a problem with the Radeon Express 200M graphics card installed on this laptop.
On my other "working" desktop pc (a Hewlett Packard with a P4 & Updated 82845G->82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Intel Graphics chipset) everything is working fine.
It is my understanding the a lot of people who had the 82845G chipset were
experiencing problems with Freelancer. The Video Chipset update addressed
this issue. (Video BIOS Version 2897)