FS9 Freezing - help required

[simonlongstaff 0]

Hi AllFS9 is running on a Pentium 2.4 with 1 gig of RAM and a Leadtek 6600GT with AGP8X - SB Live! 5.1 surround ...Until recently this setup may have huffed and puffed a little - however, it seldom failed (even when running ASV-enhanced, LevelD 767, FSSFX, and CH yoke, pedals and throttle quad. However, I have recently purchased PMDG747 'Queen' and Captain Sim C130. Somewhere along the line, my setup has discovered the habit of 'freezing'. The graphics freeze, the keyboard locks and a really irritating high pitched 'whine' comes from the sound card. I have updated sound card drivers and video drivers. I have tried running FS9 without any other elements (ASV etc) started.Still - about 10 mins into a session, I freeze.Any suggestions about what is happening and how it might be fixed would be welcome.MAny thanks.Simon

[Guest Edwin]

Hi Simon,Could be a lot of things so quite difficult to diagnose. I know a lot of people on the PMDG forums have blamed PMDG for crashes and lockups such as yours - they say that no lockups occurred before the Queen and with the Queen, FS9 crashes so it must be the Queen. However, I tend to side with PMDG: the Queen is a very resource-intensive simulation so it stresses your system a lot harder and thus, can reveal lockups that other planes may not show.A hard freeze like yours hints at a hardware issue. First, I'd check the cooling/airflow of your machine e.g. any fans that have stopped running? Second, I'd run benchmarks and/or other stress tests over night e.g. Prime95 (available at http://www.mersenne.org/; there is a stress test function within the program) or 3DMark03 (available at http://www.futuremark.com/). See if a similar lockup/crash occurs with those so you can be sure it is non-FS related. Third, I'd check that you have the most updated motherboard drivers and perhaps even a new motherboard BIOS.Your best plan of action will depend on what happens in these 'tests' suggested above. I try as much as possible to differentiate between FS-related and hardware/Windows-related crashes before going further.Hope this helps.Edwin

[simonlongstaff 0]

Edwin - thanks for the advice and for the links. I will see how I go with the stress tests and check back if all is OK in general - and if the problem persists in FS9.RegardsSimon

[Guest CHRISH]

Hi Simon,I have exactly the same problem with the PMDG B744 after 25 minutes it freezes !Yet I can fly 14 Hours + with the Level D B767 with no problems at all.AMD FX 57, Nvidia 7800 GTXGood luck !Chris

[Guest Edwin]

Hi Chris,If I remember correctly, a while back, you had posted some of your temperatures on this forum and you didn't specify whether they were in Celsius or Fahrenheit. Could you please post again your temperatures, specifying which scale you are using, and also how you are measuring those temperatures?Given your previous post and the 'freezing' you are encountering now, I continue to be convinced your computer, or at least a part of it, is overheating.Edwin

[Guest CHRISH]

Hi Edwin,Many thanks, I presume it is celsius and it refers to the GPU temperature taken from the NVidia Properies tab. I think I have managed to stabilise the temperature by installing new fans. The temperature seems to hold at 56 degrees C, not sure whether that is good or not though. It is interesting because I can fly the super Level D B767 for 14 + Hours with no problems, apart from texture loading on AI traffic.I Really appreciate your help, do you think if I can get the temperature even lower then I could resolve this issue with Texture loading problems?Best Wishes,Chris

[Guest Edwin]

Hi Chris,Download nTune (it's free) from the NVIDIA Web site and run that. It allows you to monitor temperatures taken from your motherboard, CPU and GPU. 56 degrees for the GPU (assuming it's an idle temperature) already sounds a bit high but should be ok (I just looked at mine and it's at 46 degrees Celsius; I'm using a 7800GTX and if I remember correctly, you're using the same). The GPU temperature is only part of the equation - I'm concerned other parts of your computer (e.g. the CPU) is overheating and therefore causing the problem. FYI, my temps as reported from nTune are System: 29 degrees C, CPU: 32 degrees C and GPU: 46 degrees C. Of course, my system is basically at idle right now (the only thing I have open is Firefox to write this post) - load temperatures should and would be quite different. Ideally, you'll want to check your temperatures at load as well.As mentioned previously, the PMDG 747-400 is much more resource-intensive than any other add-on on the market. The fact that other add-ons can run without a problem does not necessarily mean that there's something wrong with the PMDG 747-400.Edwin