Hello All,I am having some serious trouble getting FS9 to work on my machine - or at least work to any benefit. I just installed FS9 on a newly-installed copy of Windows XP on a reformatted HD, running on a PIII 1GHz box with an nVidia Ti4200 64MB graphics card. I keep having serious problems using just the default aircraft and scenery. I decided after a lot of trouble to reduce the display settings to Minimum across the board, using 1024x768x32 resolution. Still, even at the lowest quality settings, I can't use FS9.As soon as I load up a flight (default aircraft, default scenery), I immediately experience the following problem. After initially loading, FS9 "hangs" for about 5-10 seconds, then runs smoothly (up to the FPS limit) for 2 or 3, then hangs back up for another 10 or so seconds. This continues indefinitely as far as I can tell. The problem seems to come primarily from the ground textures/terrain mesh/something else having to deal with the ground. Once (if) I can get the plane to takeoff and look toward the sky (with no ground in view), the problem goes away. However, as soon as I look out a window (by the way, I'm using primarily 2D cockpits) with the ground in sight, the problem returns. Switching to spot view accomplishes the same hangup, but once I can pan to get the ground out of sight, the problem almost disappears. I've used multiple aircraft and multiple locations, all with the same results.Other problems have included near-crashes upon switching views, in which after switching from 2D panel to exterior view and back to 2D panel the sim slows to about 3 seconds per frame (NOT frames per second), and for some reason my sound card becomes unusable until I restart the computer. I can't think of the others that I've run across right now, but that should be a good start.I looked through the forums, but couldn't find a similar situation with a resolution. Like I said, I get perfect frame rates for the second or two in which the sim isn't hung up. I'd appreciate any insight so that I can fix this problem. Thanks for any help you can offer, and let me know if you need clarification.-KeithPentium III 1 GHz384 MB RAMnVidia Ti 4200 64MB (running 5672 series drivers [latest avail.])Windows XP Proanything else you need to know?

I would say that your problem is your memory....Well not yours but your computers. :-lol You really have to have 512 MB of memory to run Windows XP and FS9. Other things you may look into are to try going back to something like the 40.72 drivers for your vid card. These newer drivers are really meant for the newer cards and maybe, just maybe you could find some benefit in going back. Check your page file settings and size make sure you have it set to the best settings for your rig (see various posts on this forum in regards to this). Have you overclocked your video card? Sometimes this kind of behaviour can be seen on an overclocked card, if you knock the settings back just a little bit it will clear up. Check the settings in your BIOS, maybe a setting in not right in regards to your memory timing. If I think of anything else I'll post it here. Edit: Oh and run DXDiag (from the start menu click run and type in dxdiag) and go through the tabs and tests to make sure nothing is amiss. Also make sure that you are running the latest version of Direct X, version 9.0b I think it is. One other thing, have you done all of the updates on the Windows Update web site?Best of luck and hope you get it up and running!Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

I'll agree with Philip about the RAM- you really do need more- if you have a vacant slot another 256 wouldn't go amiss. Regarding the NVidia drivers - I'm not so sure - here I'm using the new 61.11 with a Ti4200 and it works well - in fact almost without exception each new Nvidia driver has produced some kind of improvement - if only small. That said - I've got a slightly faster system than yours ( AMD xp3000) but I still think that the benefits of the new drivers should be there for you one way or another.Have you checked to see what your CPU/System temps and voltages are doing? Low voltages and/or high temps could be a contributory factor in all this.Dave

Did you install the MOBO Controller Chip drivers, i.e., Intel, VIA, SiS, AMD, ALi, NForce after you reinstalled Windows. If so, see if updated drivers will fix your problem. If not, install the MOBO Controller Chip drivers.Running the directx diagnostic should tell you if the drivers are installed properly. On the display page, if Directdraw, Direct3d, and/or AGP accelerations are grayed out, reinstall the drivers above. W. Sieffert

What's your controller device? Just in case, go to FFB effects in sim and disable 'Ground Bumps.' Just an idea apart from other indications in the thread. Could be your USB too... Good luck and kind regards Jaap

Dave, I am sorry, I do agree with you, I was tired last night when I wrote this and said the wrong thing. What I was thinking of was at some point NVidia did something with their drivers that actually increased the heat produced by the cards and I was thinking that by rolling back the drivers it may uncover an issue with heat and the card. I have also found that sometimes changing a driver and then going back will fix a problem that otherwise seems to not want to go away. I think that I will put a note on my monitor not to post technical information when I am tired! :-lol Thanks for correcting me, you can do it any time. Thanks again!Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

Hi EveryoneI have nearly the same problems. I have a P4 2.4G motherboard with 1 G of Ram, Nvidia G4 TI4200 128 ram Card. I cant use FS2004, tried everything. Reformated and reinstalled, updated motherboard Bios, video bios, SIS AGP driver, latest nvidia driver. But when I use FS2004 after flight of about 10 mins Windows reboots all of a sudden, no errors no your system has had a problem.I use FS2002 Professional with no issues at all.Any thoughts Ive just about had itTony

I hate to say this but it may be the SIS controller chip.W. Sieffert

Thanks for all the advice. I haven't been able to do anything just yet; severe storms have kept me quite busy in the last 72 hours. I'm going to start by trying to downgrade the nVidia drivers to 40.72 or somewhere around there...I'd love to pop in another 256MB RAM card, but that of course costs money. 512 is actually the max my system can handle. Anyway, thanks for the tips, and I'll let you know what happens after I start messing with settings and such.-KeithEDIT: I actually just ran the DXDiags (I am running 9.0b), and encountered similar problems w/ the DX8 and DX9 Direct3D tests - the spinning cubes froze after spinning for a couple of seconds (though DX7 worked fine). I'm going to try to downgrade vid card drivers as I said in hopes that the problem clears up. Nothing else appeared to have problems in the Diag, however. -K

The 30.82 drivers were the best "classic" drivers on my Ti4200.www.guru3d.com likely still has them...I would also believe the memory size is the most likely issue, however...

I have seemed to have fixed my reboot problem, I had a 350W power supply and was told by my PC supplier that with 2 hhd, cd burner and the TI4200 I should try a 450W power supply, I have and now FS2004 works fine 8 flights and no rebootsTony

Well...I'm beyond frustrated with this stupid computer. It's been problem after terrible problem, most recently when I tried to install the 6112 nVidia drivers, which destroyed my system registry. This will be the 5th reformat in less than a year. I'm about ready to try FS9 on my laptop, which has a really, really crappy video card. But dude, it's not a Dell. I had been trying a bunch of different drivers for the nVidia Ti4200, but all of them resulted in the Direct3D tests (in Dxdiag) to freeze in either DX8 or DX9 modes (or both). I guess I'm kind of giving up. Thank goodness that I got FS9 for effectively only $15 after all the rebates. I guess I'll try running it on my laptop, since the Dell is as usual without hope. If anyone has any other suggestions before I completely give up, I'd appreciate it.-KeithBTW - laptop specs (Compaq Presario 2575US):P4 2.66 GHz512 MB RAM*ATi 345IGP w/ 64MB shared memory* (sucks, don't it?)Windows XP Pro*since 64MB is used by the video card, system only has effectively 448 MB of RAMand the system has been 100% stable, never had any problems (unlike my stupid Dell Dimension 4100) -K

Keith -Did you try the 30.82 drivers? I have tried a variety of newer drivers for my Ti4200(64MB), but have always come back to the 30.82s as being the best for my system.Sorry, I'm not a computer expert by any means....but it sounds like you might have a bad video card?...Steve J.AMD XP1800+, 512ram, Ti4200(64)

Thanks, Steve. I never got a chance to try reverting to 3082...immediately after installing the 6112 drivers off of 3dguru.com (see related post) my system's registry got corrupted, and the problem went from bad to worse. Currently, the Dell will not even start up; that's how bad the registry got damaged. I think I'm going to throw in the towel on that system and try to use it on my lappy. Like I said, the video card on this machine is lousy, but at least the computer is almost 100% stable and reliable. Besides, I was just trying to get use out of the Dell while I was home for the summer. It's not worth wasting any more of my time. Thanks to everyone who tried to help, and heed the warning about that driver!-Keith