FS2004 ATI/Radeon Driver Problem

I have an AMD XP2500, XP Professional, 556RAM, ATI Radeon 9600 Pro.......
and my experience with 2004 is totally dismal.

About every 4 four seconds my frame rate drops from 19fps to 1fps, with the
result that the sim lurches horribly from forward progress to dead stop.
Additionally, MS seems to lose my MS Force Feedback 2 joystick from time to
time, leaving me without the ability to control my already stuttering plane.
When it hasn't lost the FF2 it often seems to lose its FF centering tension
ability . Since I upgraded to the latest Radeon driver (6.14.10.6360 is what
the Device Manager shows it as) I also get smeared graphics when I drag a
panel such as the GPS across the screen from one position to another - the
entire screeen dissolves into horizontal color bands that then restore to a
normal screen after a few seconds.

All of the above happens whether the sliders are maxed out to the right or
all the way to the left.

This thing is a nightmare. Any suggestions welcomed as to how to set the
sliders or how my Bios should be adjusted.
Mike

P.S. Katy, I'm sure you are reading these posts, even if MS might not be
....... is anyone consolidating symptoms such as mine and forwarding them to
MS?

P.S. Katy, I'm sure you are reading these posts, even if MS might not be
...... is anyone consolidating symptoms such as mine and forwarding them to
MS?

I do :-) For you problem did you try disabling the FF? ATI has new
drivers in the works (finally) from what I read...

---
Best
Katy Pluta

FS2004 FAQ at http://www.simflight.com/news5/modules.php?name=FAQ

Katy -

I did NOT try disabling the FF2 - should I? The problem seems sporadic and
FF2 will always work after a reboot.

Thanks

Mike