I was surprised that Windows detected everything on the motherboard and installed the built in drivers accordingly. Just in case, I felt it was best to install the version 4.17 drivers that VIA offers from their website. I have heard from many people that the version 4.2 drivers may cause instability and the most important thing I value in a motherboard is stability.

The driver package that VIA offers from their website, called the VIA 4-in-1, includes everything needed to update the Windows components. This includes the AGP driver, IDE busmaster driver, IRQ routing driver, and the ACPI registry.

After getting all of the drivers squared away in Windows 98, I felt it was time to do the all important stability tests. I used this motherboard as my primary board for hours surfing the net and playing games.

What I found out really surprised me… while I was able to get this board stable at the default 500MHz with my Pentium III 500 Coppermine it refused to run stable above 133MHz front side bus, or 667MHz from the CPU perspective. The system would simply lock up hard. My first instinct was to use the 4.2 VIA drivers, so I loaded them up on my system. These drivers were no better than the 4.17 drivers, so I reverted to the 4.17.

Looking around at FIC's web site revealed that there were indeed problems with this particular board and BIOS. Their site had a BIOS readily available to combat this problem, so I downloaded it. After flashing the BIOS, I expected the 133MHz + FSBs to be a little more stable. In disappointment, they were not. I was still greeted by the harsh lock-ups previously experienced.

I have tried just about every combination imaginable with the hardware I own, I have switched the PCI devices around, used 3 different 128MB DIMMs and used various BIOS combinations. With an extra old P3 450MHz lying around, I decided to pop this CPU in. Still, the system was not stable with the 133MHz + FSBs. Oddly enough, the two CPUs I used in the motherboard, a P3 500E and a P3 450, were both stable in BX motherboards at 133MHz + FSBs.

Another quirk I had with this motherboard is that the system would not do a soft off. This is used to automatically shut down Windows when the shut down option is selected on an ATX system. The system would shut down, but only for a split second.  After that split second, the system would power back up. That can't be good for a 7200-RPM hard drive to spin down and spin up so fast.

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