Brian Frank

Ahh yes, the ol' registry. Amazing how something gets outta whack with it and your system is shot. Lovely. Well good luck. I feel your pain.

Maybe I'm wrong here, but XP comes with IE6... IE6 is for Win2k, and while XP and 2k are similar, I believe that there are enough differences that not everything may work correctly when not made specifically for the OS.

Set BIOS back to original settings, make sure AGP 4x is disabled, AGP drive strength is DA or default. What Dos said. Also, is is just in HL/CS, or in different games? If it's just HL/CS look for any patches you may have missed. NVrefresh rate won't fix any of these problems. It's only for the monitor refresh rate in games, nothing else.

Hmmm... Try this repair option: Boot off Win2k CD--like you would to install, choose repair instead of install, choose manual repair and then tell the machine you don't have a repair disk by hitting 'L'. Make sure all three options are checked and let it run. Stay by the pc, as you'll probably have to verify changing files to the original ones or skip them.

As far as networking is concerned I've had some problems with 98/2k networking well together, but it depends on what protocols you'll be using. 98 does not blow, ME does. ME promised improved stability and speed and failed on both of these.

I have heard about Via AGP4x problems for some people, but not been one of them. It happens... ;(

Do they have IPX/SPX installed?

I don't see anything XP offers me that I'll buy it for. PA--while, yes it can be cracked, I don't feel that you should have to go to this lengths to protect your privacy, especially since some peeps will get it legally and not via w4r3z. Also, I'm a little hesitant to dive in as the last OS I jumped to that was supposedly so great was ME, which convinced me to go to Win2k. I've tested XP and it's not worth the time or money to me. Maybe other people, but it's more of a hassle than a reward. MS can take PA and shove it where the sun don't shine.

Last time I checked, XP has drivers for the HPT370 on it. I didn't have any problems with it working properly, but then again I haven't had problems with Via either.

Got the Via4-in-1's installed? Make sure you don't have the IDE Busmaster driver installed. I have the VP6 and a screensaver in OpenGL would lock up quickly. I have no clue why, but try that. No lockups since then. BTW, this was in Win2k, but XP is about the same. I'm not sure about the 8.0x drivers. Eddie314 was big on those, but he's taken leave from the forums indefinitely, unfortunately. If you're curious, try 'em. You've got driver rollback. What is your AGP drive strength? Set it to EA or DA(default) in BIOS. Try setting your CPU's back to 700MHz, pull all but the GF3 out and go from there. Add cards back in and test. Do this stuff if you haven't done it already.

I'm sure ATI's cards are good for 2D, but I wouldn't buy them for that considering they seem to be aimed at gaming. I'd get Matrox instead for 2D, and my GF2 Pro (with driver support) should finally be in within 2 days. Personally, I can't tell the difference in 2D, and for gaming--a major function on both rigs---Nvidia has the speed for cheap. I hear the GF3 is supposed to have some good 2D on it, and unless ATI works on their drivers, the next Radeon's are going to get whipped. That's sad considering that they have the potential to wipe the floor with the GF3.

Question: Do you really need to flash your vid BIOS? If you use the Nvidia BIOS, you will only be able to use the reference drivers. Unless you're in a situation that requires a BIOS flash for your card, do as the Beatles say and "Let it be." I'd guess the latest ones would be the ones on the bottom of your list. Again, why are you looking into it? Do you need it?

I don't think you need Win2k or NT Server just for HL/CS. If you're actually going to use Win2k Server, I hope you're going to do more than just use it for hosting games, unless your running quad cpu's. I'd say go with Win2k Pro myself, not server. You may want to up your ram tho, that would be a better investment than a new OS. NT is older, and may be harder to work with newer hardware. Linux--unless you really want to make things harder, probably best to skip it. Win2k Pro is your best bet.

You can flash it with Nvidia's BIOS, but if you have any extra functions on the board like TV-out, you may lose them. Also, you'll have to be in Win9x to flash the BIOS, which could be a bit of a problem under 2k. Try M3DZone

I may bite if I see that LG drive here--gotta be cheaper in the US, but I'm still trying to keep this as cheap as possible. I'm gonna look tommorrow, and I think that AOpen may be a good shot. I haven't seen any LG drives around town, and there are quite a few pc shops here too. But 8megs of cache...mmmm, cache (Homer Simpson voice). I'll see, and I'll keep LG in mind if I see it in town. I buy locally as I can take it back and let the store deal with it.

Now I think I might be able to get a hold of a 12x/10x/32x burner by AOpen for under $100. Any thoughts?

How many y'all have a different ailas for another forum? I'm Big B everywhere else: [H]ardOCP, 2cpu.com, X-bit labs(which I don't like personally).

I for one cannot remeber the last time IE crashed for no reason. It was always a result of either a bad stick of ram or too high on overclocking.

I'm sure it does, but I wouldn't sweat it. You got the right P4 for the future, so long as Intel doesn't change the socket again.

Oh, yeah. Forgot about that, since I didn't use it, and am not running XP anymore.

I've noticed XP doesn't run HL too well in D3D or OpenGL. I'd guess just play around with different drivers. I know I've seen something about getting HL to run fine in XP somewhere here, I just don't remember which thread. May also want to check the Games database here for any hints.

Take your pick of Detonator drivers from 12.41 up. The 20.80 dets should be out soon, and provide a modest boost for the MX.

You mean there's stuff other than computers?!!! ;(

Hmm...we're not cracking on the Repulicans, are we?HMMMMMM. Male or Republican? I guess I'll flip a coin for this... Good poll though. BTW, I hope you didn't mean to put "Hermaphrodite" instead of Republican.

Sweeeeeet!