What the...It aint that outdated

[Triple_7]

This just started this morning.  Flightsim ran like crap and couldn't get frames above 5 or 6.  I just had it running at 25 in the cockpit yesturday...I exited FS and went into my display options.  It came up some kind of message stating that my graphics card is no longer compatible with this version of Windows and that it has been de-activated and the old 32mb onboard has now been re-activated  I changed it back and it seemed to work fine.  But when i shut the system down its back to the onboard but no message.  

Windows hasnt been updated for over a month...I turned off auto update ages ago, and unless it updated without my permission its not linked to an XP update.

Ive had some occasional blurry textures and some hangups recently.  Could it be my graphics card is slowly going bad or could it be some kind of strange programing error  Tried updating drivers but its as up to date as it will get...

[congo]

That is a very strange thing indeed.

No setting should change without you doing it unless there is an automated program running, which looks to be the case.

It is possible the card is malfunctioning. Have you got a spare hard disk you could install a new copy of windows on for a quick test? If you do, don't have the new installation connected to the internet until you determine if the card is at fault. Also isolate the new install from any other hard disks present.

If it ends up being a faulty video card, you are lucky in a way, as a replacement card will

[Triple_7]

Well....Nothing that I know of is updating without me telling it to.  I had one problem a long time ago when an update auto installed and that was the end of that little game  I havent even personaly updated anything recently except my crap removing programs that ive used for ages.

If it is a faulty card then a replacement isnt going to happen.  I will run this one to its death and replace it with my old 64mb till I can get the new system built which at this rate is going to be awhile.  I will never buy another PCI again :-/  But this mobo doesnt support AGP.  So new card will have to wait a few months

Its probably just the computer playing its little games again.  This is the crazy one that BIOS settings randomly change from time to time and need reset, 4th or 5th hardrive, etc  Problem with my XP disk is that its only an upgrade CD.  This system used to be 98.  Last time I did a full wipe I had to use another hardrive as a slave, put 98 on this one, and finaly XP with my disk  I've heard that you can use Linux to get the XP upgrade to work but dont know anyone whos tried it....I have an old 6 gig that could be used to test it but its cleaned off and i currently dont have any way of putting 98 on it  So hopefully its just a small glitch.  Going to uninstall-reinstall the card and see if it makes a dif...it didnt last time i had problems so I dont expect it to this time.  Guess it doesnt hurt to try though

[Triple_7]

Maybe it is the card.  Re-install didn't change anything  

Yet another thorn in my side :-/  Hopefully it will hold out for a few more months...really dont want to downgrade to the old 64

[congo]

Well, check the bios and make sure everrything is right in there, maybe a wrong setting is still applied.

You're not in a good position without a WinXP or Win 98 disk.

Can you  do a system restore back to a point where it was all working?