I have been working on a game for a few months now, and it is near complete. However, just recently I got an acess violation error, which I traced back to the CreateDevice () method of LPDIRECT3D9. The weird thing is, that code is in my Engine, which I have not even tampered with for a long time, since it has always worked fine before. I also tried to get maximum validation from DirectX, but I do not have the control panel app for this. If I remember correctly, this same thing happened a while back when I tried to change the Back buffer width and height, but since I changed the values to W:H, 1024:768, it has worked fine since. How can I pinpoint this problem and resolve it? Jacob

Thanks for the reply, I reinstalled directx and was able to find the utility in Start menu. I set maximum validation, etc. but I didnt get any more information. How do you get DirectX to show the error messages/where do you see this?
Also, I decided to create a new project and run code from a website which I am absolutly positive works with same DX version, compiler, etc. However, I get the same exact problem, CreateDevice () fails. So, that leads me to belive, it is NOT THE CODE that is the problem. So what else could it be?

Ok, I got the error messages working:

Direct3D9: :====> ENTER: DLLMAIN(00a3e6e0): Process Attach: 000004d0, tid=00000f74
Direct3D9: :====> EXIT: DLLMAIN(00a3e6e0): Process Attach: 000004d0
Direct3D9: (INFO) :Direct3D9 Debug Runtime selected.
Direct3D9: (WARN) :****Direct3D DRIVER DISABLING ERROR****:First call to DdQueryDirectDrawObject failed!
Direct3D9: (ERROR) :No hardware acceleration is available in the current mode
Direct3D9: (WARN) :****Direct3D DRIVER DISABLING ERROR****:First call to DdQueryDirectDrawObject failed!
Direct3D9: (ERROR) :No hardware acceleration is available in the current mode
Direct3D9: (ERROR) :No hardware acceleration is available in the current mode
Direct3D9: (ERROR) :No ddraw acceleration is available in the current mode
D3D9 Helper: Enhanced D3DDebugging disabled; Application was not compiled with D3D_DEBUG_INFO
Direct3D9: (WARN) :****Direct3D DRIVER DISABLING ERROR****:First call to DdQueryDirectDrawObject failed!
Direct3D9: :====> ENTER: DLLMAIN(00a3e6e0): Process Detach 000004d0, tid=00000f74
Direct3D9: (INFO) :MemFini!
Direct3D9: (WARN) :Memory still allocated! Alloc count = 3
Direct3D9: (WARN) :Current Process (pid) = 000004d0
Direct3D9: (WARN) :Memory Address: 00884fe8 lAllocID=1 dwSize=000047f8, (pid=000004d0)
Direct3D9: (WARN) : Stack Back Trace
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [0] : Address 00A3E4CB
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [1] : Address 00A3E59B
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [2] : Address 00A3E440
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [3] : Address 00A32DB4
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [4] : Address 4FDFAF2E
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [5] : Address 00411715
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [6] : Address 00411524
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [7] : Address 00411FE8
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [8] : Address 00411D4F
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [9] : Address 7C816FE7
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [10] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [11] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [12] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [13] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [14] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [15] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (WARN) :Memory Address: 0088a258 lAllocID=11 dwSize=000000d8, (pid=000004d0)
Direct3D9: (WARN) : Stack Back Trace
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [0] : Address 00A352B7
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [1] : Address 00A3601D
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [2] : Address 00A365F8
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [3] : Address 00A32DD5
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [4] : Address 4FDFAF2E
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [5] : Address 00411715
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [6] : Address 00411524
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [7] : Address 00411FE8
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [8] : Address 00411D4F
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [9] : Address 7C816FE7
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [10] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [11] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [12] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [13] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [14] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [15] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (WARN) :Memory Address: 0088a3a0 lAllocID=16 dwSize=00000080, (pid=000004d0)
Direct3D9: (WARN) : Stack Back Trace
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [0] : Address 00A3679F
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [1] : Address 00A32DD5
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [2] : Address 4FDFAF2E
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [3] : Address 00411715
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [4] : Address 00411524
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [5] : Address 00411FE8
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [6] : Address 00411D4F
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [7] : Address 7C816FE7
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [8] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [9] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [10] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [11] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [12] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [13] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [14] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (ERROR) : [15] : Address 00000000
Direct3D9: (WARN) :Total Memory Unfreed From Current Process = 18768 bytes
Direct3D9: :====> EXIT: DLLMAIN(00a3e6e0): Process Detach 000004d0


This is just from the simplest program I could make to show that D3D is not working properly. I have no idea what this means.

Run dxdiag and see under the Graphic( or Display, whatever, I'm sorry I only have a Chinese version of that ) tab check if the DirectDraw and Direct3D Acceleration are enabled.

Thanks for the replies.
I ran dx diagnostic and was surprised to find that DirectDraw Acceleration/Direct3D Acceleration/ and AGP Texture Acceleration were all Not Available.

After this were the following notes:
The system is using the generic video driver. Please install video driver provided by the hardware manufacturer.
DirectDraw test results: All tests were successful.
Direct3D functionality not available. You should verify that the driver is a final version from the hardware manufacturer.

What should I do at this point?

Installing the driver from the manufacturer would probably be a good idea...

Also, I already had the driver installed, and everything was working fine until now.
I just tried to add the dirver again, and found the two components with a yellow exclamation:
RADEON 9600 PRO SEC Family (Microsoft Corporation)
RADEON 9600 SERIES

When I add these, I get an error: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

Is this driver broken / or should I try reinstalling it?
Im not sure if it came with a cd.

Ok, after a lot of searching I finally found the Radeon 9600 cd and installed it. No change. I am really getting frusterated now, and will probably buy a new computer. This is, unless there is anything else I can try?