I have been getting a bluescreen of death in 3d games lately, it always happens at the exact same spot in each game. There are no error messages on the bsod, but I have the minidump file and was wondering how to check that for error messages so I can narrow down this issue. I have updated chipset and video drivers, and the card shouldn't be overheating....the fan is spinning and the case has decent ventilation. So how do I check the dump file?

Update your video drivers, DirectX and download the latest patch for the game. Also blow out the video card and its fan.

As stated above, I've updated all drivers, including video and chipset drivers. The games crash at exactly the same spot in each game, every time. I'm using Direct X 9.0c. The vid card (9800 pro 128mb) fan is not blocked with dust and spins freely...and the card is not OC'd. It's a fairly fresh install of XP, too. The card is plugged into it's own molex, and the psu is sufficient, it's an Antec 400w.

Try rebooting right after the BSOD and go into the BIOS to see what the temperatures are.

Ok, rebooted after bsod occired..temps look ok, I'm running and Athlon XP 2800+ and it was at 55c, not hot for that cpu. I've managed to discover that "ati3duag.dll" seems to be the culprit. So I've uninstalled the vid drivers, ran driver cleaner as per instructions, re-installed newest ati driver...re-installed dx 9.0c...same problem every time same spot in game.

i'm confused on one thing - is this happening "at the exact same spot in EACH game," or is it just "every time same spot in game." Basically, is this only happening in one game? Which game? Have you looked for downloadable patches from the game manufacturer? Is the game's install media legit, or did you download it/copy it from a friend/etc? I've had games in the past that I stopped playing because they were so buggy that I could not get past certain points where the game would crash every time without fail.