trekkie_bbs,
Your DXDiag reports you have a "Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express" GPU, not an ATI (and, also, it is the a 3 year old Intel integrated graphics driver on your system which is crashing). If you have a dual-GPU setup (some newer laptops allow using a high-power ATI chip while plugged in to a wall outlet, and the slower low-power Intel GPU while on battery), perhaps Direct3D is talking to the wrong one (even if just momentarily). Try updating your Intel graphics driver, and that may resolve this issue.
As for why this is happening now, we recently added some (theoretically harmless) code which asks Direct3D what version it supports, and the Intel driver is crashing on this (presumably because it pre-dates the existence of Direct3D 11 or something like that).
We're currently in the process of testing a code work-around for the buggy graphics driver. As soon as we're sure everything is OK, we're going to get a new launcher out to you guys that resolves the problem. The general time-frame for releasing the fix is some time next week.
I'm sorry this happened; driver issues like this are a veritable minefield every time we make any kind of minor change. We're working as quickly as possible to get this resolved; we just need to be sure that our fix is completely effective and doesn't tickle the affected driver in some other way that would upset it.
This has been a problem for nearly a month now. It's something that's affecting me (I hve'nt been able to play STO for that whole time) since I can't afford to update my graphic drivers until late june, mid july. Part of the problem is I have vista, so I can't update them on my comp. without nearly wiping my computer in the process.
Now this weekend, it turns out not only is there a huge ship sale (I've been really waiting for to get some skins) but Q is going to be having an event that will apparently give an Ex-p bonus I need to finally level up my Gorn captain

STO has'nt really had many events and now the weekend they have it, the STO launcher does'nt even work. I know you guys are trying very hard to get everything you need done, but this is really disappointing that i'm missing out on things like this. I've been playing STO since the start and have been an avid defender of it on other sites. Please, I just want to know if there is a fix coming or if i'm going to have to wait until july?:(
Comments
1) Uninstall the existing driver via Programs and Features in Control Panel
2) Reboot Windows
3) Install the latest release video driver from your manufacturer
4) Reboot again
5) Verify that your resolution, refresh rate, any other settings are configured appropriately to meet your preferences and needs
This process is pretty much the same regardless of which company made your video card.
It is also a good idea to make sure you have the latest service pack and Windows updates installed by running Windows Update.
You can try a free program such as Belarc Advisor to look at what hardware is inside your machine.
Please post a DxDiag here if you require further assistance. Click the Start orb (aka Start button), click Run, type in "DxDiag" (no quotation marks) and click OK. Click on "Save all information" to generate a DxDiag.txt file.