# radeon 9600XT freezes in games



## cute_fluff (Aug 4, 2004)

*hello to all*

my problem:
while i play certein games my computer freezes and all i can do is reset :sad: 
my latest dissaointment was with doom3, i play the game and the computer stucks.... it happens also in true crime: streets of la, star wars: kotor and other 3d games. 


my hardware:
intel p-4 3000 HT
512mb ram
radeon 9600xt 256mb
msi neo motherboard (1gb)
3 hd's and 3 dvd/cd burners

my software
windows xp sp1+all updates
latest ati driver for radeon family
and all the other crap is in place :smile: 

well, what can i do ? will i suffer from game freeze all my life ? or salvation will arive ?

"Cuz good things happen twice..."

Cute Fluff


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## paulinocicero (Aug 22, 2004)

let me just ask you something
how fast dows the game plays in your computer ???


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## Dinero (Aug 28, 2004)

The same exact thing is happining to me. But I have a RADEON 9600 128MB.

And not only do ALL of the games I try to play freeze up, but after I install my ATI drivers, my desktop becomes pixilated in certain areas, sometimes to a point that I can't read anything. I've done everything I can.

I've contacted ATI and they're a bunch of dicks that don't solve anything. I've gone to anyone that could help and there are no source I can find that can solve my problem. It's really startin to piss me off.


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## elf (Jul 19, 2002)

download and install Mother Board Monitor 5 never personally used but i've never heard bad things.

Before it crashes, look and see what your cpu temp is running at...perhaps it's overheating. 

Also go into bios and check and see if you have your overheating warning on...so it knows to make sure your cpu and system don't overheat (if it does it'll beep at you and restart)


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## paulinocicero (Aug 22, 2004)

cute_fluff and Dinero, what's the wattage and the brand of your PSU ???


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## DyeLon (Aug 22, 2004)

*Yupyup*

hey guys I have a ATI Radeon 9600XT 256mb DDR and I as well am having the crashing erros during games. Ditto on the comment about ATI tech, they're smart but so many people call up about this problem and they haven't found a fool-proof way to fix it?? God, well i just thought I'd let you know you guys got another partner in this.


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## DrewUK (Aug 27, 2004)

Dinero said:


> The same exact thing is happining to me. But I have a RADEON 9600 128MB.


Me too *sighs* I knew I should have stuck with Nvidia stuff.


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## paulinocicero (Aug 22, 2004)

i'm havong the exact same thing as you, but with diferent specs


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## shekar (Aug 30, 2004)

Download the latest catalyst drivers :bgrin:


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## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

I am also having problems with my 9600 pro 256mb, freezing or just not wanting to play games ( 3D ), im about to kick mine down the street
BTW,
I did find it interesting that I was told that there is a problem with radeon cards and directx 9 and was told to install directx 9c, I am not sure yet if 9c installation over rides the problem in DX9 but it may help. Apparently there is one DLL file that is not happy with duel channel mem


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## Holobyte (Sep 16, 2004)

*please help*

Spec: Asus p4p-800 deluxe, 9600 pro 128, 1024 ddr ram. Regular Motherboard temperature- around 37c, and CPU temperature around 32c... 

See, I have the same problem. i will just start from here... I play many 3D games like: Mafia, Doom3, Battlefield Veitnam, RavenShield (rainbowsix), Warhammer Dawn of War DEMO, Pristonetale (3d roleplaying game).... and more here and there...

From the games i listed above, Mafia, Battlefield, and warhammer are the games that would freeze up one me. ODDLY, doom3 doesnt freeze up on me even though it has eye candy graphics??? hmmm?????

I use to play just fine and no worries, then all of the sudden, after playing for around an hour, the games would freeze up and i cant do NOTHING, just restart. When it freezes, the sounds of the game would just make quick short screeching sounds of what ever the sound, from the game, was at the time right before it would freeze up, got me??? So, i dont understand why it would suddenly just do this to me/us. 
the card gets a little more than warm but thats normal isnt?

well, please reply and give us info... thank you.


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## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

Hi all,
I have managed to get my 9600 pro 256mb card working with all the games that it was freezing up on, took me about 2 weeks of stuffing around though, I reformatted my drive and put a fresh XP install in and then down loaded the new 4.9 catalist from ATI ( the 45mb one ) and installed that without even touching the disk I got with my card. Then installed SP1 after I had all my drivers in. I also down loaded 3D Mark and used that as a gauge. Then went and set step by step all the settings in the catalist control panel ( one at a time , and only one notch back at a time ) back towards performance and away from quality, each time I moved a setting I run 3D mard and found that my score was rising, I found the point that my my score dropped and set it back to were the highest score was achieved ( which is easy as I only changed one thing then retested ).
so far so good, 
I also went and checked all the games I was running and found any patches and down loaded them as well as one game had a patch to fix issues with 256mb video cards, 
I also went with the DirectX 9c straight from the 8 something and did this before the SP1 as I was told that Directx 9 had some issues with duel channel memorya nd since you can not uninstall directx I never went near Directx9 or 9a.
Hope this helps ( well it worked for me )


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## jimi_81 (Sep 18, 2004)

*ati 9600xt freeze problem*

I have the same problem
I have formatted twice, because originally I thought it was a DirectX problem.

I finally got mad and decided to uninstall Catalyst 4.9, and put 4.7 on.
You can download older drivers, there is a link on ATI's site just in case you didn't know.

I havent tested it out as much as Id like..ive been tied up with other things..
I played a Call of Duty today for 20 minutes and it never failed once. Before the driver uninstall it would jam after 5 minutes. All I could do was restart. All of the games mentionned, I have, and same thing. freeze, restart, pull out more hair..repeat.

try it out
and i check back in a few to see if im right.

dan :neutral: 


Specs:
P4 3.2 GHz
P4C800-DX
1 GB ram
Windows XP SP2


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## Rhade (Sep 23, 2004)

*same problem *

hey all 
im in the same boat but specs first

p4 2.6
p4c800 dlx
2x512 ddr (dualchannel)
Sapphire 9600xt 256 (latest omega drivers)
directx9c

ive been running this fine but after a few weeks of stuffing around with my hdd's i realised i hadnt installed the chipset drivers on the motherboard so i installed the ones that came on the original cd and now all games freeze after a few minutes 

now this makes no sense to me at all, u would think i would have more problems without the chipset drivers installed, i even tried the newer version of chipset and still problems 
So the logical thing to do is go back to before i installed the chipset drivers which isnt a problem to do but it is curious dont u think 

i get twice as high a score in 3dmark with the chipset installed which is logical but more performace at the cost of freezing every few minutes is too high a price

anyway just thought id add my 2 cents and anyone else out there with the same problem try not installing chipset, it cant hurt, but obviously we are all hoping for some kind of real fix


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## dadarkman (Sep 23, 2004)

you have to disable vpu-recover
than you have to disable fast-write agp
and if than not work change agp 8x to agp 4x...( the difference aint that big)

it workt for me very good


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## Dominator2_04 (Sep 19, 2004)

*Videocard freeze ups*

Are you running you card overclocked?? If yes set back to default core and memory speeds. If not download the ATI driver remover and remove the drivers you have now. Download the latest drivers Catalyst 4.9 and Control Panel 4.9 and install the drivers. Make sure your running DirectX 9.0b, If not download and install 9.0b DirectX. More than likely the Doom3 game has DirectX on the CD and will automatically ask you to update if yours are not up to specs. If you have all your settings cranked to max back off and see what happens. If you have your mobo overclocked go back to stock. If nothing seems to work that I suggested then take off your case side panel and using a small table fan direct air flow at the card while playing the game and see what happens. Some of these cards run extremely hot and some will run 10-15 degrees difference between the same card. My Radeon 9800 pro 128 ran at 50-55 degress centigrade on the back of the card measuring right behind the core. My P4 2.6 overclocked to 2.86 only runs 32 degress celsius with standard cooling. Let me know if anything changes. Lot's of luck !


dominator2_04


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## triten82 (Sep 28, 2004)

*9600xt 128 problems*

I had the same problem that you guys are having. I just got a computer and it only has homeworld 2 and doom 3 on it. My problem with it freazing was that my graphics card was set to run as an pci when my vid card is an agp. I could play my HomeWorld 2 for as long as I wanted but DoomIII would freez when I looked at any one. It would bring up a error message that the videocard was nolonger responding. I dont remember where I found it but when I get home I will look for it and post where I made the change. If anyone else can help tel where this setting is I would apriciat it. Note that this is just a possibility not a 100% solution. I did not even have to update my drivers and I set it to ultra high graphics in the ingame options and it looks awsom, I hope this helps some of you.


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## triten82 (Sep 28, 2004)

*possible solution*

here is wehre you go to checkif yours is set to psi or agp. So, go to c documents, program files, ati technologys, then ati control panel, then go to smart gart. Reply and let me know if it worked or didnt for any one.


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## aNOmALy (Sep 28, 2004)

*Friend Has SAME Problem*

My one indian friend has a very similar problem with his PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro, 256 MB card. After playing UT2004 for about a hour, hour and a half, his machine starts to frame really badly and then eventually locks-up. Now I work at a computer shop, and he brought in his PC because of his card and we tested it. We could find nothing wrong with it, and even after adjusting basically everything possible, it still did not want to work. We did not try to install directX 9c, as I only found out today on the forum that it is a possible solution. My best bet would then be to install the latest catalyst drivers, and to install directX 9c.


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## BrooklynStarr (Sep 6, 2004)

*ATI 9600 XT (ready for the dumpster)*

Hey all,


Reading through this particular thread, it's hard to come to a conclusion as to what works for who. But the plain and simple of the matter is this: Something is up with the 9600 and 9800 XT's. There's a good deal of problematic ones out there.

I had a previous post about my problem and this is what I tried: I purchased a thermaltake Giant III heatsink+fan kit for the card and tacked it on. Now if you've seen this thing you know it does a damn good job in keeping the card nice and cool. I didn't reattach the thermal sensor because it was a pain in the butt to put the Giant III together just to take it apart again.

I tested the card w/Doom 3, which would become artifact city after roughly 10 minutes of play. Well, I'm still in artifact city. Nothing at all has changed other than the fact that my card is running 10 degrees cooler than it was before. Woopty doo. 

Conclusion: It's not a heat issue. I will be flushing $150 down the toilet soon if there's no resolution.


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## cibula (Oct 2, 2004)

i have radeon 9600xt ultra from powercolor, and i had some issues with the gfx card too...after hours of trying everything, i remembered i saw one review, where they said, that 9600series cards may have problems with some types of motherboards, when agp x8 is enabled...so i disabled it, and everything is ok now...it may help you too...and by the way...i cant overclock my core at all...i dont know why is that...i downloaded drivers omega, wit unlocked overclocking protection, but it doesnt help...its strange, because i cant even overclock it to 527mhz, but overdrive can...i can overclock my memory very nicely tho...highest stable speed for memory is 826MHz, which is nice jump from 674MHz. i hope someone can help me. please, best would be if you can write me an email to [email protected] THANX


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## dadarkman (Sep 23, 2004)

"cibula
i have radeon 9600xt ultra from powercolor, and i had some issues with the gfx card too...after hours of trying everything, i remembered i saw one review, where they said, that 9600series cards may have problems with some types of motherboards, when agp x8 is enabled...so i disabled it" 


I did already told you that:
"you have to disable vpu-recover
than you have to disable fast-write agp
and if than not work change agp 8x to agp 4x...( the difference aint that big)

it workt for me very good"


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## cibula (Oct 2, 2004)

are these steps for successful overclocking or just to make the card working? because as you can see, i got the card working...only problem i have now is, that i cant overclock the core AT ALL...not a single megahertz. it really makes me mad...i dont know what else should i try to get the core overclocked, so, if you know, please help.and by the way, how much could you overclock your card?


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## dadarkman (Sep 23, 2004)

i dont know anything about overclocking...but have you tried the programm: radeontweaker


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## compglow_v2 (Oct 9, 2004)

*same problems *

Hey guys..you have yet another partner in the fight against the card..
specs: 
ASUS mobo A7N8X-X
ATI Radeon 9600xt w/ 128ddr mem
o/s professional

anyway i play counterstrike...battlefiled 1942..and certain older half life games.. well in opposing force the game freezes like 2 min in..just freezes no sound..no nuthin no lines just the game where it froze...the only thing i can do is restart...in battlefeild..the game either freezes (same as Oppostig force) or it just exits right back to windows with no error mesage...same thing with counter strike it just exits out back to windows....i know this card works because i know people with ASUS mobo's and radeon cars...there must be a way to fix it..(wihtout rebuliding the whole comp  lol) soo let's work hard on this and get an answer lol


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## dadarkman (Sep 23, 2004)

did you ever think about reading a topic before posting? :twisted: the solution is already there :bgrin: ( for the most of us  )


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## compglow_v2 (Oct 9, 2004)

yea i read the topic..  ... i also hear that u say the same thing every time..and for most people that didn't work..(including me)..i also know most people haven't solve their problems ..


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## kaboom (Oct 13, 2004)

*same*

hey guys, 
I had the same problem too with my 9600 pro. I used all the drivers starting from catalyst 4.7+ to 4.10 beta, and my games would still hang up ( Return to castle wolfenstein, doom 3 , tribes vengeance demo ) . How i got around it was by using omega drivers. I got no clue wat they have to do with my 9600 card for not hanging up anymore but they dont hang up or freeze my computer ne more. You guys might wanna give it a try, might work. URL is www.omegadrivers.net , same drivers as catalyst but they're tampered for better stability in most games.


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## lucb10 (Oct 16, 2004)

guess what?
i have the exact same probleme exept there is no clicking noise or the noise doent bug it just stops completely
i aight a rich dude so i just bought a geforce fx 126 mb
well i actualy had this with my old card too so one thig its that the probleme isnt the card and my pc is at 40 to 48celcius so i think its not the heat eighter. i reformated my pc like 5 time
help plz!!!!!!!!!!!


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## WarFlail (Oct 27, 2004)

This is an age-old problem that is not limited to ATI graphics cards, or specific motherboards, or any other hardware you care to mention. The problem has a name: Infinite Loop (aka Thread Stuck in Device Driver).

There was a good article written two or three years ago that tries to give solutions for the loop error: *Staying out of the Loop*

I've been experiencing this problem in 3D games (only) with my Radeon 9700 Pro for two whole years now. Until recently I thought I had found the joy of stability by disabling AGP fast write on Catalyst 4.9, but then I made the foolish mistake of installing 3DMark05 and my system went down the drain - constant instability again in 3D games even with System Restore. I've tried every Catalyst from 3.0 to 4.10 and right now I can't play Doom3 for more than a few minutes before the game hangs... ditto with Dawn of War... :upset: 

My specs:
P4 3.06 HT
E7205 (Granite Bay) m/b
Radeon 9700 Pro
2Gb Dual Channel DDR
WinXP SP2, DirectX 9c

-=W=-


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## zirqua (Nov 1, 2004)

I had the same problem as everyone else and I tried to :
disable vpu-recover, disable fast-write agp and changed agp 8x to agp 4x. Now it seems to be working for me( I have not tried for to long though).

It is strange that you have to do this but if it makes the trick I am happy. :laugh:


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## WarFlail (Oct 27, 2004)

FWIW, I have written and posted a short article on a few solutions that might overcome the infinite loop error: Getting Stability Out of Your Radeon 9700 Pro (PDF, 254Kb).

Although it's referring to a Radeon 9700 Pro (which is what I'm using), it can apply to any Radeon card.

If there are any other solutions I haven't mentioned, please let me know and I'll update the article.


-=W=-


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## jtrack (Oct 30, 2004)

Well, after being down for over a 1 1/2 months, endless web searching, reloads and component reconfiguring, I'm back up and running. My fix, change system devices from CPU to AGP controller, to PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge. This seems to have eliminated my problems.

I can now play all my 3d and open GL games again and they look great. I loaded Cat driver 4.8 because 4.10 seems to have a bug in it. In the control panel, I no longer have AGP selection though, go figure. 

I have Win XP, SP2 loaded, Current Bios, Current 4in1drivers, had current ATI drivers, DirectX 9c. Tried all the stuff, decreasing to 4X, fast writes off, IRQ conflicts, (using onboard sound, no probs here), PSU checking, etc... 

Question, Why is this workarround working and I wonder with all the problems everyone is having with this, is anyone trying to fix the problem, ie...ATI or Microsoft?


Asus A7V600-X
AMD 2800 Barton
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128
1 Gb Ram
80 Gb, SATA Seagate HD
400w PSU
2 case fans


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## hossfield (Nov 2, 2004)

Dinero said:


> I've contacted ATI and they're a bunch of dicks that don't solve anything. I've gone to anyone that could help and there are no source I can find that can solve my problem. It's really startin to piss me off.



i know what u mean im having similar problems with my 9800 pro and i contacted them, all they gave me was some bs link to a buncha their crappy faqs which dont answer any of these problems that everyone seems to be having


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## Sequ3L (Nov 3, 2004)

jtrack said:


> Well, after being down for over a 1 1/2 months, endless web searching, reloads and component reconfiguring, I'm back up and running. My fix, change system devices from CPU to AGP controller, to PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge. This seems to have eliminated my problems.


How do I do that?


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## jtrack (Oct 30, 2004)

Right click My Computer
Properties 
Hardware (tab)
Device Manager (button)
Click (+) next to System Devices
Right Click CPU to AGP Controller
Select Update Driver
Select (not at this time) then (next)
Select (Install form a specific location {Advanced}) (next)
Select (PCI-to-PCI bridge) (next)
Select (Finish)
Reboot

Granted, this is a work arround to get you up and running again, not a fix.

I would like to know from all the Guru's out there, why this works and does this help with isolating the real problem? Is it Hardware or Software? Why after 1 1/2 years, is this problem still cropping up with video these cards? Are we talking about Hardware or Software compatibilty problems here?

I Should give some History here. Back in March 2004, I built this system. 

Asus A7V600
AMD 2800 Barton
ATI Radeon 9200SE
1 Gb Ram
80 Gb, SATA Seagate HD
400w PSU
2 case fans

Loaded Win XP Pro with SP1 and updates, all drivers (4-in-1 and ATI), Flashed the Bios, all was well {drivers of this time}. Somewhere around June purchased my 9700 Pro, loaded its current drivers {of this time}, all is well. July, updated to SP2, all is well. Sept, MoBo SATA controller goes bad. Replace MoBo with ASUS A7V600-X, Flash Bios, Load 4in1 and ATI drivers current for Sept. 

People what has change since June. My Mobo, XP updates and driver releases, whats sup?

Since this time, mid Sept, I to have had these Loopback errors, after tring everything from this and many other sites to include ASUS, VIA, ATI, even video card replacement (9600 Pro). I did not replace PSU, just cant see it, worked before, working fine now. This is the only fix to get rid of my PROBLEM.

GL with yours.

I'm still looking for anwers to my question?


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## EAD (Nov 3, 2004)

*There May Be No Solution!*

I've actually didn't use the Intel's Patch yet for the Chipset but
I've consulted and test my Radeon 9600 Pro and XT on Several Computers and the Answer that I got From a Few Certified :sayyes: Pc Enginners
who claim there's a problem With the intel's Chipset 865 and 875
And it probably is regarding to the Power Supply To the Card - which isn't 
getting enough on AGP X 8...

so there's maybe no Solution To the problem To the Intel's Chipset Lovers
among us...(On a SiS and Nforce2 and VIA chips it works good!)
sorry fellowes.

P.s - The problem Exist on the Pro and XT version alike


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## Sequ3L (Nov 3, 2004)

*Intel 865 Chipset Family Latest Drivers*

If anyone is still experiencing problems and has the Intel 865 Chipset Family, download the latest INF driver for USB/AGP *here* 

Title: INF Update Utility
File: [INFINST.EXE]
Size: 1530KB
Version: 6.2.1.1001
Dated: 7/26/2004

I have installed this driver and everything is running perfectly normal again. I put my card back to AGP X8 and turned Fast Writes back on with no problems at all. My card is overclocked and pumping the pixels.. WHOOHOOOO! :laugh:


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## Sequ3L (Nov 3, 2004)

**

Well.. It was working great for about 30 minutes in Doom III, then *biff* freeze city..  Oh well.. Back to AGP X4 with Fast Write disabled.. :sigh:


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## [email protected] (Nov 4, 2004)

*Same problems =(*

like i said.. all the same problems =( however.. i cannot find how to turn off fast drive or switch from 8x to 4x ... i Cannot find it, i'm not all that tech savy, just know the basics, can someone give me a step by step to reach it? (someone else listed the steps, but i don't seem to have ati control panel!, though it does appear i have most else =/) PLEASE HELP!


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## gutch93 (Nov 9, 2004)

*9600XT locks up all games*

Here is my story...

AthlonXP 2500+ Barton
ASUS A7V600 board
512MB RAM
ATI 9600XT card

Bought a new computer, put it together, and for 3 weeks all my games ran fine. Then one night the games started locking up my system, usually within 20 minutes. Hard reset is the only way to recover. 

THE ONLY FIX IS TO DOWNGRADE AGP SPEED TO 4X.

Things I've tried...
Re-installed many versions of Catlyst drivers, re-installed DirectX, .NET framework, Windows2k, WindowsXP, Service Packs, disabled Fast-Write, disabled VPU Recover.

Question is: why did it work for the first 3 weeks? It must have been some software that I installed, or a new driver or something... or does this go back to ASUS and the VIA AGP driver?

Hopefully someone can come up with the answer soon.


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## Aly (Oct 17, 2004)

Mostly,yours problems are, that your cards are overheating! Try buy better cooler,or keep your PC cases opened,that's should help. If it doesn't hrlp try to lower your core ,and memory bus speed for some 25 mhz.(that may do in ATI drivers somewhere .GL


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## kerospu (Nov 10, 2004)

*Blue Frozen Screen on ASUS 9600XT (Direct Draw Problem)*

Hi guys..

I have Win XP SP2 loaded on a AMD 2500+ 1GB RAM and unfortunately ASUS 9600 XT and ASUS computer and I have been fighting with my grapfic card since the day I bought it. 

Firstly. With the excitement of buying new GFX card I came home, installed and gave me the first error msg.. Anyways I tried every driver I came accross from the ati site and from asus site and failed .. after the couple of deep searches I figured out that the problem was not from my newly bought genius hand touched GFX card but it was from my motherboard's old bios. And I installed new bios, Windows found some bridges which was already there(!) and my card started to work fine.. I invited my friends home and shared nice moments infront of the idiot box and one day...... KPAOOWWW ..
I came home and wanted the play Winning Elevan 7 after a couple of minutes my gfx card said to me: Hey Im still here and bored!! You have to spend more time with me.. and showed me Blue fu..ing screen.. I said ok calm down but she is still not calm. 

Anyways Im using DirectX 9c Redist. and from the DX Diagonistics panel I tested my card and failed when doing the Direct Draw test and showed me again the same Blue Frozen Screen. I downloaded the new drivers and installed but nothing is working. I thing my card is so mad. 

Anyone having the same problem, I really need urgent help.


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## -=carlos=- (Nov 12, 2004)

Woah do I ever have one looooong moan to make about the 9600 series cards for my first post here!!! :laugh: 

I bought a 9600 Pro last December and have had nigh on a year of messing with it to try and get the stupid thing to stabilise but have had only one glimmer of luck shone my way but I'll get to that later!

Started with: Athlon 1.67GHz on a K7S5A mobo at 4xAGP with 512Mb PC2700 DDR unknown make and a chipset heatsink mod. Plenty of case cooling a 4" front fan and a 2" exhaust fan along with outlet vents and XP Pro w SP1...oh and a 350W PSU.

Tried everything from DirectX versions back to 8.1 and virtually every Catalyst from 3.3 ish to 4.10. Disabling fast writes, Omega drivers, lowering graphics settings, updating AGP drivers, updating chipset drivers, BIOS flashing, extra cooling and messing with VPU recover. None of it worked in completely getting rid of the problem.

Infact, to say disable VPU recover is probably the worst thing you can do as without it, your system will hard lock forcing a potentially HDD damaging reset rather than a software recovery of which you can exit and reboot manually...imo, I'd never turn it off if you're getting locks. I've tried it and it still locked for me either way.

On to now, my new very capable system is (P4 Prescott 3GHz 800MHz FSB,
512MB Kingmax Ram 400MHz DDR, Asus P4P800-E, Radeon 9600 Pro, Catalyst 4.6 + DirectX 9.0c, Win XP Pro SP1) with the same case as above and *no* overclocking. I however still get locks on virtually every game I've owned in the past year: Neverwinter Nights, Operation Flashpoint, Joint Operations and Colin McRae Rally 04. ALL these games have locked on me in the same way, no time specific and no instance specific e.g. NWN is not as intensive as say a fast circuit in Colin but standing still sometimes as well as battle will crash so it's not even as if work load is to blame!

OK, want to know how I solved it after all this? I went back on my old system to Win me for a month and didn't encounter a single game crash in 30 days...not one single lock up. The problem isn't with drivers or hardware, it's poxy XP that does it! 

So, we're stuck as to what to do. Replace our hardware and go for the seemingly much more reliable 9700 or 9800 series, switch to Nvidia :dead: or go to another OS. The choice seems to be yours but isn't one I can easily swallow either way and feel aggreived that I *have* to do so!


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## norbet (Nov 19, 2004)

kaboom said:


> hey guys,
> I had the same problem too with my 9600 pro. I used all the drivers starting from catalyst 4.7+ to 4.10 beta, and my games would still hang up ( Return to castle wolfenstein, doom 3 , tribes vengeance demo ) . How i got around it was by using omega drivers. I got no clue wat they have to do with my 9600 card for not hanging up anymore but they dont hang up or freeze my computer ne more. You guys might wanna give it a try, might work. URL is www.omegadrivers.net , same drivers as catalyst but they're tampered for better stability in most games.


The omega drivers worked!!!!!!
I was having the same problems,(I've a radeon 9600 256mb)
Not only did they sort out the freezing on half life 2 and doom and halo, but theyve made significant improvements to the performance, I can now play halo with all the graphics settings on high and it works beutifully. :grin:


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## Doctorcd (Nov 20, 2004)

*9600 XT Freezing*

Dudes, hello.

Its pleasant and unpleasant at the same time to find so many people sharing my woes. 

IMHO, I reckon its a driver issue. Why I have this theory is because the freezing that happens happens only on newer games, like Tiger Woods PGA 2005, Doom 3, and Far Cry. 

Older games like Tiger Woods PGA 2004, Decent 3, Quake 3 and Forsaken work fine, endlessly. So what gives ?

If older 3D games work fine, then I cannot see that its a heat problem.

I cannot see that its an XP problem either, since I reckon its up to driver developers to ensure that their drivers are XP compatible.

I've tried all Catalyst Drivers to no avail, and running Dirext X9(c) as well, all XP Service Packs up to date.

I know its the card and not some other part of my system, since I've thrown in an Nvidia 5700 to replace the card and found that to work with no problems.

So is there a new 3D function that the newer games are calling that is being rejected by the 9600 XT ?

One final thing, when the system freezes, it kills EVERYTHING, ie all programs running in the background (as evidenced by the ceasing of all HDD activity) and the fact that only a hard reset can get the system back. I this what others have experienced ?


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## -=carlos=- (Nov 12, 2004)

Update on my somewhat lengthy post above...

I refused to use windows millenium edition on what is one of the fastest systems I see in many forum sigs!! I tried XP with SP2 and Win 2000 before finding that if I use my cd original and old drivers, it now runs flawlessly on win 2000 SP4!!

I turned the AGP speed down as matter of habit, and also disabled fast writes and have not had a single game crash in a week now. Never did I ever think that this problem would be solved but would you believe it, *using older card drivers solved it*!! Using newer catalyst versions was actually worse!

Maybe anyone else could try downloading the card manufacturer drivers rather than relying on ATI and their Catalyst suite? The manufacturer is going to know more about what they did in messing from the original stock design than ATI do!!


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## Bleeding Awful (Nov 26, 2004)

*A word of warning*

I got a little hacked off with this problem so, what the hell its Christmas and went and spent £240 on a new 6800GT (not buying ATI I thought). New 560w PSU to go with it. Had them installed today and you never guess. I still have lock ups. yes £320 straight down the tube. :laugh: No improvement what so ever. How I laughed! 

My conclusion: This issue has got to be software based like the earlier posted article getting out the loop stated. 

It looks like a re-build will not fix the issue, what to do next.

Has anyone gone back in time to XP SP1 only?


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## rdhut (Nov 27, 2004)

*9600 problems*

I had prob. with my 9600xt after i put a new motherboard in. I think the prob. is in the via drivers or the smartgart. found that if i set the motherboard at 8x and the smartgart at 4x my system became very stable. also there was no performance drop at all,so maybe this will work for some of you guys. good luck


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