Please help. AIW 9800Pro artifcacts & BIOS problem?

Question

  I am in dire need of help. I have been trying to get my AIW 9800 Pro video card running on the MSI board for over a week.  I have got Windows Pro up and running with Nvidia AGP video card, however whenever I use my ATI All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro 128mb card, I would get artifacts.  Artifacts would cover the screen and appears not only in Windows XP desktop but also in the boot up process screen & BIOS screens.
Just to make it easier, here’s what I already have tried.
1)   I have tried re-seating the AIW 9800Pro card several times and got video lock activated, but still got artifacts.
2)   Yes, the power plug for the AIW 9800Pro is plugged into the power supply. And yes, I have tested the power supply line to make sure it’s not defective & it isn’t.
3)   MSI board’s AGP slot is not defective since I tried a Nvidia AGP card and it works fine (even tried a PCI card for heck of it & yes it also works fine)
4)   No, my AIW 9800 Pro card is not defective, because I can get it running fine without artifacts on my AMD Athlon XP 2000+ system.
5)   Yes, I have tried reinstalling Catalyst drivers, and tried various versions 3.9, 3.8, & 3.7, but still get the same artifacts problems. Also, at times, after installation, could not boot into Windows XP Pro at all but get black screen with artifacts.
6)   No, I am not overclocking.  Everything is set at default settings. vCore (default-forgot what voltage was), DDR (2.5v-default), & AGP (1.5v-default) settings.
7)   Yes, have tried increasing voltage to AGP (1.6v & 1.7v) but still get artifacts
8)   No, I am not running PAT or DOT. Well, maybe a bit of PAT but default is ‘Slow’ & ‘Private’ (default).
9)   AGP aperture is set at 64MB, have tried 128MB & even 256MB, but make no difference, video card still has artifacts.
10)   MSI board came with BIOS vers 1.3, & I have upgrade it to v1.9 and still get artifacts problems for AIW 9800 Pro.
11)   To summarize, board & OS seems quite stable & work great as long as I’m not using AIW 9800Pro which gives me these artifacts headaches.
edited: 12)    Forgot to mention, I have also tested with different memory, 2x256mb Kingston Dual PC3200 (none-HyperX) and still get artifacts error on boot up screen and windows xp.
Based on what I found & have tried, I concluded that my AIW 9800 Pro is not defective.  I think the problem perhaps lies with MSI motherboard’s BIOS settings. I tried changing some settings around but still get artifacts problem. If someone hardware like mine and know of settings I can try, please let me know.  
Here’s what I’ll be trying later on, but I doubt it will help much:
Read some articles, some suggested heating problems may be a factor. I’m not quite sure if that’s the case, since my AMD Athlon XP 2000+ is as and could get hotter than the Intel system.  However, just to be on safe said, I plan to add another 120mm fan and swapped the included low speed Antec fan within the case with a fan that has higher cfm.  Also, I will apply Artic Silver 5, instead of Artic Silver 3 to see if that makes a difference.
And as a last resort… I will try re-installing everything. But before doing that, I would greatly appreciate if anyone has any suggestions & could think of something that may be of help!   Hope to hear from you soon. Thank you.

Answer 1

Ok, I been trying a lot the suggestions, here are the results:
To Sean:
Changing DDR voltage as well as AGP voltage doesn't help. I tried varies combinations to no vale. To confirm, my memory is set to 'by SPD" timing is 2.5.3.3.8.  The Winbond memory modules CH-5 are compatible with MSI Neo2-FIS2R. Also, having remove the Nvidia drivers as well as ATI drivers and tried reinstalling ATI drivers doesn't help. Sometimes computer can't get to windows upon installing. I think even if I do get drivers to work properly, it won't solve the artifacts problem that appear in BIOS & boot up screens prior to Windows XP bootup.
To Ecmaster76:
Can not get Rage3d Tweaker to install properly. I however do see your point if I can bump down the core speed of the 9800Pro & make Windows run without artifacts, then that would meant the problem lies with agp slot, a hardware issue instead of software issue.
To javaman63:
I am aware that tapping the video card would make the artifacts changed, however, no matter how much you tap or twisted (which I wouldn't recommend ) the artifacts is not going to go away. As for 9800Pro causing artifacts on your friend's computer (on Windows boot up screens & Windows desktop) that can pretty much be solved by proper uninstalling and reinstalling ATI driver.  Like Sean, suggested you will need to remove the Nvidia drivers as well as the ATI completely (if you install ATI with Nvidia driver existing already) & do a clean reinstallation.  I see that you have RMA the you motherboard and now you're going to RMA your video card. I think that is a good resolution to this artifact problem for bootup & BIOS screens not only just Windows screens, (assuming that your problem is same as mine), here's why...
While I was applying Artic Silver 5 (to replace Artic Silver 3) and reseating my motherboard to make sure it's probably grounded, I found out what is causing the artifacts to appear on the bootup & BIOS screens  . I keep on reinstalling 9800Pro card and restarting the computer in hopes of getting a clean boot (without any artifacts ).  Anyway, I got the computer to boot 4 times without any artifacts out of 30 times or so? It's actually not so random as it sounds.  
To get the 9800Pro to boot. I have to install the card at an angle. First, line up the card in the AGP slot.  Then, push down on one end of the card (corner where AGP lock is at) until the AGP lock *clicks* & locks into place. Then press just a little at the other end of the card so that at least half of the bottom gold connectors are inserted.   The 9800Pro card should end up looking slanted, with one side jutting up (the side that's away from agp lock). And you should be able to see the gold connecters of the card, since it's not fully inserted. I manage to get the computer to boot without any artifacts while installing the 9800Pro like this while having my computer lay flat on it's side.  Once I move my computer into a sitting position however, the artifacts came back since the video card have been moved slightly in the process.  Likely, you will need to try this a few times to get it to work just right.
Well, to summarize, I haven't actually fix the artifacts problem, but at least found out what's causing it.  I'm not going to return the 9800Pro. I rather return the MSI board first in hopes that the one I got have a defeative AGP slot .  (I know javaman63, you RMA your motherboard and still got the same problem. But, I'm not willing to give up on my 9800 Pro yet...  ) I'll update again to see if the new motherboard will solve the BIOS artifact problem.  Else, I'll either sell off my AIW 9800Pro (which I think is not defeative since it works on my AMD system just fine) or change the MSI board to Gigabyte or Asus.  Oh well, I'll see how it goes.  Please post javaman63 & let me know if you your replacement video card solves the artifacts problem that's assuming you have same artifacts problem in BIOS & bootup screens (not just artifacts in Windows bootup screen) as I do.
I like to thank Sean, Ecmaster76, & javaman63 for trying to help me.  If it wasn't for their suggestions, I probably wouldn't have found out what's causing the problem.  Cheers!