I have a system that works fine with a nVidia GF2 Ultra 64MB AGP card.  No issues.

Then I install a 16MB TNT AGP card and I'm getting some issues.  The desktop doesn't expand the borders of the LCD screen like the GF2 card did.  Also, the desktop is semi-greyed out.  

I put in a FX5200 AGP card and no more issues.  White is white (not greyed out) and the desktop is expanded to the borders of the LCD screen, just like the GF2.

So what is the issue with the TNT card?  Please help.
thanks!

Well, TNT is much more older that the other too. Is that LCD widescreen ? Older cards doesn't work very good with widescreen resolution, so I suspect that's the main problem. But it could be just a bad card (as I said, TNT is quite old, so the chance of bad capacitors and other failed components is increased)

There are no capacitors on this card.  

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_Spectra2500-rdmustangsale.jpg

The LCD is analog only and it's standard 19"resolution in Win98SE is 1280x1024 @ 32bit, but even in DOS it is distorted in the same way on low resolutions.

I tried the last TNT drivers from nVidia, and the last version from Canopus and a version from mr gdonovan

Canopus Spectra...nice card. Could you take a screenshot of how the LCD looks like, maybe we could figure if it's the GPU, the memory, RAMDAC or something else.

Sure, I can do that.  Basically the viewable screen looks like it should be on a widescreen monitor.  There is blank space (bars) above and beleow the viewable screen and some of the right side is cut off because I don't have a widescreen monitor.

Here's the specs in the meantime:

EPoX EP-8KTA3+PRO
AMD Duron 950MHz
2x 512MB PC133 Kingston SDRAM
Canopus Spectra 2500 16MB AGP
Canopus Pure3D 6MB Voodoo Graphics
Intel 10/100/1000 network card
Sound Blaster 16 ISA non-PNP CT1740
1x 30GB Seagate IDE (D drive) + 1x 20GB Western Digital IDE (D drive)
1x Floppy
1x DVD Rom
470W PC Power & Cooling PSU

NOTE: my LCD does try to do AUTO ADJUSTING when I first power up the computer with the Spectra installed.

I plugged the Spectra back in and the widescreen'ing only occured until Windows launched.  Windows is ok now at 1280x1024 @ 32bit.  However, the screen is still greyed out.  I don't want to mess with my physical monitor controls as the monitor is KVM'd for 3 soon to be 4 PCs.  All the other PCs have the same look, white is the same white on all screens except this one.  I try to play with the software tools in Display Properties/Canopus tab but it makes the screen appear washed out when I tune up the brightness/contrast/gamma enough to make the screen like the norm.   :-/

Here are some pics:

Spectra BIOS POST:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_Spectra2500BIOSPOST.jpg

BIOS Shot showing widescreening before Windows is loaded:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_spectracropped.jpg

Comparison shot:
Cards: 7300 on the left, 8800GT in the centre, Spectra 2500 on the right.
Monitors: the left and right monitors are identical - Analog Dell 19" FP196
Centre is a Digital Dell 19" FP1907
All screens are at default colouring (gamma/brightness/contrast)

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_3monitorcomparison.jpg

I KVM'd back the right monitor to the 2nd out of my 7300:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_IMG_03231.jpg

/EDIT - I just updated the BIOS from 1.03.01 to 1.06.05
Even though the PURE3D is connected, I have it Witchdoctored so the 2D is coming straight from the Spectra to the monitor for best quality.  Still no luck though.

I now realize that when I try to change the monitor driver, as soon as I press ok, to make the change the computer locks up and I have to press the reset button on the computer case  and the "default monitor" is set up again.

Sounds like an issue with the card itself. Cause my Spectra 2500 is just working fine on my 1280x1024 LCD screens without any problems  :-/

Update: I found and updated the BIOS to 1.08.01.  I also have driver version 4.12.01 installed.  Still no change.

@ OutOfRange - do you have a copy of the original driver disc?  I am looking for more than just the drivers.  The original disc has some other apps and the witchdoctor drivers.

Yes I have one ! As I stated in the VA Board, I will upload all the content of the disc today :)

Here it is  ;) http://www.outofrange.ch/temp/CanopusSpectra.zip

The package (~43 MB) contains the whole content of the Disc and I also made a complete scan of the manual  ;) there you can find some additional informations about the installation and Witchdoctor too  :)

Thanks a million!  :)

The manual looks great too!

You're welcome :)

I wonder how good the manual looks after the scan, cause on the screen before I converted it to an PDF it was a little blurry  :-?

The manual was very well done!  A lot of the images look professional.  :)  

Do you have any improvements with these drivers ? Hope so  :)

I am using some newer drivers than the original CD...
OK, now I tried the original drivers.  They work, but same issue of a greyed out screen.  What is your BIOS version?

I had to pull the card as for some reason the PC won't boot past POST.  I put in my FX5200 and the PC POSTed fine...  While I had the Spectra out of the computer I took some pics:

FRONT

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_CanopusSpectra2500-front.jpg

BACK

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_CanopusSpectra2500-back.jpg

BACKPLATE

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_CanopusSpectra2500-backplate.jpg
-------------------------------------------
I put the Spectra back in the PC and ran a few programs off the files you posted.  

I think it found a found a problem.  What do you think?  What is an AGP module?  Am I able to validate my AGP module registration?

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_SystemCheckerror.jpg

SPCUTIL.EXE looks correct:

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm241/razr_x/th_spcutilOK.jpg

Sry I was horribly busy the whole day. Acutally the card is not mounted in a system. But I will check back these things as soon as possible  :)

heh, heh.... no worries...

I just got hit with the srosa.sys trojan.......    :-[
I tried for half a day to get rid of that sucka....  I only copied real important data and I am now ZEROing, f-disking, formatting and then reinstalling Windows.  Damn those P2P sites.  LOL