I am on the edge of despair

[speight]

Hello fellow panel gazers,

I really am having severe problems with fs. I have been working on this now for 2 months and seems like I might never fly again. I am on the edge of despair.

I can only ask for your advice . I wonder if my fsuipc key has gone corrupt after my reformat?

I would not expect anyone to help me, but I am wondering if anyone out there could throw some light on this

History;

After I had File Allocation Table problem which prevented Widows from loading, I reformatted C and fitted a second hard drive identical to drive 1.

Once I had win xp and sp-2 in, I used Norton Ghost to copy drive 1 to drive 2 as a backup in case of future problems.

My system(which is not clocked)

P4 2.8

Gigabyte mb + latest drivers

win xp home +sp2 clean installation

1028 ddr ram

2 hd of 114 gb each

new 2004 soundblaster 2 + drivers off cd

new 2004 aolus fx5950 ultra 250mb graphics drivers off cd

fully virus free

I ha fs9+latest fsuipc, pmdg, and atr no scenery. Also vox atc and net framework 1.1.

I was ok at first, then started getting sporadic ctd and blue screen crashes after a few minutes. These were only happening with add-ons that use fsuipc, the default ac were unaffected. I was suspecting overheating so

I have fitted extra fans paying particular attention to air flow and cleaned the entire system including heat sinks of dust. I put new paste between the hd and sink.

After working the pc hard the bios temp is 39 celsius , in easytune 5 it shows 97degc, I am inclined not to beleive that because p4 will shut down to protect itself long before that and I also have the bios set to warn me when over 60deg c. Anyhow, easytune is showing that silly temp even after boot up first thing in morning.

I uninstalled each add-on and did 2 hours testing between and after exhausting that, began to look at everything in mskb and fs forums, so far with no specifics, just lots of different suggestions.

I was thinking that somehow the configs had got screwed due to fs9-1

So I uninstalled everything to do with fs and began a clean re-install as documented below;

Defragged Cin safe mode

Scandisc C in safe mode

Installed Fs9 in safe mode

Restarted

Removed yoke and pedal usb's, started and closed fs9 to build cfg and scenery database.

Created restore point "Basic fs9 installed".

Shutdown and did a Norton Ghost to drive 2.

Restarted in safe mode installed Fs9-1, rebooted, connected the chyoke and pedals, open and close Fs9-1 to re-build configs. Restarted fs9-1,

Tested 172 and 737 OK.

Installed LATEST FSUIPC + my copy of the Key, then installed AdvDisp.

Opened the default cessna at ksea and set all my assignments and did the sesitivities using fsuipc then saved that as "DEFAULT"-Tested 172 and 737 OK. Did 2nd Ghost to drive 2.

Installed PMDG 737 600/700 VERSION 1.3.in safe mode then Rebooted.

Tested at KSEA. 1 Circuit and just after exiting runway Fs crashes to desk! Here we go again.

First I will try download and re-install of FSUIPC. If thats's no good, I will Uninstall Pmdg and Fs9-1, then re-install pmdg and test.

SOME LIKELY CULPRITS:

I have copied from drive 1 to drive 2 the entire system, incl fs as is. Then I install a plane and fly, then have various system crashes and fs ctd. I wonder if I should disconnect drive 2 after saving the files???? Is fs trying to read both hd's at the same time---after installing a plane, those two drives become different, configs get changed?

Corrupted FSUIPC Key because of reformatting C ?

Soundblaster drivers, but they are very up to date, I tried even newer ones without luck.

Processor failure---I would not know how to test it. Everything else in the pc works a treat like word processing and internet!

Bad memory modules---These were supplied with the pc from a reliable dealer. But they have worked ok in the past.

Should Mr Dowson himself read this and take an interest in it, I can send the key and log files for his inspection(zipped of course).

Thanks in anticipation.....

Howard J Speight

E Yorks.

[airforce2]

Howie;

It's very unlikely that the drivers which came on the CD for your video card are up to date. Win XP SP2 includes an imbedded update to Direct-X 9.0C, and many older drivers have big problems with the new version of Direct-X. Recommend you update with a recent version from http://www.guru3d.com or the nvidia website.

WinXP SP2 also included many changes to networking components, and it's possible your LAN drivers aren't current either. Likewise, the Soundblaster 2 drivers should be updated from the Creative website.

I'd recommend you find a memory check program like Memcheck86 (http://www.memtest86.com) and run it for several hours to see if there's a problem with your RAM or some other part of the memory subsystem. Also, the freeware program MBM may help in resolving the temp indication issues. Most CPUs have more than one thermistor, so varied readings can happen, but not usually by that much. Also see this article:

http://www.vanshardware.com/articles/20ttling.htm

A hot spot on the CPU could cause the hardware to throttle the CPU, with the possibility of system instability. A hot spot is easy to create with less than fastidious attention to heat sink bonding. Or...also possible is a CPU with a faulty thermistor.

Honestly, my less-than-fully-informed guess would be a driver problem...but the odd CPU temp readings are a troubling sign that needs a closer look.

Good luck

[speight]

Hello Bob(The Airbus Man I believe?),

I thank you for your quick and informed reply and I have noted all you have said.

I will follow these thing up asap and report back in the near future with what I hope to be good news.

In the meantime, please have nice flights, you are a saint Sir.

Howie

[Pete Dowson]

Should Mr Dowson himself read this and take an interest in it, I can send the key and log files for his inspection(zipped of course).

Send logs and KEY file, zipped of course, to petedowson@btconnect.com.

A corrupted key would simply give you an unregistered FSUIPC, it is highly unlikely (almost to the point of impossibility) that it would result in a valid key which matched your name and email yet proved to further checks to be counterfeit. But you can check that yourself anyway -- just remove the KEY file temporarily so it runs unregistered. The PMDG aircraft are self-accrediting in an case.

The fact that the errors seems to occur only when running add-ons which use FSUIPC could possibly mean that one or the other is actually causing the crash -- FSUIPC effectively provides an open window to applications for reading (not harmful) and writing (potentially harmful) almost anything anywhere in FS. It is quite easy to force FS to crash by writing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And consider that the more complex add-on aircraft do tend to use FSUIPC (not all, but many), so FS and your system generally is being tested more when using them, so things like heating and memory problems are not really ruled out yet. [To test memory I usually just remove one stick at a time -- it reduces the amount you have but at least proves whether the one removed is intermittently failing. This is not as uncommon an occurrence as you may think. I've had three memory sticks fail in the last two years].

Please be aware that add-ons like PMDG also install their own DLL into the FS modules folder. That is active all the time, whether or not you are actually using the relevant aircraft. I don't know the ATR, but maybe that does something similar. You can, I think, actually fly the PMDG aircraft with the PMDGoptions.DLL removed, so you could try temporarily removing that from the Modules folder, just as a test.

When you say "these were only happening with add-ons that use fsuipc", apart from PMDG what else is there you are using which needs FSUIPC? Does the ATR? Sorry, but I am not familiar with many add-ons these days -- there are just too many to keep up with.

Another thing which I know can crash FS, and nothing really to do with add-ons, is bad weather files (.WX files). These get saved with your Flights. If you are re-using flights you saved long ago, espcially ones with full downloaded or externally set weather, then try creating new ones instead.

Finally, try flying with FS set to mid Summer, just as a test. It is possible that the 9.1 update didn't fix all the texture seasonal change crashes.

Regards,

Pete

[speight]

Thanks for reply Peter,

yes, I agree, heavy add-ons do make the cpu work harder and produce more heat. The P4

unit is notorius for very rapid heating and does create hot spots that the temperature

probe misses. These probe things can themselves break down. I have worked the unit to a

ctd and then felt the unit-well the fins and they are just slightly warm-around 20degc.

I have no less than 5 fans working to produce a very good airflow and everything is

just slightly warm-nothing is hot. I have run MBM and everything there looks ok.

I tried pmdg with and without its option dll=no differences.

F1ATR does use fsuipc. In terms of power consumption, it is probably a bit less than

the pmdg.

I have tried No weather setting = no change here

I have tried creating entirely new situations and deleting saved flights, result=no

changes

I have yet to try summer Pete, come to think of it, I had no probs last summer!

I did a check with simmarket and my key is valid, but I will email it anyway just to be

sure.

Currently, I have disconnected hard drive 2 and am testing that now.

I have the very latest drivers for sound and will try the very latest nvidea soon.

One thing in the pipe is to revert to my onboard sound and give that a go to see if

soundblaster is part of the problem.

My fs9.exe I have checked and is correct, I am using orig cd4 s well.

I do not have any add on scenery at all.

I ran SIS and that says I might have a faulty memory stick, should I believe that? I

must try the removal check you're suggesting.

Thanks again sir, I will now send you an email.

Howie.

[Pete Dowson]

I tried pmdg with and without its option dll=no differences.

F1ATR does use fsuipc.

Thanks for the files. The key is fine. The FSUIPC log shows no problems, but you only ran FS for 10 secondsdid you get a problem whilst it was effectively almost still loading? The only FSUIPC user logged was the PMDGoptions.dll, nothing else.

I ran SIS and that says I might have a faulty memory stick, should I believe that? I must try the removal check you're suggesting.

Have you got enough memory to do that and still run FS? Don't reduce it below 256 Mb. If not, get another stick and try exchanges instead.

Regards,

Pete

[airforce2]

Try running DXDIAG also...go to windows start -> Run and type "DXDIAG" in the window. It'll do some basic testing on your drivers w/r/t DX.

Don't know what the SIS utility is, but anything flagging a memory error with the kinds of problems you're having calls for a closer look. Did you run memtest86 as I recommended? I've found that utility to be very good at finding physical memory problems. It also might be worth swapping the two memory modules as well.

Regards

[speight]

I tried pmdg with and without its option dll=no differences.

F1ATR does use fsuipc.

Thanks for the files. The key is fine. The FSUIPC log shows no problems, but you only ran FS for 10 secondsdid you get a problem whilst it was effectively almost still loading? The only FSUIPC user logged was the PMDGoptions.dll, nothing else.

It crashed immediately!

I ran SIS and that says I might have a faulty memory stick, should I believe that? I must try the removal check you're suggesting.

Have you got enough memory to do that and still run FS? Don't reduce it below 256 Mb. If not, get another stick and try exchanges instead.

I have 2x512 ddr modules!

Regards,

Pete

[speight]

Try running DXDIAG also...go to windows start -> Run and type "DXDIAG" in the window. It'll do some basic testing on your drivers w/r/t DX.

Don't know what the SIS utility is, but anything flagging a memory error with the kinds of problems you're having calls for a closer look. Did you run memtest86 as I recommended? I've found that utility to be very good at finding physical memory problems. It also might be worth swapping the two memory modules as well.

I looked at memtest86 and I was out of my depth with all the geekspeak!

SISANDRA worked pretty well the last time I had probs last year, it is a well proven utility, so I will give that a whirl. find it here-

http://www.sisoftware.net/index.html?diangx=en&a=

Regards

[speight]

Many thanks to you guys,

I ran creative autoupdate which installed latest for soundcard.

At this point, I am testing after removing 2nd hd.

I will run dxdiag and sisandra, then report back.

Unfortunately, this testing takes time, but hopefully, it will be well spent.

Thanks again,

Howie

PS:

Peter, do you want me to send another log file? If so, should it be afer a flight, or after a system/fs crash??

[Pete Dowson]

It crashed immediately!

Not according to the FSUIPC log you sent -- the session started at a bit before 18:43:47 (your PC time) finished tidily (FSUIPC received a close down call from FS) at 18:43:56. If FS crashed the Log would not have been finished so tidily.

Maybe this is a log from a previous load, and your test which crashed immediately didn't even get as far as loading FSUIPC?

Regards,

Pete

[speight]

I had 2 firewalls running! Windows and Panda internet security, Turned them off with promising results so far.