IceRevenant

So I take it there's nothing else I can do but to avoid playing Dx games from now on until I get a new computer?

squall_leonhart

you can try various Via drivers.

Disabling Fast writes
Write combining
any AGP Master writes, or write cache features in the bios.

IceRevenant

Thanks.
What pisses me off is that it worked fine before I did the format.

squall_leonhart

then that isolates it to a probable Driver issue get the latest via hyperion set and install the AGP driver from it.

IceRevenant

But I never used these drivers even before my format. In fact I used the exact same software/drivers as I have now before the format. Only difference is, I incremented the installation of all the drivers before instead of now where I installed the newest version right after the format.
What I mean by that is, last I formatted was last summer so I installed Dx9c Aug 08 and CAT 8.8; then subsequently installed each new version without uninstalling the old one. This is why I thought the new drivers might have a missing or corrupt file if installed standalone instead of incremented from previous drivers.

squall_leonhart

does the mainboard support AGP 3, or AGP 3.5?

if AGP 3.5, you should install the Microsoft UAGP driver.

start up device manager, and in the system devices list double click the item for AGP.

right click and select update driver, and manually point it to c:\windows\inf

select the via agp, or universal agp driver (but not the gagp driver)

IceRevenant

Thanks for the continuous help. I finally fixed the problem and all my games work.
I formatted my computer and installed Catalyst 8.11 (since this was the latest one with the "More Options" feature still retained) and also installed Dx Aug 2008 without updating it to any newer versions.
I'm pretty sure it's the Dx software problem since I reinstalled everything the exact same as before. I doubt it's the Catalyst problem as you can uninstall or install it whereas the Dx cannot be uninstalled without a format.
I ain't touching any more new Dx9c updates from Microsoft that's for sure!!!

squall_leonhart

DirectX doesn't cause freezing, anyone who says otherwise is deluding themselves.

the updated versions only effect games which require the updated d3d9_## dll files, xinput and xact.

IceRevenant

So how do you explain my graphic freeze before my current format?
It must be a faulty install or some corrupt files during the initial Dx installation.
1: It only happened to Dx games and not OpenGL (shown from FarCry and Quake 4).
2: I am using the exact same drivers and software as before the format minus the newer Dx version and Catalyst. I didn't try any of the new drivers.
3: I didn't change any of the graphic options at all and it's basically the same as the options I had before the format.
The other possible reason is my new Symantec Anti Virus. This time I didn't install this program. Maybe it was causing a graphic conflict.
Something was definitely going on with my graphics software before the format but I ain't updating Dx anymore as I spent the whole day on my computer yesterday...

squall_leonhart

it was probably a bad install of the catalysts