This may turn out to be a repeat-type post as I've not seen the original
show up, and pardon me if it is, but I think it's important enough to repeat
even so.
I purchased a Viper 550--nice card. Installation of hardware and drivers
went very well, much better than the Monster 2 I installed over a Monster,
before they upgraded their install package to wipe previous Glide versions.
The problem is with a program included on their driver disk called "Platinum
WIRL". Normally I don't fool with this type of stuff, but for some reason
decided to give these "extras" a look. To my horror, during the install of
this program I saw a line "now installing Direct-something or other" or
something of that type. I thought programs that installed any DirectX
components without warning or option were extinct, but this one installed
either DX3 or DX5 components over my Win98 DX6! On reboot I got a nice black
screen with the words "range limit exceed". Naturally, I spent a quite
enjoyable evening recovering my system.
I've sent emails to Diamond relating my experience and asking for
clarification. If I get a reply, I'll post it, but in the meantime be very
careful about installing any of the "extras" included with the V550. I know
the "Motorhead", and Diamond's own "Incontrol" programs are safe, and I'm
pretty sure the MGI Photosuite program is as well, but be leery of the rest.
Jerry Morelock
