Disable hardware acceleration for flash.
Right click on any video, then select "Options".
As the example - any flash video is tearing with a hardware acceleration=on if there is any balloon tip on a screen.

Thanks for the tip but no joy, with the Hardware Acceleration lever to "Full", after right click on youtube video -> settings -> untick "Enable Hardware Acceleration" same artifacting and hanging at fullscreen keeps happening 😢 .

have you tried different drivers

Lots of them.

With the latest Catalyst v 9~12 system just hangs during installation. The ~8 and older install OK, but all with the problems above described.

I'm graphic cards illiterate but could it be some kind of problem with DirectDraw and/or Direct3D? The DirectX version is 9.0c in this XP SP3 system.

This sounds more like a hardware issue to me. I recall my 9800Pro did similar things when it died.

Some progress, after reading this I went to BIOS and set "Graphics Aperture Size" to 256MB (was at default 64MB, the card has 128MB of memory). Then advanced the throttle another notch:

And now Youtube vids finally work OK at fullscreen 😀 .

However 3DMark2001 still hangs right upon starting benchmark 😒 .

AGP voltage issue?

leileilol wrote:

AGP voltage issue?

As said an ATI 9200 SE works OK in the same AGP slot. There is any way to check the AGP voltage?

Did the DxDiag tests. The DirectDraw tests pass OK, but on the second Direct3D test pixel errors appear (click to expand):

... and worsen on the third Direct3D test 🤐 :

Looks like the memory on the 9800 Pro is dying.

mwdmeyer wrote:

Looks like the memory on the 9800 Pro is dying.

I've seen R3x0 cards die like this before. I don't know if it's the RAM or the GPU itself. Sometimes it can be worked around by reducing RAM clock speed a bit. I kind of wonder if this is some flaw that ATI kept quiet. Most people moved to new cards anyway.

swaaye wrote:

mwdmeyer wrote:

Looks like the memory on the 9800 Pro is dying.

... Sometimes it can be worked around by reducing RAM clock speed a bit ...

That's worth a try. With ATI Tools perhaps? Any version in particular to best fiddle with this venerable card?

Quite a few 9700/9800 series cards baked themselves to death (heatsink and fan were not that great).

TELVM wrote:

That's worth a try. With ATI Tools perhaps? Any version in particular to best fiddle with this venerable card?

ATI Tray Tools or ATITool are my ideas yeah. ATITool 0.24 comes to mind for older cards. Not sure what version of ATT to get.

9700/9800 series had its share of annoying problems but mostly avoided with upgraded cooling early on. The vram on this card gets HOT compared to most and the stock cooler isn't great either. It is best that you look for another one and sometimes they can be had for peanuts but getting the right cooler is a different story. If all else fails try baking the card and if it survives upgrade the cooling.

One thing you can check is if the fan has more friction than normal. IIRC on mine, the fan bearing filled itself with dust and was spinning too slow to keep it cool.

I'm experimenting with ATI Tray Tools and the results are weird to say the least 😳 . Dropped GPU core/GPU memory to 300/270 and now there is always artifacting, even just at XP desktop after booting. Flash has gone FUBAR, can't play ANY kind of video. In the Dxdiag tests the cubes rotate at extremely high speed, like they are crazy 🤣 . 3DMark2001 just doesn't start at all. Etc. etc.

This card is possessed and needs an exorcism 🤣 .

At last! 😀

After lowering GPU core clock to 300 and mem clock to 300 the card behaves, passes 3DMark, runs youtube videos at fullscreen, etc. Seems you were right and the previous owner let the core and/or the mems to be damaged by overheat under the pathetic OEM cooling of these cards 😵 .

The very much baroque point is that after setting the underclock, ATI Tray Tools must be closed off 😕 , or the system keeps possessed and nothing works (the GPU clock settings remain after closing ATI Tray Tools).

I'll keep fiddling to see If I can get extra response from the patient ...

If you get it stable with ATT, you can then download Rabit BIOS editor and read the BIOS + edit it with new clocks. Then flash with ATIFlash in DOS (I think that's the right program).

After extensive testing this card isn't reliable above 302 core / 305 mem.

This demotes the 9800 Pro to about 9800 SE level. Which isn't ideal but still much better than a 9200 SE:

I've brainfarted a method to automatically close ATI Tray Tools right after booting and once it has already underclocked the GPU. This small batch does the job:

1REM *******************************************************************************
2REM * CLOSE ATI TRAY TOOLS SHORTLY AFTER STARTUP ONCE 9800 PRO UNDERCLOCK IS DONE *
3REM *******************************************************************************
4REM
5SLEEP 15
6TASKKILL /F /IM ATItray.exe

Thanks a lot ladies and gentlemen for your help . This card that was barely inches from being kicked out the window has been succesfully recovered for the retro-comp cause 😀 .