It may be of interest to those who haven't seen the latest from MS. I got the following from another forum I belong to, and it may provide a few incompatibility answers:
DirectX fix for AMD-based PCs
by Wendy Brewer
Patch if you crash, says Microsoft
Thursday, 18 July 2002



Computers with an AMD processor running Microsoft's DirectX 8.1 software may shut down without warning, according to the software giant.
An error in the AMD-specific optimised code causes the DrawIndexedPrimitive function, which enhances the PC's multimedia capabilities, to stop working without displaying an error message to circumvent a system crash.

Microsoft has issued a patch on its website for PCs experiencing this difficulty.

But as the fix has been put together quickly it may need extra testing. Microsoft has therefore recommended that only those who have suffered this problem apply the patch at this time.

I use an AMD but, touch wood, I haven't had any probs yet (sod's law I'll probably crash in a minute).