"the ATI support site has nothing noted about this being reported."
Well, take this?
http://www.google.com/search?&q=%22The+driver+for+the+display+device+was+unable+to+complete+a+drawing+operation%22
You are more than welcome to read through all that, but the outcome is usually....
Use the driver version that doesn't crash on you.
Bob
I have a Radeon 9600 (built by ATI and not SE or PRO) in an XP Pro machine that, for some reason, does not like the ATI Catalyst drivers after bundle 3.8 (current is 4.1) If I update my drivers, the machine will often reboot before the Welcome screen and post an error message stating "The driver for the display device was unable to complete a drawing operation". I have several notes about this error and no fixes seem to pertain to my problem. I can roll back or reinstall an older driver and all is ok. Curiously, when an older driver is loaded and working without incident, I show 4 monitors in the hardware list. Two are "default" and two are my Sony's. With the newer drivers, I show only one monitor...my Sony which is correct. I can uninstall extra monitors in safe mode and they always come back. Here's the system
Homebuilt w/ASUS P4C800 Deluxe
P4 2.4ghz 800mhz system bus
2 sticks Corsair 512mb PC3200 RAM
Well cooled Antec case w/430w "True Power" PS
WD Raptor 27gig drive on primary SATA controller
2 120g Seagate barracudas on IDE RAID interface
no other add in cards
Monitor is SONY SDM X82 (flat panel) on DVI output
The Radeon card shows as two display adapters, primary and secondary, as it has both DVI and VGA outputs. The list of what I have done to troubleshoot this is too long to post here. I have tried the one memory stick idea and disabled HT in the BIOS but nothing helped. I do not sense any problems with the old drivers and I could leave well enough alone. I am wondering if this could mean I have defective or marginal hardware that more robust drivers might be uncovering. This has gone on through 3 Catalyst bundles and the ATI support site has nothing noted about this being reported. I did report it myself. Any helpful ideas would be appreciated.

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