System Instability Possibly Due to Display Driver

[Hairless]

Originally posted on alt.os.windows-xp but had no
suitable response.

I'm very new to this game so apologies if I sound a bit
dumb over certain things.

I'm running Windows XP. All's going well until the system
locks up and
I'm unable to deal with problems via control, alt,
delete. Re booting it
makes the base unit beep several times over and gives
nothing but a
blank screen. I'm only able to switch it off via rocker
switch and then
have to wait half an hour to try again (any earlier and
it beeps at me).

Once up and running it gives the following message:

' Driver for display device unable to complete a drawing
operation.
Check with driver manufacturer for driver update' and '
Display driver
RAGE 128 PRO Ultra GL AGP possibly responsible for system
instability'.

I've selected 'update driver' the driver info via the
device manager
but it doesn't detect any new updates.

On one occasion the system directed me to
http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/winxp/radeonwdm-
xp.html?type=xp%2526prodType=graphic%25A1%
25C7=productsXPdriver%2526submit.x=11%
2526submit.y=10&reason=00
but to be quite honest, once I'm there I've not a clue
what to do next,
what to select or even it it's compatible with my system.

Can anyone help me out or failing that, direct me to a
site that deals
with these sort of things in fairly simple terms.

Thanks!

 

[Sharon F]

Re booting it
makes the base unit beep several times over and gives
nothing but a
blank screen. I'm only able to switch it off via rocker
switch and then
have to wait half an hour to try again (any earlier and
it beeps at me).

Beeping as in beeps from the system tower? If yes, look up the beep codes
for your BIOS. The pattern of the beeps can be referenced to an error
condition. May be something as simple as a video adapter that's not fully
seated or a heat problem. Many systems will force a shutdown if the CPU is
overheating. A possibility since you can start fine after the system has
sat for a while when the components would have cooled down.