Crashing after newest patch

Was told to start a new thread, so here goes. After loading the latest patch, I lockup (sound loop with a graphics degrade) pretty much immediately upon loading the character select screen. Sometimes I'll get a popup that says the graphics card has been reset because it stopped responding, sometimes I don't. This -never- happened before the patch.

I've updated the drivers for my graphics card, and gotten any Windows updates I might have missed.

In the meantime, here's what cohhelper says. Please help! And many thanks in advance.

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.8---

DxDiag gathered at March 4, 2010 00:03 (-05:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 12/28/05 13:27:14 Ver: 08.00.10
Central Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 1536MB
.Net Memory Report: 690MB out of 1535MB available
Page File: 6814MB (770MB currently in use)
C Drive: (WDC WD2500JB-00REA0) 143578MB out of 238472MB (60%) free
E Drive: (WDC WD16 00BB-00GUC0 USB Device) 93636MB out of 152625MB (61%) free
D Drive: (BENQ DVD DD DW1650) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.2600.5512 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Video Device Name: Radeon X1300/X1550 Series
Manufacturer / Chip: ATI Technologies Inc. / ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x7142)
Video Memory: 256.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6727
Driver Date: 9/28/2007 10:06:17 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: SoundMAX HD Audio O
Driver File: ADIHdAud.sys
Driver Version: 5.10.0001.4151
Driver Date: 10/5/2005 4:21:10 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: A8R-MVP
Motherboard Version: Rev 1.xx
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: BIOS Date: 12/28/05 13:27:14 Ver: 08.00.10
BIOS Version: A M I - 12000528
BIOS Release: 20051228000000.000000+000

Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1440x900
3D Resolution: 1440x900 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 411, -21
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes

Physics Quality: Medium
Maximum Particles: 40135
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No

Anti-aliasing: None
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: Low (with world bumpmaps)

World Texture Level: High
Character Texture Level: High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: Yes
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 1.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.600

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.600
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 664636 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1600.20100114.8T
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found

good luck D.B.B.

I'm not sure where you are getting your driver updates for your video card, but this is certainly not the newest driver.

I find a Legacy Driver package dated 2/24/2010 on the ATI site. The older cards, like yours, have gone to the Legacy Driver package. I'd recommend using Option 1, the full suite download.

The best instructions I've seen to update ATI graphics drivers is as follows:

Download the drivers linked to above, but don't install them. Download and install DriverSweeper but don't run it yet. Uninstall the video card and it's drivers, the Catalyst Control Center and any other ATI Display software. Reboot into Safe Mode. Run DriverSweeper and let it remove any ATI Display remnants it finds. Reboot into normal mode but cancel any New Hardware wizards that come up. Install the driver package downloaded earlier.

Now, once that is done, there are a few settings you will likely want to change because they are going to be problematic until Issue 17 and Ultra Mode. In the ingame graphics settings, turn off Vertical Sync, turn off Anisotropic Filtering, turn off Bloom, turn off Depth of Field, turn off Desaturation Effects, lower the Maximum Particles to 25050.

These settings are from Bill Z Bubba's stickied ATI Issues and Settings Recommendations thread that is stickied in this section of the forums.

HiJackThis log would be helpful as well.

Anything related to ATI Display or Video. What else besides these do you have?