fixed random crashes FINALLY!!

[Guest DrBob]

My FS2002 has been broken for months. I have not been able to complete flights due to XP restarting or getting the error box involving various dll files, most often atc.dllThe scoop: the culprit was one of the DIMMs. I moved one RAM stick from slot 2 to slot 3 following up on a tip Johaan Dees left in the forums recently with a link to the VIA page on the loop error. I noticed one stick was not perfectly seated in the slot also. Everything else on my computer ran perfectly, even MSTS. But the PSS and Meljet planes especially crashed often and quickly. I first tried a vanilla install of FS2002 then added in folders to see if something was causing the crashes within FS2002.Nothing came of that.I tried disabling sound card, USB, AGP, hardware acceleration etc to no avail.BIOS settings were tweaked as suggested in forum posts to no avail. I even installed XP on a different partition with no change in the results. 10 or 15 differnt NVidia drivers were tried. 4 different 4 in 1 VIA drivers also. By last night I had it narrowed down to the RAM, the CPU and MoBo and the video card. I had a new Mobo already rationalized in my mind then tried switching the RAM to slot 3! I ran the PSS Dash 8 all night at KORD with all addons and traffic enabled and miracle of miracles it worked! Even the meljet 777 with the PSS panel works which used to crash my machine in seconds. I am so happy my flight sim is fixed but wanted to pass this along for others who are struggling with crashes, freezes and reboots.Thanks to all for posting various suggestions and tips! Bob S Reno, NV

[Guest ba747heavy]

Bob,It is nice to hear that ppl are getting there problems fixed. I am glad that you got yours fixed, those errors can be quite tricky! And yours soundsmore tricky than usual!

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Glad to hear your problem is solved. I've also responded in several threads, suggesting users look at their RAM when the crashes seem truly random. Your post will help....Regards,John

[rhumbaflappy 113]

Hi Bob.That solution is very interesting. It suggests a ram failure due to the heat buildup by having the sticks close together in slots 1 & 2, or perhaps some odd form of RF interference between the sticks.I'm glad you found the solution.Dick

[Guest kurtj]

I am glad to hear yours are fixed. I sometimes get the send don't send messege relating to the nt.dll, others sometimes to.Atc.dll rarelyfacilities.dll sometimes in the map view when I click on an airport or vor.Nt.dll most commonly. However I can run fs2002 for weeks without problems sometimes even months. It is very sporadic but tends to happen in groups. I hope fs2004 alias Century of flight will crash less than fs2k2.

[Guest]

Hi Bob,That is good news. As a matter of fact, the "fix" sounds like great advice to give in the Tips and Tricks forum at the top of this forum... I have no doubt others have run across the same difficult to track problem and would be grateful to find your particular solution. Care to add it?Take care,Elrond ---Not enough bandwidth to display this signature! Don't reformat hard drive? (y/N)