so, i finally figured it out.

apparently, before i installed SP2, windows would function correctly without the graphics driver being there. yet, something in SP2 made it so that it was held back to extreme minimums in graphical capabilities.

what i did was search windowsupdate.com for any hardware updates, and it came up with a graphics driver it said i needed. so i figured "why not?" and installed that one. it made no noticeable difference, but then i went and reinstalled SP2, and the graphics were just as they should be.

i still dont understand why windows didnt have the driver in the first place.. its jsut a generic driver... but oh well.