SL works... but nothing else does!!?

Hi guys.
SL works fine in windowed mode, 800x600 and 960x600. Any attempt to make it run at 1024x768 yields an error that states it cant change resolution, but it used to work before.
This is not my problem. My problem is that ANY OTHER GAME RESETS MY COMPUTER!!!
Literally. Even dxdiag reboots my machine when doing the DirectDraw or Direct3D tests in fullscreen mode.
I am running the latest DirectX (9.0c), BIOS and drivers and everything. I upgraded my graphics drivers today but it didnt fix anything. No new versions out for any other drivers, and I'm running with default settings on everything too. I'm not running in PCI mode either. AGP 4X, as reported by the nvidia panel on display properties.
I havent changed anything about my computer. I suspect it may have been the BIOS upgrade I performed a while ago. I went from version 1009 to version 1012 on my Asus A7A-266 (ALi MagiK chipset).
I dont experience anything else aside from the reboots. My computer works fine... No graphics corruption or error messages. Nothing. It just reboots whenever I pop up anything DirectX-related... oO
Should I try flashing the old BIOS version back into my computer?

Just a hunch... did you try any other OpenGL games? Quake3, Call of Duty, etc.

If not, try downloading a demo of Quake3/Call of Duty/whatever and see if those crash too.

LF

Yeah I thought about that. They will probably work. Now all I need is to figure out how to get my DX up and running again. Starcraft beckons me...
I tried flashing my bios with an even more recent version, 1013 beta. Still screwy.
I have 1011 on my HD but the windows flashing utility will not let me use an older bios as input and recommends the DOS utility.
Except the DOS utility needs to run under real MSDOS mode. And I have XP. I havent been in real DOS mode in years. And I dont have a freaking floppy drive either. *GROAN* THE IDIOCY OF IT ALL!

Try uninstalling, then reinstalling, DirectX, using the latest 9.0c from Microsoft's site (http://www.microsoft.com/directx)

ok, but what's your problem? sounds just fine to me

I think it's a hardware problem. My graphics memory is being misreported, and the last time that happened to me it was the card dying. Just the excuse I needed to ask for a shiny new FX 5700 for christmas

I called Microsoft tech support for you. They suggested reformatting/reloading your machine to cure the problem. I'm sure that's all you need to do; they are so helpful.

> I havent been in real DOS mode in years. And I dont have a freaking floppy drive either. *GROAN* THE IDIOCY OF IT ALL!

You can write a bootable floppy to cdrom. I think I have a bootable floppy image lieing around somewhere that you can use if you need. I cant remember exactly how you get it to cd, but I have done. I'm pretty sure Nero works.

Hugh

Yeah I used to have a bootable DOS CD but I loaned it to a friend who misplaced it. If you can zip it up and gmail it to me, I will be much obliged