Direct Draw Errors; ATI Radeon HD2900xt

I am running:

Ati Hd2900xt
core 2 duo
abit aw9d (mb)
2 gigs ram,
soundblaster x-fi fatality xtremegamer pro
500gb sata wd hdd
winxp pro sp2

The system works great, has no problems running any of the latest games at max settings, except with older games. I tried to load up good ol' starcraft, broodwar version 1.15, and got direct draw errors. It said that it could not switch into 640x480 @ 256 colors. So I Applied compatibility mode. Only Windows 2000, and 98 compatibility mode "worked" but caused the game a data file error (as if the disc wasnt in the drive). at least without compatibility mode it did at least attempt to load. I even tried using daemon tools and an image without success. I even updated my drivers to the latest verions, without success. Could It be ATI simply does not support old games such as this anymore??

any help is much appreciated.