Every 8x.xx driver has behaved the same including the new 81.98. During
install, the screen goes black with a blinking cursor in the top left and
the computer hangs. If I install the driver from safe mode, then the driver
installs ok, but on rebooting back to normal mode, the computer hangs with a
black screen.

Drivers up to and including 78.05 work just great.

For those who are interested, this is the relevant setup.

Windows XP Professional.
Tyan S2466N-4M mainboard.
AMD 762 northbridge, AMD 768 southbridge
Dual Athlon-MP 2600+ CPUs
2GB ECC registered RAM
BFG GF6800GT-OC 256MB AGP video card.

The 81.98 driver will load with a GF4 4200ti card but not with the 6800GT.

Will they ever fix it so I can get the "improved dual CPU and dual core
performance"?