Porting game from directX 9.0b to 9.0c problems

I am currently finishing up a game developed using DirectX 9.0b that will be submitted to the Independent Games Festival student showcase this November. The programming team is hopeful to eventually compile using 9.0c for the release build, but efforts to do so thus far have been unsuccessful. When configured to use 9.0c, the program will compile and link with no errors or warnings in VS.NET 2003. Upon runtime, it immedietly breaks with the following output:

Received FOCUS
D3DX: (INFO) Using SSE2 Instructions
D3DX: Unicode support: 1

First-chance exception at 0x77e7a918 in Freakout.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0033d000.
Unhandled exception at 0x77e7a918 in Freakout.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x0033d000.

The program breaks in a section of very trusted code in our fontengine.printString(). If this operation is entirely commented out, the program breaks with very similar output when we are initializing the system's first vertex shader, specifically the first time we deal with its constant table. If THIS is commented out, the program breaks (again with similar output) during initialization of the animation controller.
These sections of code that I mention are ROCK-solid on 9.0b when compiled in Debug and Release mode. It almost seems like the program's memory has become un-alligned, or something similarly fundamental. I understand this question is vague, but I don't know where to start. I'm ready to share source code with anyone interested in helping.
A point in the right direction would be EXTREMELY appreciated.

Alex