Limewire is only viewable when I set my display 256 colors - WHY?

I'm running XP Pro, no firewall, dial-up - already removed old java and installed updated java from sun website. I have a 256mb DDR ATI Radeon 9800XT video card. The only way I can run Limewire and actually see the program (it's not grayed out) is to set the card to low (8 bit). Is this a problem anyone else is reporting? I searched the forum and couldn't find anything. Please help. It's a pain to switch back and forth between display settings. Thanks in advance.