Ok here goes,

   I built a new system to act as a Server and when not a Server, a kick butt gamer.  I may or may not have made a mistake ??? in choosing some of the Products.  I will list a brief Spec:

ASROCK p4vbt8+ - I never liked VIA chipsets but all they had.

-P4 3.0Ghz HT 478 (Prescott- I think)

1024 RAM -DDR PC3200

ATI Radeon 9600se 128MB DDR SGRAM. Set at 4x Although this SMARTGART Thing says it'll do 8x. And, What the heck is VPU recover? It has saved me a few times but I will get to that bck to the system.

Twin Seagate 150Gb BArracuda 10,000 RPM Set on A Raid Mirror for Speediness.

DVD Dual LAyer Writer
DVD Single Layer Writer 8x
DVD ROM
CD-DVD-CDRW Combi

CRT is LC700 NEC

A Decent Lil' ol' System----  I  thought--  Here is what is happening.

I have been an Avid FS buff since GOD was a child. Quietly i have watchhed all of the Forums Grow into a global hobby of enthusiasts as well as myself.  I will always be landing my Concorde at Heathrow, whenever I am not working on Web Apps

I Still have FS4 from Windows 95 Days still installed in the background of one of my machiwenes.

I recently GOT FS9.  A lovely Packeage.

I installed all file to my drive as always.

Started Playing....

  Then It happened.  The first time wasn;t so bad thought maybe some settings were wrong in the game. Checked and RE-started.  There it was again..  The Whole thing Just Locks....  Just before I can get the SST off the ground it Dies...

   OK says I, want to play hard ball lets try again.  Download Plane from Web, Manuel's F-16, Lockheed I think.

Same Thing.   Got it in the Air this time about 5,000 Locked on a Barrel Roll.

Can't Beat me..... Original Installation 747-400..  Get to about 160knts Just before roll to TO.   Locked  And, this time I get "ATI's VPU recover has saved your system from a serious error!!!"    Oh my, Oh My! Someone deserves a cookie!   

Ok, this is getting very repetative== So I went through all of my Graphics setting and tried again.... Nope Still locking on every plane.

Alright Maybe I will see if it is the system-  Buy and D/L Mad Onions 3dmark2001SE.
..I Score 6215 marks.... I think that is good.  Don't Know.

Now, here is the real kicker, I can ellieviate the problem by going to my display settings and in the troubleshoot section, setting my Hardware Accelelration to the middle which:
    "Disables all Direct Draw and Direct 3D aceelerations, as well as all cursor and advanced drawing accelerations"     - what is the point in playing then when half of the graphics are out of it.

So I went out and Downloaded Directx 9.0c and installed that, Still the same result.

What in the World is Going on?

   Did I f--- up and buy a wrong card.... I have always bought ATI.  Last one I had was a All In Wonder RADEON 7200.  I used to do alot of DVD and Video Work for Streaming Video as well as FS 2002 on that card No Problems Ever.

Or Have I overlooked something and just not done something right.

I am goign to uninstall FS9 and Re-install tonight see if it helps but for some reason I think not.

Please Help!!!!!  Because I am  ???

Been there.   Updated Last week.  Soory should have clarified

Also, I am not OverClocking anything either.--  Yet.

Also should note the Sound is Creative Labs Audigy2 7.1

Speakers make no Diff. but are Boston Acocustic 7.1 Wireless.

Also Complete Wireless Setup in House for Network and Keyboard Mouse.

Have you ever thought of turning it off.  It is known to cause problems.  I turned it off as soon as i got into the control panel when i got my card.

I have a Radeon 9600 in the AGP slot and a Radeon 9200 in a PCI slot running three screens and have never had a problem with FS-9.

I have a 2500+ Barton clocked to 3200 with a Gagabyte GA-7N400 Pro 2. Other that running the FSB at 200 everything is stock and it all works great with the ATI boards and Cat 4.7

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The nVidia FX series was a flop. I use nVidia because I've bought two ATI cards in the past that simply did not work. I couldn't even get decent help even though the factory is only in the next town over. I will continue to buy nVidia because they make good solid products.

Your best buy right now is the Geforce 6800GT or 6800Ultra. These are the best cards on the market, most people agree. They support features like SM 3.0 which is the new standard for image shadding in modern games like Far Cry and Doom3. The X800 series doesn't. As for general preformance, the Geforce 6800 and Radeon X800 are about the same. The x800 beats the 6800 in some benchmarks but not others. Basically nVidia and ATI are back on an equal playing field. The Geforce 6800 is also cheaper than it's ATI counterparts.

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This was a while ago. It was a Radeon 8500LE. Tried a ton of drivers,  but it kept showing artifacts on the screen. Triangles darting everywhere. I've owned several video cards over the years. A Trident VGA PCI card (that was before 3d acceleration was necessary), Radeon 32mb PCI (wouldn't work when I upgraded to Windows 98), Geforce 2 MX64-TV (great card, worked perfectly with FS2002), Radeon 8500LE (didn't work period), and a Geforce FX5200 which has worked flawlessly since the day I installed it. I've been working with computers for a while so I know how to read an instruction booklet and how to install an expansion card. I returned the 8500 and bought the FX5200 a week later so I don't have it anymore. Needless to say, us Canadians can produce the worlds tallest building, the most passenger planes, a robotic arm for the space shuttle, but we seem to have trouble with graphics cards.

First thing.

This is happening for one of two reasons.  Either you have a shitty power supply that can't handle the load, or you have a faulty video card that has probably been tampered with before you got it.

Go get the video card exchanged, and if you can afford it go ahead and get a 9600XT or Pro.  The 9600SE is an extremely crippled card, and you will see 25-30% better performance on a 9600XT versus the SE.

I will almost garauntee the problem is the power supply though, especially if you are running a prescott processor.  Also if it is a prescott, that motherboard is going to give you trouble.

Replace that motherboard with a decent chipset if you can afford it.

ASUS "P4P800 SE" i865PE  - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-484&depa=0

Best socket 478 motherboard on the market.

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Actually 9500=5600 and 9600=5700.  The 5500 was a card released to fill a hole between the 5200 and 5700, after budget buyers looking for increased performance did not want to pay out for a 5700 but found a 5200 too weak for them.

You're asking your 9600SE too much. It can't handle FS2004, especially if settings are maxed out.

My first VC was a FX5200 128mb. What a disappointment. Then tried a Powercolor 9200 256 mb. Same answer. Began going over the overclocking sites to learn what was out there.

Buy a 9800PRO 128mb. Flash the BIOS to an XT. You'll be happy with the results. If you have decent cooling,  over-clock it pass XT stock settings. Then you'll be really happy. That's what I did.

My third error? Buying the 128mb instead of the 256mb...

Fonz

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erm, arn't you getting your bits & RAM's confused a bit here eh?

An ati 9600 will happily handle FS9 - Hell if my FX5600 can then the considerably quicker ATi can!

Via Chipsets are a damn cheap alternative to Intel's chipset , you will find the same with SIS Chipsets. - I have an Asus P4S800D Mobo, it outperforms its Intel equivalent yet cost a third of the price. 

Intel Motherboards use some Via chips anyway!  

A little knowledge can waste a lot of money!