K7N2G-ILSR: On-board video too unstable to use

Question

Putting together a new computer for my son.  Using K7N2G-ILSR and was really looking forward to the onboard video.  Using Athlon XP 2100 (from my prior machine -- 100 percent solid CPU) and initially bought Corsair 2700 256MB with the new board.  As an immediate downer, the board refused to work with the memory (nonstop beeping/D-LED stuff, etc.) at power up (tried all slots -- same result).  Observation: this compares very unfavorably with my highly-favorable experience with Soyo boards, by the way.  Swapped out that memory with Kingston 2700 256MB from my daughter's machine, which is running Soyo Dragon Lite.  
Ok, so after some immediate (and unnecessary) memory hassle, got system to boot.  CPU is running fine and cool at 50 deg C.
Next (BIG, BIG) problem: Onboard Video is WAY, WAY too unstable in Windows 2000 to be usable.  At the outset, the video is showing random horizontal streaks (of trash) across the screen.  The only time I've seen that before in my 15 years of PC use is in a Diamond video card a long time ago that was also defective.  However, I can live with streaks.  The problem is that the machine crashes every time, 100 percent of the time, within 15-90 seconds of booting into Windows 2000 (SP3).  (Of course, used latest video driver from a web site, different settings, different refresh rates, and all the other usual stuff, etc., etc., etc.)  By the way, I had the patience to try this with and without SP3, and tried a zillon different bios settings.  Nothing worked -- same immediate crash problem.  Also booted into safe mode and same deal -- but at least that confirms that the problem is probably underlying hardware-related problem, not software/driver problem.  (If it can't run under generic Windows VGA driver, then it probably can't run under anything  else.)
Only solution is to swap in an existing AGP card.  That solves the problem 100 percent but I am not exactly happy camper since I paid for the on-board video (and for budget reasons the card that I am swapping in is not exactly cutting-edge.)  
If anyone has a silver bullet fix for this, I would love to hear it.  Otherwise, I will assume that the onboard AGP is defective and/or poorly designed, whereupon I would have been better off not spending the extra money for it.  My best guess is that the memory and/or other video circuitry is defective.
Otherwise, happy with the underlying performance of the motherboard itself but the video fiasco is a BIG letdown. :O
Thanks.

Answer 1

SILVER BULLET FOUND!!! (and it was free)  BIG, BIG, BIG cigar to Bikeman for his above post, which focused my attention on the BIOS.  Had considered it at the outset, but figured there was no way I was going to need to flash a brand spanking new board.  But when you read the BIOS update notes, one of its fixes is with Kingston memory which is currently in the board.  Recall from above, however, that Kingston was a fallback as board complained bitterly about the Corsair memory that I bought with the board.  (My daugher's Dragon Lite is quite happy with either memory.)
So here's the rundown.  Actually couldn't see what bios ver. I had at POST as text went by way too fast.  So install live update software which confirmed that I had older v. 1.2 bios.  (Interestingly, the live update itself was old enough that it itself had to self-update before I could use).  Flashed BIOS to 1.3 using the Windows version of update, which I will report worked real smooth.
Rebooted and proceeded to install fresh nVidia driver from nVidia website.  However, I can tell you that the BIOS was definitely the problem because before I wouldn't have been able to easily get to the point of installing video driver without 5-10 crash/reboot cycles -- so the new-found stability made it very clear that the BIOS update was the "silver bullet" I was looking for.
Postscript impressions:  (1) MSI boards are VERY finiky about memory (which is a problem that I have never had with Soyo boards), and (2) this is the 2nd MSI board I have bought and the 2nd one that has had severe bios issues.  The first board was a low-end A socket board with AMI bios that arrived faulty/trashed -- half way thru POST, bios would start spitting out garbage ASCII characters.  
Again thanks again to Bikeman for saving me from spending any more money (on psu or other memory) and for letting my son's system now run 8X AGP.