About nine months ago, I purchased a Radeon 9800 Pro 128meg video card thinking that this was the answer to all my problems.After installation, I noticed that occasionally, the aircraft, both add on and default, would start flashing. By that I mean that certain textures in the plane start flashing randomly. It was annoying but no big deal at the time. This also happened in the virtual cockpit.Over time, the flashing seems to get worse, so at the Avsim convention, I ask the Microsoft guy for help and after asking me several questions, he seems to point the trouble at the video card.Upon arrival back home, I had my computer tech remove the Radeon 9800 and reinstall my old NVIDEA GFORCE4 MX and the flashing goes away and quite frankly, the sim seems to run better with the old cheap card than with the new Radeon 9800.I am clueless about these things but have always tried to have good equipment to run FS9 or whatever version I am running but am stumped by this.My system is an Athlon 2.6 gig CPU and until recently, a Radeon 9800 Pro video card and 1 gig of ram.Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.Roger Hollands

I also have such a card (Powercolor Radeon 9800 Pro 128M) and I havn't encountered the problems you describe.Previous I also had a NVIDIA Geforce4 MX 440 and then I noticedthat the whole screen could randomly flicker when running Activesky.This was rectfied by unchecking render to texture.BTW my new Radeon card gave a very significant increase in performence.I haveWin XPAthlon XP 2400+512 M DDR

Hi Roger,sorry to hear you have problems with the 9800 pro,:-mad mine works a dream,and I'm not saying that to upset you,but let you know it should be working very well in FS9.but before you start pulling you're hair out in sheer despair,:+ did you have an Nvidia card in there before the 9800 pro, if I read you're post correctly then the answer is yes, the first thing that springs to mind is that there are some Nvidia drivers / files left behind, now I'm no expert,but if you've run the add remove progs for the Nvidia card and deleted any folder in windows explorer relating to Nvidia then you might want to look in the registry for anything Nvidia related,now, you might want to also make sure you're on the latest Direct X version 9.0C, and get the latest ATI Drivers for the 9800 pro, even if it's not an actual ATI card, most of them use the ATI chipset anyway,don't get the control centre, just the display driver from the ATI site,about 26mbthen run it and see what happens,it might also be worth making sure you are current on any sound card drivers,not the first time I've heard of a sound card driver interfering with a graphic issue either. be very careful with the windows up date files too, I went there and it said I needed an up date for my crystal fusion based sound card, so I got it and bugger me, after the re-boot I had NO sound card,:-mad I had to uninstall the card and re-install again,also be very very weary of the SP2 problems people are having,did this happen before / after you installed SP2, or haven't you got it yet. I'm not bothering with it.let me know what happens,but be warned, it's not the first time someones had to re-format when going from an Nvidia to a ATI card,and vice versa.hope some of this helps you out RogerSteve. *:-*Edit: put you're sys specs in you're next post so we can see what you have, this helps sometimes, ok

Hi Roger,You definately have a driver conflict from your previous nVidia card installation. If your willing we can get the problem sorted. Here are the steps to rectify the issues:1) Go here: http://www.driverheaven.net/ Download and then install DriverCleaner. It is an excellant driver remover. It works with a number of drivers, including some chipset and sound drivers. After install PRINT out the ReadMe file and have it ready to use.2) Go back to Driverheaven and download the latest "Omega" drivers. They were just released yesterday and work very well. The Omega's are nothing more than "tweaked" ATI Catalyst drivers. This makes setting them up after installation much easier than the standard Cats. Don't be fearful of the Omega's... he works with the good graces of ATI. Note: The Omega download sites are currently being hammered. I had a quick download using the "Chaos" mirror.3) Go to your motherboard's site and download the latest chipset drivers for your board.4) Make sure you have DirectX available. If you've still not installed XP SP2 then DirectX 9.0b will work. If you have XP SP2 installed then you'll need 9.0c.To review, you should now have the following on your hard drive:DriverCleaner (installed)Omega 2.5.76 driver packageYour M/B's chipset driver packageDirectX install package5) Go to Windows Add/Remove function and remove any video card driver entries you see... no matter whether they are nVidia or ATI. Remove them all.6) Go into Device Manager (Start>Run> type "devmgmt.msc" (without the qoutes)). Find your NIC/Modem entry and click on the "+". Once your connection is shown, right click on it and choose "Disable" (not "Uninstall!!!). Windows will give you some ugly message, just ignore it and disable the device. This step will mean you will NOT have to disconnect your Internet connection when you run DriverCleaner... more on this later.7) Now you're ready to install the 9800 Pro. Shut down the computer completely. Remove the left side cover and remove the nVidia card. Slide the 9800 Pro into the AGP slot and make sure you hook up the required 4 wire power connector. Button it all back up (including connecting your NIC/Modem cable) and get ready to light the fire!8) Upon starting the computer start pressing the F8 key. Press it until you see a screen come up that gives you a number of options for starting Windows. You want "SAFE MODE" (which I believe should be at the top of the list). Once you start into safe mode follow the prompts until you see a black desktop at very low res with all your icons spread willy-nilly. You'll probably get some message about being in Safe Mode... click on "Yes". Windows will then try to install drivers for your new video card. Simply cancel the install (you'll get 2 of the windows wanting to do an install... one is for the primary video card and the other is for the secondary. The 9800 Pro has both).9) Now you're ready to do the driver cleaning on your system. Use your DriverCleaner instructions, but you can safely ignore the one about disconnecting your Internet connection. You already disabled it above. Follow all the other DriverCleaner insructions (though you don't have to run CAB cleaner). If you downloaded your chipset drivers earlier, and your drivers are in the list of those that DriverCleaner will remove, feel free to nuke them along with ALL nVidia and ATI VIDEO drivers. Clean them all away!! Finish with the DriverCleaner insructions. Additionally, you might want to do a search of your system now for any folders pertaining to "nVidia". Finish by emptying the Recycle Bin.10) Reboot into Windows.11) You'll have a low res desktop with the icons spread about. You'll now get all kinds of install windows! That OK!! Look at each carefully, AND THEN CANCEL THEM ALL OUT. Once you've made them all go away the first driver package you want to install is your chipset. If you chose to keep your chipset drivers earlier, then the first package to reinstall DirectX. Simply navigate to where you downloaded the package to your hard drive and click the .exe.12) Reboot.13)If you installed new chipset drivers then after your system reboots you'll get those install windows for your video card. Cancel them both out and install DirectX.14) Reboot15) After reboot you'll again see those 2 install windows for your video card. Cancel them out. You should now see your desktop at low resolution with your icons again willy-nilly. Navigate to wherever you downloaded the Omega package and start the install. Omega offers a number of options... few of them will pertain to you and your 9800 Pro. Just do a simple install of the drivers. Play it safe and install with FastWrites off. You do not need to install "MultiRes".16) RebootTo review, the install priority is as follows:ChipsetRebootDirectXRebootOmega driversReboot17) Once Windows comes back up don't touch anything!! You'll see the screen blank out for a few seconds, and that's OK. It's your system reading the SmartGart Table after the new video card install.18) You're done!!!Might be a good idea to defrag your hard drive. You can acces your new driver tweaker by right clicking anywhere on the open desktop>Properties>Settings. Now set the resolution you want to run at. DO NOT run your 9800 Pro in 16 bit color... 32 bit only for happiest performance. Then click on "Advanced".Click on the "Monitor" tab to set your desired refresh rate.Click on the "VPU Recover" tab and disable it.Click on the "Options" tab and disable any functions that don't pertain to your system. I disable all on my system.Click on the "SmartGart" tab. Depending upon your motherboard your 9800 Pro should be running at 4X or 8X. Also check to see that FastWrties are indeed "Off".Finally, click on the "Advanced 3D" tab. The first window you'll see is for overclocking. There are also tabs for setting the drivers in DirectX and OpenGL. Set these features per your preference and system capabilties.19) GO FLY!!Sorry if it seems that I made this overly simplistic. I thought it best to be thorough.To be truthfull, this isn't all that difficult. The problem you had before is the fact that your technician didn't do any of this. And it must be done when changing from one brand of card to another.The 9800 Pro will run circles around your older nVidia card and not even break a sweat. While you'll not see a huge jump in FPS in this sim, you will indeed be stunned with the image quality you'll now enjoy.Good luck,Greg

Greg,Steve and IFRIFirst of all, thanks so much for your help and explanations. They are appreciated.In response to Greg, I performed pretty much the same procedure that you explained about two months ago. I had the help of an on-line buddy walk me through much if not all of what you have recommended. I still have "driver cleaner" on my hard drive. It was to no avail. the flashing textures of the aircraft still remained. I have basically put up with them until going to the AVSIM conference in Denver last week and after explaining my problem, he pretty much narrowed it down to the video card.This flashing texture issue will not go away, but for some reason it does when the NVIDEA card is installed.As far as directx goes, my version is 9.0a. I had 9b installed but changed back to 9a to see if I could stop the flashing and never changed back. Do you recommend going to 9.0c?I will be more than happy to try it again and see what happens as there are indeed a few steps you noted that I didn't do previously.I would however appreciate it if you would be so kind as to give me your e-mail address so that if for some reason things go bad, I have someone I can contact for support :-).So far, everyone is telling me that my Radeon is defective and I unfortunately have lost the receipt, so I will try anything again to make it work.Again, I sincerely appreciate your detailed explanation as I am really a bit confused when it gets this complicated.I will try this procedure tomorrow evening if all goes well.Roger

Ahh... in that case your 9800 Pro may indeed be defective. But I can be here to assist you if you want to try again. And my e-mail addy is in my profile in the upper right corner. Just title your mail something like "Roger's 9800 Pro driver cleaning" lest MailWasher send it off into cybersapce.Since you no longer have the receipt (did you buy with a CC... that should work too for a return) you might just as well try the cleaning again. Since you've already spent time on this I strongly recommend that you re-install your chipset drivers (rather than skip it as I outlined in my guide above). A good system cleaning will tell you whether or not the 9800 Pro is bad.If you don't have XP SP2 installed then DirectX 9.0b is fine. Though 9.0c won't cause problems. If SP2 is installed then 9.0c is the choice.I'll wait to hear from you.GregP.S. What motherboard are you using?

Greg:Again, thanks for the reply. I forgot to mention that I did a re-do of the motherboard chipset drivers also. My motherboard is a GIGABYTE GA-7VRX.You mentioned that a good system cleaning would tell me whether or not the card is defective. I would appreciate your assistance with that determination if possible.Also, are you recommending directx 9.0b or should I stay with 9.0b.Again, thanks for the reply and the support. I am currently downloading the most recent Omega drivers from the driver heaven site. As I am in the county, I only have a 56k modem and that takes about 2 hours to download. Hopefully will try this re-do tomorrow evening.Again, thanks for the help.Roger

"Also, are you recommending directx 9.0b or should I stay with 9.0b."Again, if your have SP2 installed you'll need to go with 9.0c. Otherwise 9.0b or 9.0c will work.VIA chipset. My favorite (and the reason I use nVidia chipset boards :-) ).I'm in the Pacific time zone. Will be ready tomorrow evening.Greg

Greg:Thanks--will keep you advised.Roger

Hi Boomer,Same problem here. I purchased my radeon 9800 pro in July 03 and I started to see the flashing textures early this year...Lately the problem is getting worse and launching FS9 (or any game for that matter) after my computer has been in sleep mode will reboot it ! So if I want to fly after a sleep period, I have to reboot the system myself before anything :-(Of course I have been through all the drivers checking business, to no avail. Finally I guess my radeon is defective too.I am not sure ATI provide the same exchange policy over here in Europe... Does anybody know ?ThanksMike