Pete: You are correct in assuming I only repaired the base one, not the ones in the two service packs....when I was dealing with the two installs where they were installed. However, this latest attempt, after doing the best cleansing of my computer of anything FSX I could find, running a register cleaner over the whole thing (ccleaner AND Norton's in one case) I still have the problem after re-installing ONLY FSX from the discs. I used windows to un-install FSX Service Pack 2 because that was the only FSX that it could see in control panel, I used "ccleaner's" uninstaller to get rid of FSX and the other service pack, then went to explore (works just like Windows's one but sees more stuff) and deleted the remaining FSX folder in "Microsoft Games" folder under Programs....went to My Documents and deleted the entire FSX folder it creates there. One note of interest which may indicate something to you, I changed the side number on my Cessna 172 normal selection and even after the frantic efforts to remove anything related to FSX, when I re-install, the new side number remains, as well as a selection of music FSX-3 I believe it is rather than the normal ditty. I do not divine whether the fact that I have FS9.1 up and running may mean that some of the pref files are common. The final and still installed attempt is only disc installed FSX, no updates, and I have tried both your driver that comes with the normal download, 4.2 and I have also tried a couple of the updates posted above, installed as you instructed, with exactly the same outcome. Seemingly a normally functioning game that responds to keystrokes from the keyboard but is absolutely ignoring the PFC gear and Elite AV2000 avionics stack. Thankfully, the hardware bit is not a cause because FS9.1 works fully and beautifully with everything from yoke to pedals to quadrant to avionics panel functioning like a dream in FS9.1 as it did in FSX before my IT guy decided to run wild and install one graphics card driver over another instead of a delete-reinstall. It caused all sorts of grief with the menus of FSX and eventually screwed FSX up to a point where a re-install was required after the monitors and graphics card and drivers were put right. I thought maybe a re-install of FS9.1 might help, but it is working so perfectly, I hate to screw it up too. Back on the Cessna 172 selection, even though the description says it is red and gold, it is battleship grey when it shows up in the selector and on screen during use inside the game. Not sure what that means but I am trying to tell you everything quirky I can remember. I can, if you would find it helpful, send you any logs, settings profiles, or whatever from my existing install when I get to my office. I am not particularly proud to say that I have devoted five days of my life to setting this system up and then dealing with all the problems, of which this FSX issue is relatively late in the game. I await your sage advice! Thanks in advance. JHH