I basically have a
p4 2.66
80GB harddrive
aopen cdw dvdw drive
512MB ram
elite mb
ultimarc VGA card
So, you have an ArcadeVGA in your machine when you're installing windows?
Probably not a good idea that would explain the top-half video issue.
I'd pick up a cheap used nvidia based video card and do your windows install with that on a PC monitor, then shut down, swap in the ArcadeVGA, connect to the arcade monitor, and boot, hitting F8 at the right time to get into safe mode so you can install the drivers.
The reason I suggest an nvidia based card is to prevent possible driver conflict trouble with ATI cards and the ArcadeVGA.