Just wanted to add my two cents, as if to create a record, if nothing else. I'm having exactly the same problem as everyone here has described although it looks like i'm using about half the machine as everyone else. I get the "infinite loop" message as I'm checking email or using the word processor. I never even play games and yet this thing has my computer out of order more often than not. It's a Dell dimensions 8400 with a meager 128 mb pci express x16 ATI Radeon X800 SE. I've reinstalled the driver--the one dated 11/04 and that seemed to work for a while but not for long. Unfortunately, everything written above my post looks like a foreign language to me so I'll keep checking back, hoping for a simple explanation and remedy. Thanks.

Is everyone having this problem having it with an AMD Motherboard/chipset/processor?
I just want to know.
Gerritt
Everyone knows what they know, and everyone else knows we're wrong.

Only as many that are having it with Intel processors and chipets really...the problem is the ATI card and its drivers not the rest of the system:

forum thread - 9600 pro problems, hang, freeze - 1825 posts -> and thats just for the 9600 pro

cards from ati always had problems like this during the 9600 and 9800 rush

I finally fixed my ati problem!!
I removed my sound card and I have not had a crash yet.. I have been playing for about 3 hours (Star Wars KOTOR2 ) and all is well...
Good luck everyone, and I hope that you solve this problem!...

TRY REMOVING YOUR SOUND CARD!!

tx
Matt

why should that make a diff? my mobo has an onboard sound card ?

I had a Creative PCI sound card..
I took that out and am using the onboard sound card...
sounds not as good, but at least I can play!

You guys are missing the 'long' version reply from ATI outlining what is happening in this loop error ,( I posted earlier).
I regret to inform you that the latest drivers are not a fix.
3 hours of stability does not interest me..........3 weeks would.
This is ATI's driver 100% , I think they don't know how to fix it .

Hey ALL... Needless to say I'm in the same SINKING boat and of course there is no lay persons means of fixing the problem. Heck, the ATI gurus have no answers to the matter. All I really knows is that this REALLY bites!!!!

I have an HP notebook with Intel processor running on Windows XP SP2 with the ATI Mobility Radeon 7500C. However, this has been a problems for two years. I've tried all the suggestions I could understand with no success...unistall, reinstall, go to this or that website...etc.

Hopefully, by some miracle, ATI will develope successful drivers that will fix these pain-in-the-behind and time consuming errors and meltdowns.

Thanks and good luck!!!!!!!!!!

i have the same problem, bla bla bla infinite loop bla bla... and i have news ! today ATI website is down.... does anyone REALLY KNOW how to fix it? i kno how to keep the blue screen away..but i dont like the result..by disabling the ATI in Device Manager, it would slow down the graphic. GRRRR....can someone PLEASE tell ATI TECHNOLOGIES to fix this problem!

Well I hope this will help you! I solve the problem! Look here!!! http://www.xcompcs.com/
;) Good Luck!

From jury-rigging my chipset drivers to exorcising nefarious Symantec code, I can state with confidence that no avenue of silliness has been left uncharted. No doubt tech support guys in darkest Africa are at this very moment suggesting helpfully that perplexed customers craft Nvidia dolls of mud and straw, piercing them systematically to drive malevolent spectres from the hardware.

Not that I'm unwilling to try. Having kicked my window unit to "frigid" and sidelined my PCI adapters, I'd probably sacrifice the cat before enduring another driver install. What caused this problem and its eventual solution are no longer relevant: appeasing the machine has become my singular purpose. Office Paperclip, I hardly knew ye.

To communicate the breadth of my displeasure with the current yawn between my Radeon's performance and proffered corrective action--officially and otherwise--would be, by itself, sufficient to void the warranty. That an amalgam of lesser demons encompassing each chipset manufacturer, two XP Service Packs, and every software author of repute has conspired to make what is apparently a nontrivial quantity of these products totally ******* unworkable is beyond my meager faculty of conception.

A boundary has been crossed when the service rep tells you to keep toggling BIOS settings and switching out hardware until you find some permutation that works. I discovered this catastrophe long before XPSP2. It's been around plenty long enough for ATI to have "gathered information" regarding exactly under which conditions "any motherboard" is liable to throw up on its owner. It seems the coupling of "any ATI display card" with a given setup, much less all of them, is something you'd be interested in nailing down before tackling, say, a new bus architecture.

When I got my 9500, it didn't work. I learned to hate ati2dvag then. Many moons later, I tried again on a lark, with Omega drivers (v.Doom3hotfix). Everything installed smooth as glass, with nary a single bluescreen since. Yesterday I made the mistake of updating those drivers. Now I can't get a clean install with Cats or Omegas running to save my life.

So I know the card works--with my existing hardware and BIOS setup; what escapes me is why everything that's supposed to fix it (inf's, .net, de-installation, re-installation, services.msc, smartgart, regclean, driver cleaner, system32, voltage, temperature, feng shui) doesn't, why ATI is not forthcoming with this advice, and how such a flagrant compatibility nightmare has survived several generations of video hardware.

möbius

hey that was great. anyone thought of buying a new card, which just works fine? (pref after throwing this one in the garbage ... after juping on it in hobnailed boots.....?)

Good news.

I'm back in business.

Flashing my mobo BIOS was the critical step. I was using the current Omega build at the time.

The reflash got driver installations to take without bluescreening--although Device Manager showed the adapters as properly installed, XP still drew everything in software (laggy desktop, Quake2 brought my core temp up 10C, dxdiag refuses D3D test). Still, this beats a choking desktop at 640x480 and working in safe mode (which I had found slightly preferable to the ten-count and bluescreen I was getting with ATI's drivers).

One uninstall / cleanup later, I'm using current Cats with no control panel (standalone download from their dial-up section). My games work, 3DMark works. The case is notably cooler. Maybe it's the Stockholm Syndrome talking, but my gut says these are the best framerates I've ever had.


Abit TH7-II RAID (i850)
P4 2.53
Radeon 9500 Pro

Hey, I've had the same problem for a while and posted it here - My specification should in my sig.

I have the v1.3 BIOS for my Motherboard - would downloading it and flashing really work?


I've tried so many other things, this could be my only hope - I've never done it before and I'm worried I could really mess things up, can someone give me some help?

I give up.

I have tried everything listed - I've changed everything!!

I'm getting nothing, many people have said this is VIAs problem - ATi have at least addressed the problem and are working for a solution, if VIA are too goddamned stubborn then f**k them! I'm buying a new motherboard this week. VIA can go stuff themselves, I've spent 6 months on this problem without a peep from them!

What sort of service is that?!
I upgrade my entire machine to their monetary benefit and they don't have the f**king decency to supply me with :

A) A working product
B) ANY support!
C) Workaround solutions

IF however I buy a new, non-VIA chipset motherboard and I get the same problems I'll eat my hat - Hell I'll eat my entire warddrobe. I implore everyone to sell up their VIA Motherboards and take what little scraps of cash they make and put it towards anything else - BOYCOTT VIA. It makes perfect sense!

I was in the same boat as others who couldn't afford a new motherboard, I still can't - I'd rather be skint and play games than be loaded and not be able to enjoy myself.

What have we done for VIA? Privelidged them, we have given them our money for their product - WHICH DOESN'T EVEN WORK!!

And what have VIA done for us? Wasted our time, our money, caused stress and confusion - I wouldn't mind it so much if they had accepted the fault or at least released some information that they were getting to work on it - What are they doing right now?! I have no idea, they could have closed up shop for good while I sit here waiting for an answer.

Goodbye VIA, there's no loss here.

Hey Ross

Did you try flashing the BIOS? It's not something I do lightly either, having flatlined a couple of PCs in the 1980's, but I feel your pain with having tried _everything_ else.

Since it solved the problem for me, I'm guessing there was some issue with the drivers' self-test asking my AGP slot to do something it didn't like.

At some point in the effort I'd gotten new chipset drivers (e.g.
http://www.asrock.com.tw/product/product_k7vt4a+.htm) too, but they didn't help until I reflashed.

I couldn't tell from your post whether you'd gone this route. I wish I had the expertise to give more useful advice than "it worked for me," but since ATi doesn't know what's going on, and neither does the homebrew driver community, it almost has to be firmware-specific.

edit: as for doing the re-flash, you format a bootable 3.5" disk ("create MSDOS startup disk") , copy the contents of a zip to it, boot it, and run an exe. And pray. There should be a tutorial on the ASRock site.

edit2: and I'm assuming you're hip to total wipes (uninstall, DriverCleaner, RegClean, delete ati*.* in C:\windows and C:\windows\system32) of previous video drivers. The "ATI Uninstall Utility" in Add/Remove Programs is actually _run_ by "removing" it.

I had this problem agaes ago and it was after i'd rnua windows update and it had updated my Radeon 9200SE driver.

I uninstalled all the radeon software, rebooted, reinstalled the orginal drivers and software that came with the card and rebooted and all was happy.

Not gloating or anything honest!

Same problem here. I just built a backup gaming machine with the following stats:

Biostar IDEQ200V, KM400 Chipset
Sempron 2500+ Processor
512MB DDR400
80GB Samsung SATA
ATI 9800 Pro 128MB AGP
Windows Media Center 2005 SP2
Latest VIA 4-in-1 Chipset Drivers

The Omega drivers only make the problem worse. At least with ATI the SmartGart feature seems to allow me to load a saved GTA San Andreas file and play for about 5 seconds!

BIOS Schmios and ATI's response to the problem was canned at best and every solution they presented would only reduce your performance dramatically, and that's not acceptable, nor does it work.

BSOD reports failure in module ATI2DVAG and the event viewer always shows error: ATI2MTAG "Invalid Pixel Format"

To me, this is obviously an ATI problem combined with VIA Chipsets that they refuse to address. My other system (recently taken by the Feds, but let's not go there) worked perfectly running nVidia Chipsets and Video Card. This system is a spankin' new build with the latest drivers and all.

The only thing other than ATI software I can image being the problem is the pathetically weak power supply in this cube system... anyone else have a weak power supply?

I found a solution that works for me! It's the the PCI bridge driver.

As posted by Cobrakaun @ http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-15393-Infinite-Loop-Fix.html

Right click-mouse over My Computer
Properties
Hardware(Tab)
Device Manager(button)
Click [+] next to System devices
right-mouse on CPU to AGP Controller (or whatever your controller is called, mine was SiS AGP)
Update Driver(button)

Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)
Next(button)
Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install.
Next(button)
Select PCI standard PCI-to-PCI bridge
Next(button)
Finish(button)
Reboot.

Good luck to all!

ati2dvag fix

right click desktop,properties,settings,advanced,smartgart,=
turn off fast write & lower agp speed,
I have 9800 pro and lowered agp from 8* to 4*
hope this helps.