboard forum)

I'll get you set up with an AGP card ASAP.

[timrburnham]

Yeah, that's where I bought it from to. But when I got it (about 3 monthes ago) I couldn't find that link. Thanks for pointing that out.
It's an alright board, I guess... nothing to write home about. It only has IDE-33, and the stupid BIOS only supports up to a 32 gig hd... I have a 40, and had to clip it. Anybody know a workaround for that? That stuff about 133 Mhz FSB is bull: the bios only lists up to 100. (That also could be because of my lock-chip Celeron. I don't know.)
But thanks for the link, and the offer; I've been poking around the net to figure out which board I want. Still haven't totally given up on that Diamond PCI lunker, but only because it's bothering me from a technical standpoint: it bugs me when I can't fix something.
Astalavista <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/eek.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/cool.gif" border="0">

[Terrence]

About your hard drive-- just partition the remaining space into a secondary hard drive using fdisk. then set an extended dos partition. and that will let you keep the extra 8 gig.