Hey, I have problems with UT lock up

Hi all! I'm new here. Here's my story:

Previously I had a ASUS V6600 Deluxe SGRAM (nvida GeForce 256) video card. When I first got UT, it ran like a charm, but for just 5 mins or so. After that, I get stuck. The whole game doesn't lock up, I just can't do anything. I had to hit ctrl + esc to get out to desktop and it gave me a "Critical Error" window with "general protection fault:" inside it followed by a bunch of jibberish. I then went and got the latest approved ASUS driver for the card and nVidia's detonator 3.68 driver. Ran it again...same thing.

I then tried running the game in Direct3D, OpenGL, and software rendering. Software fan a lot longer (20 mins at best) but eventually did the same thing. OpenGL ran crappy and was even worse. So I did some more research. I found out that there was a patch, v. 413. I downloaded it. Ran the game.....same thing. I then proceeded to search again for a solution. Found out that the Direct3D driver that came with the 413 patch was bad and replaced it with the driver from 405 like the site told me to do. After this, I played and was filled with joy thinking that I had fixed the problem. I ran the game 40 mins or better. But guess what.......lock up.

I had been having problems with other games too and took the computer back to my dad's company, which built it. They found out that the video card was bad. ASUS has given us credit on a new one and we're waiting for it to come in. In the meantime, I have an S3 Savage4 Pro video card. I ran the game with the "metal" drivers and played it for 5 minutes before it did the same old junk.

Here's my PC specs:

Pentuim III 650 mhz processor (not overclocked)
8 GB hard drive
256 mb RAM
Windows 98 second edition

Other things I forgot to mention is that I have shut down ALL background programs, even the screensaver, before starting the game, no luck. I have defragmented, ran scandisk, and even reformatted and reinstalled Windows 98. I have also tried reinstalling the game a few times. Nothing works. I'm absolutely stumped on this. Can anybody help me?

Sorry for the long post. Long stories produce long posts.

I really don't see how that's possible. My computer has been thoroughly checked for this problem. There's even an extra fan on it now. Plus, the GeForce that I previously had had a some kind of program on it that automatically reduced the activity that caused heat if it was being heavily used. I took the back casing off before and had a big fan blow in it and it still does the same thing. You might be right, but I just don't
see how. It just doesn't seem logical to me that the video card gets over-heated after playing the game for just a few minutes. Then again, you probably know more about it then I do. But the guys that built the thing said heat isn't a factor.

I got another question. Is it ok to use Direct3D with my S3 Savage4 Pro?

I do have an Asus motherboard. Everything is supposed to comply with everything and they (the PC builders) have confirmed that it does. It is a mystery. UT locks up with the same damn GPF and now, with my S3 Savage4 Pro, it locks up completely and I can't restart my computer. IT IS NOT HEAT. This just can't be. I have done everything that people have told me to check\fix that. Nothing works. I have tried D3D with the video card, you can't even see the picture because it's so messed up. I got the 413 patch, and even the D3D replacement driver for it. Nothing works. Does anybody else have any suggestions BESIDES heat?

Ok. I will try that. But it still locks up when I use the Metal or Software drivers. Do you think that the video card will run the D3D better than these others?

Well, I installed that d3d driver and the picture is still distorted. And when I use the S3 Metal drivers, I can't even get past the "press fire to start" screen. My whole PC then locks up and I have to restart. I have DirectX 7.0, not 7.0a Will upgrading improve any of this?

I checked my DirectX "Diag" folder that's suppose to tell you which version of DirectX you have and stuff. I checked and it was 7.0 I download the patch that upgrades 7.0 to 7.0a. I go to install it and it says I already have it installed. But it still says 7.0a. Oh well, it didn't help matters. The game locks up. It doesn't matter whether it's Direct3D, OpenGL, Metal, or even the software rendering graphics. I have reinstalled the game a few times and have the latest patch and drivers. Is there any possibility that I bought a bad game? Or do I just need to wait to get my GeForce back and see what it does then?

Thanks for all your help.

Thanks for the help guys. My GeForce is in, so I have to send the PC off to get it installed. I will also have them to make CERTAIN that it works correctly and test and evaluate every scenerio possible. Why can I do this? Because my dad owns the company (hehe) So I will not be posting for a day or two. I will let you know what happens when I get it back. Again, thanks for all the suggestions.