Just got a new computer and already there are problems

I just brought it home today, plugged everything and installed Warcraft 3.
Already on the menu screen after a few seconds of flawless graphic it suddenly freeze, goes back to windows and gives me the following message:
VPU Recover has set your graphics accelerator to software as ot was no longer responding to driver commands.
Then upon running DxDiag I found out I lost Direct3D support (until I restart).
I thought it might've been a Warcraft thing so I installed another game (AVP2), at first everything was perfect, but after a while it happened again.

I have Windows XP professional, ATI RADEON 9600XT 256 Mb with the latest drivers and DirectX.

Any ideas?

 

And again with Homeworld... Lookslike it happens every time there's something like an explosion..

 

have you tried that latest Radeon drivers @ version 4.9

www.ati.com

 

Driver version: 6.14.10.6444
Oh and Thief 3 just crashed in a similar fashion..

 

HEAT........because it doesn't happen right away and after a really stressing part in the game ----> explosions, it crashes right? Check to make sure your getting proper airflow to the card.

 

Well I would check it if you'll tell me how, but I'm not so sure it's heat.
Yeah heat would've caused it to crash, but not cause it to stop responding to drivers and loose Direct3D support. That sounds like a software problem to me.

Besides, Warcraft crashes already on the menu screen (all that ain of fire), I doubt it would heat that quickly..

 

you posted the file version of the driver, not the driver version itself. I'll compare when I get home. But the drivers JUST came out, so I would double check if I were you.

 

Control Panel>Display>Settings>Advanced>Options tab says:
Display Driver Version: 8.01-040421a-015515c-ATI

Is that it? I looked around but couldn't find anything else on the drivers..

 

As others have said, this is most likely a heat issue.

ATI drivers include an option to automatically reset the Video Processing Unit (VPU) when the graphics card stops responding. You can probably imagine a prime reason for the graphics card not responding is overheating.

Here's an easy way to check whether or not this is a heat related issue:
Open up your PC case, and point a household fan inside it. (Obviously, you want the fan blowing on the video card, but it's pretty big so I guess there's no point in telling you to "point it at the video card.")
Now load up a game and try playing. The fan should provide plenty of air to keep the card nice and cool, so if the problem happens again you know that heat isn't the issue.

If the problem persists, your best bet would be to just go back to the store and replace your video card. If it doesn't, you need to find a better cooling solution for your card.

 

As AirBot (and others) pointed out this sounds like a heat issue -a very similar situation happened to me when my nVidia ti4600 fan went south on me -Just like AirBot said you can tell for sure by removing the side of your case and using a household fan to blow on the video card -that is, if you can't tell if the fan is working properly.
-Yours,
522.

 

I just got a faulty card... They gave me a GeForce for now until they get the model I bought from their supplier

 

Update:
I don't know why, but apperently my computer will work only with the Windows drivers.
We spent hours in the store trying all sort of things and installations after I tried the new card and the problem remained (we even flashed the BIOS), and eventually after removing all drivers, thus returning to the Windows drivers, everything suddenly started to work.
Weird...

 

That's whacky -in my experience Windows Drivers (via Win. Update) have done nothing but harm to my system -I no longer use them AT ALL -and I would suggest everyone else stay away from them.
I also think that it's really weird that they flashed your BIOS 'in store': so many problems could occur -including turning your MOBO into a paperweight- that most retailers would fire an employee who did that to a customers system.
Maybe you got lucky and had a realy knowledgeable person who was certain that flashing your BIOS would not mess your system up -Or maybe whoever is helping you at the store is out of their league and grasping at straws.
I'd love to hear if you resolve the issue so post again if anything new happens.
-Wish I could offer something more constructive,
522.

 

Well for now I'm just going to play alot of system demanding games to see how everything works, then I'll decide what I want to do (maybe replace to a GeForce if I won't like what I see..)
Either way this is some seriously weird behavior, especially since installing the drivers from the ATI site actually messes up my system.. For now I'm just going to observe the preformances..