there is an ATI hot fix specifically for this problem:

I had the same issue with my 9800 pro. I have not tested it though. (too busy at work)

http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4291.html

sometimes I regret switching from nvidia to ATI. nvidia drivers are just more stable. IMHO.

unfortunately, im a speed addict. =D

Hi i ve also got a problem with the 9800XT , only mine isnt a crashing problem , its just Wont Get more than 70 fps in Battlefield or any other game which is the max of my Old geforce 3 , any suggestions? (i ve got catalist 3.9 and installed them correctly)

cool, so you've both managed to exchange your cards with no problems?
i pretty much figured that the retailer would tell me it was my specific comp setup that was causing the problem, and there was nothing they could do (like every other time ive taken something back). did they actually tell you what was wrong with the card or give you any info about the problem?

i get over 100fps on battlefield. what spec system do you have?

make sure you have agp 4x enabled and fast write turned on. apart from that i cant really suggest much more.

I Have had the the same problems with my 9800 pro, and now with my 9800 xt 256. I have experienced bolth the hang/freeze on boot, and the mid game ininate loops. My solution for the 9800 pro was to use an older version of the catalyst drivers set. 3.4 i believe it was. That did solve the problem for me with that card.
The new card, 9800 xt 256, is another story. I have read the forum, and see that you have all tryed the same things i have, except for one thing has not been mentioned. I will mention it, although it did not solve my problem. You might want to check you mother board manufaturer, and if you do not have a true intel base chip set on your board, try updating the agp system drivers for witch ever chip set manufacturer you do have.
I have a antec 550W power suply, And i know that the card is recieving more than enough power from it, so i have ruled that out. I also know that the card is not defective, becuase i did have it working for the first day or so that it was in my computer, but once I updated the drivers to the new 3.9 the driver set, the card began failing. Unfortunetly i was not able to roll back to the old drivers, and solve the problem.
I am going to dedicate today, and monday to getting this card working, and if i find a solution to these problems i will post them here. I do however believe this is a universal problem, and not somthing hardware specific, because i am finding that people from all walks of motherboard, and system configuration life are experiencing these two very same problems.

hmm, i still havent swapped my psu. will do it asap.

so does every1 here have an antec psu? cuz that seems like too much of a coincidence. i dont know how popular antec are in the US. but seems like they are the common denominator here.
i know my card is getting enough voltage, but maybe there is another factor affecting the card from the psu.

actually i've been having similar crashes with radeon all in wonder 9800 pro but doesnt require a game to have it happen, just sitting on the desktop and after a few minutes it will begin the VPU recovery thing, only once did it bluescreen and the problem seeme to be with the ati2dvag. I am still debating if I should just return the card or wait for drivers.

oh yeah, mine crashes randomly all the time.

my 9600 pro just crashed during battlefield to a completely blue screen (no text). which was a first for that card.
something is definately up with ati latest drivers.

cant see how its a faulty card now.

my system spec is, btw:

9800xt & 9600 pro (currently using 9600 as it crashes less)
athlon xp barton 3200 400mhz fsb
1gb kingston hyperx ddr400
a couple of serial ata 150 drives
abit KV7 motherboard
antec truepower 430w psu

just in case any1 has something similar that may be cuasing our problems.

man this is annoying.

well after a around a day of constant crashes and blue screens the only thing i was happy about is that
it was stable enough for the minute download of my old nvidia drivers/software.

hi guys,

this problem effects me aswell. here are the 12 things i've tried doing, but with little luck.

- Turned off VPU recover in the ATi control panel.
- Turned off fast write in the ATi control panel.
- Turned AGP to 4x (from 8x).
- Reduced Anti-alaising to 2x.
- Reduced the hardware acceleration down two notches.
- Reinstalled the newest ATi driver.
- Removed one side of the computer case to increase cooling. Crashing persists,
but it takes a few minutes longer
- Increased AGP Aperture size to 128 (from 64).
- Increased AGP Aperture size to 256. Returned to 128Mb and 64 with same problems.
- Installed latest motherboard & BIOS driver.
- Reformatted.
- Changed from DirectX 9.0b to 9.0 after reformatting

my specs:

Intel D875PBZLK
P4 2.8Ghz 800Mhz
4x Samsung 512Mb DDR 400Mhz PC3200
400W PSU

Possibilities:
- Overheating
- DirectX is corrupted (cannot be as I reinstalled DirectX)
- Fault in card
- Bad quality RAM (the brand is Samsung)
- generic brand of PSU
- download Powerstrip (go to downloads.com) and underclock your card

i've got an ATi Raedon 9600 Pro running at 297/398. one thing VERYY strange is this problem occured right after i updated to Catalyst 3.9. i could manage to play for hours with 3.2, but somehow, what made me upgrade is Unreal 2 had BSODs (no text). either ATi manufacturers VERY bad quality products or their drivers are not tuned well enough.

just out of curiosity, what make of psu do you have?

Have you guys tried the Omega Drivers http://www.omegacorner.com

yeah i have. they crash just as often. there is no reason why they shouldnt really. all they are is just ati offical cats with certain advanced options enabled thru the registry and other programs bundled in.

I've been running a Hercules 9800 Pro 128 without fault for about 3 months on Catalyst 3.4. When I upgraded to the ASUS 9800XT I updated the Catalyst drivers to 3.9, and then back to 3.7 (for Call of Duty compatibility). It ran well until a crash (during a not yet released DX9 game **COUGH**) in which my monitor (NEC FP2141) reported incompatible frequency and then my computer rebooted. I then removed all of my ATI screensavers and software (an option in ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS), rebooted in Standard VGA, and installed the ASUS drivers that came on CD with the card (7.93.8). Haven't had a problem since. The drivers seem quite stripped down (no VPU recover or other recent options) yet are very stable. CATALYST 3.7 to 3.9 seem very bugged. The driver regression cost me about 50 3DMarks, but oddly enough the games seem to perform better.

SYSTEM SPECS:
Shuttle SN45G XPC NForce2 (200W PSU)
Athlon XP Barton 2500+ @ 2172mhz (3000+) @ 333mhz fsb
Corsair XMS 2x512 DDR C2PT PC3200 @ 333mhz
ASUS Radeon 9800XT 256 (411core/728DDR)
Windows XP Pro

I know my PSU is weak, but all I have installed is a Plextor PX-708A DVD drive, Maxtor 160GB 8mb HD, and my Radeon. One thing I did notice on the ASUS compared to the Hercules is that the power connector is not as solidly soldered to the board.

Okay guys... here are the results.
I have tryed a flashing multiple different versions of my bois, and have had some results. I am able to boot, once, some times with the vpu failure, and sometimes with out, but have had crashes each time. A combination of bois and cat drivers have all resulted diffferntly, but none have solved the problem. I have come to the conclusion after trying the card in other computers with out failure, that there is no problem with either the card, or the source of power to the card. The problem lies withing the chip set on my motherboard, witch is a VIA P400. I have a soyo dragon motherboard, and currently the whole computer is in pieces on my desk, and i am awaiting my new gigabyte mother board, with an intel based bridge chipset. I will be recieving the board tommarow, and will update you if there is any change in performance. I do believe thought that the vai chipset, and the gart drivers are the source of the promblems people are having.

I had this same problum with my new sistem with the Asus Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB.

Antec 480wat PSU
2800MHz P4 800fsb
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Mobo
Asus 52x CD Rom
Plextor 8x DVD Burner
Plextor 16x DVD Rom
2x WD 120gig Sata HD's
2Gig's Kingston Ram

This sistem works great with my Geforce3 but soon as I put in the Asus Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB it would Crash/Freeze shortly after going into a game or benchmark. I gave up and sent it back long time ago.

My Asus 9800XT has worked great since I started using the ASUS drivers. You can get them here:

http://www.asus.com/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=Radeo...0%20Series

Good Luck!

Pete, what kind of problems did you have before installing the Asus drivers? Did you experience the voltage problem in SmartDoctor?

Yes. SmartDoctor would shell me out of my game and report a voltage issue. However, the message lasted so briefly I never saw the full message, only that it was voltage related. I could not find any log files either (GREAT THINKING ASUS !). These problems occurred with Catalyst 3.7 and 3.9. I've had absolutely no problems since I installed the bundled ASUS drivers.

The driver I'm running is v 7.8 (on the CD), the driver at the site is 7.95. I'd rather not upgrade until I experience problems. I have to say, I had absolutely no problems with my Guillemot Hercules 9800 Pro and the reference Catalyst drivers. I wonder if the problems we are experiencing are 9800XT related (being a newer card) or ASUS related. I really like the features and software bundle of the ASUS, and would hate to have to exchange it for a boring reference ATI card.

Okay, i got a new motherboard, and it's an intel based board. I am able to boot the computer now, but i am having the same old problems every one else is having. ATI customer support claims they have heard nothing of these problems... This is getting rediculous!

I installed the Asus drivers from the CD, but on my CD there was the 7.93 drivers I just realized. Running SmartDoctor presents the same stupid "voltage issue" error message. They really need to get rid of this bug very soon. Did anyone notice they took the SmartDoctor 3.10 version off the Asus website? That must mean something, lets hope for the good.