FSX crashing

[FlyinMisfit 0]

hi All,could a hardware prob. be causing FSX to crash with "terrain.dll" being the culprit? (according to Event Viewer) also, sometimes the computer will restart on its own during a flight with FSX. i'm using the PMDG 747X with FS2Crew and RCv4. all scenery and weather(RWW) is stock FSX. a few days ago i turned the computer on and the case fans were running but the computer did nothing. no BIOS Splash screen or POST msg., no BIOS beep codes no nothing. it was like the case fans were the only thing getting power. i turned the computer off using the PSU on/off switch. turned off the UPS battery back-ups surge protector and waited several minutes. then i turned everything back on turned the computer back on WindowsXP Pro X-64 booted fine. only prob. was less than 1/2 a minute after the desktop appeared the computer reboots itself without any input from me. i've ran Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware AE and neither finds anything. spyware/adware doesn't appear to be the prob. all this is happening with a less than 3 wk. old clean WINXP Pro X-64 install. thanks in advance for any and all help. happy flyin, FM

[Guest UlfB]

FlyinMisfit (?),I choose to read your post since the header indicated that you have problems with CTDs in FSX. This is obviously not the case.You seem to have a problem with a hardware failure. What component could it be? The motherboard or the psu or? Maybe even the right time build yourself a new computer?You have checked that power and other connectors on your motherboard are correctly connected? The graphics card hasn't partly disconnected from the mobo slot?

[Guest Nick_N]

Typically this is an indication of a hard crash, usually memory related but can be from the PSU/CPU, etcTo verify if there is a error message or a hard crash you need to shut down the automatic reboot feature in Windows which will then allow a BSOD to show instead of rebooting. If you still get a reboot with no BSOD then you are definitely dealing with a hardware failure issue.. again, usually memory or voltage relatedCONTROL PANEL - SYSTEM - ADVANCED TAB - STARTUP AND RECOVERY BUTTONUncheck "Automatic Restartclick OKFrom now on you should see a BSOD with a error message when this happens... that message will then point to the culprit or at least start the process of diagnosis. If no BSOD is seen then its hardware

[FlyinMisfit 0]

thanks to everyone who replied. i was hoping you would chime in Nick. last Sat. night was when the computer itself did not come on (case fans only). since then that has not occurred again. i was making a flight in FSX yesterday and less than 2 hrs. into the flight the game crashed. according to Event Viewer "terrain.dll" was what caused it. i've made a few flights with FS9 in the last month or so with no probs. however, with FSX there's been quite a few times when when the game would crash or the computer just rebooted itself during gameplay. both FSX install discs as well as my driver/patch backup discs are free of scratches and finger prints. in your post you mentioned soemthing about voltage probs. is that Mobo. or PSU voltage? i just recently replaced the Memory and that didn't fix the prob. i will try the Windows "no restart" thingy as per your suggestion. i've checked All connections and no probs there. below is my Sys. Specs. that i should have included in my original post...ASUS P5E3 Deluxe WI-FI Mobo. BIOS Ver. 1203Enermax Galaxy 850W PSUQX9650 EXTREME O/C to 3.7Ghz. (via Multiplier only)4GB Mushkin DDR3 1333 Mem.WD Raptor 150GBATI 4870 1GB Mem. Cat. 9.4SB X-FI X-treme Fatality ProWINXP (64-bit) w/SP2latest DirectX 9.0c for XP64latest Intel Chipset Update for the P5E3btw Nick, will the Core i-7 965 offer any improvement in visuals and or smoothness over the QX9650 Extreme that i'm currently using? if memory serves me correctly i think i read somewhere that you mentioned that the i-7's at the same clock speed didn't increase the FPS that much if any at all.thanks again for your help and to Everyone else. happy flyin, FM

[Guest Nick_N]

as I said.. rebooting in the middle of gameplay is a crash however if the system is not set to show you the BSOD you do not have an error to work with, which is why I said to change the STARTUP and RECOVERY settingsIf it still reboots with NO BSOD it is in fact a HARDWARE failure.. most likely the memory which can be memory voltage too low.. or a CLOCK that is not stableIt can also be another device failingbut you have to start somewhere and that is seeing if there is a BSOD associated with the reboot which is what that AUTOMATIC RESTART change will allow

[FlyinMisfit 0]

sorry about being late in responding Nick.i understand the part about trying to get the BSOD by disabling the Auto. Restart setting in the Windows Startup and Recovery settings. i had a spare Mobo laying around so i decided to pop it in & see what happens. too impatient i guess. i don't know about you but i'm leaning more in the direction of it being a Hardware Prob. of some sort. as mentioned earlier i tried replacing the Memory first and that didn't fix the problem. at least one item has been eliminated so far. i will report back in a few days (or less) and give you an update.in case you missed it in my previous post, will the Core i-7 965 offer any improvement in the visuals (FSX) over the QX9650 Extreme at 3.7Ghz that i'm currently using? if memory serves me correctly i think i read somewhere that you mentioned that the i-7's at the same clock speed didn't increase the FPS that much if any at all.thanks again for your help. much appreciated happy flyin, FM

[Guest Nick_N]

With a ATI card?HmmmmmmWell.. what I said is the user will have more OVERHEAD to work with so yes there would be a defined increase in perf running i7 however in your case for FSX you would also need to dump that ATi card which is not going to help you at all in such an upgrade.. if anything it will drag down the benefits

[ppo 67]

Another suggestion :try with CPU at stock speed and stock BIOS settings.

[FlyinMisfit 0]

yeah i know....the dreaded ATI card. it's a shame ATI's cards beginning with the 1800 series (if memory serves me correctly) started going downhill esepecially with their AA. for me their last Good card was the X850XTX. my first ATI card was the Radeon 9700 and i've been hooked on ATI since then. if their next round of cards aren't a major improvement over their 3000/4000 series cards i may very well give the Nvidia cards another try. again, thanks for your help. happy flyin, FM

[Guest Nick_N]

yeah i know....the dreaded ATI card. it's a shame ATI's cards beginning with the 1800 series (if memory serves me correctly) started going downhill esepecially with their AA. for me their last Good card was the X850XTX. my first ATI card was the Radeon 9700 and i've been hooked on ATI since then. if their next round of cards aren't a major improvement over their 3000/4000 series cards i may very well give the Nvidia cards another try. again, thanks for your help. happy flyin, FM

Lets not get the wrong idea... ATi uses a DIFFERENT method of AA and their core and card designs are geard toward the modern SHADER based rendering enginesThey can be great cards but the application of choice here is MSFS, a year 2000 TRIANGLE rendering engine that requires raw horsepower over shader optimized code to overcome which Nvidia is still catering to in its designsThat is why ATi is worse than Nvidia in MSFS.. although their 3 series was a real bomb (and I dont mean that as in "the bomb" LOL)Eventually we are all going to be screwed regardless of the card as newer designs leave those old game rendering methods behind.. its already started.. right now we are seeing it can take 2 years before a Nvidia card shows results worth upgrading for in MSFS.. ie; 8800GTX to the 280GTX

[FlyinMisfit 0]

hi Nick,just in case you were wondering, i didn't take your comment regarding the dumping of the ATI card personal. i apologize if my "yeah i know the dreaded ATI card" comment in my previous post came across that way. just a little humor. in reference to ATI's cards, i knew something had changed along the way i just didn't know what. imho, the 4870 doesen't seem to be much better (especially with FSX) than the 3870. i've used both with it. it would've been nice if MS had gone with a more modern rendering engine for FS years ago. i hope that MS will keep the FS franchise alive but i'm not holding my breath on that one. happy flyin, FM

[Guest Nick_N]

naaaaaaaaa I did not take it that way.. was just passin on information :(

[FlyinMisfit 0]

no prob. thanks for the help and info. Nick happy flyin, FM

[FlyinMisfit 0]

well Nick, 5-6 hrs. into the flight today the computer restarted again during a flight with FSX. i had the AutoRestart disabled in Windows (per your suggestion) and the computer restarted instead of giving me a BSOD. to this point 2 items appears to have been eliminated as the potential prob. - Mem. and Mobo. what would u suggest i try replacing next, PSU or CPU? also, is it possible that my UPS surge protecter could be the prob.? i don't know that much about those things. according to the owners manual for the Enermax Galaxy 850W PSU that i have it recommends using a Sine Wave type (whatever that is) UPS unit which is what i have. and, that it's not compatible with a Simulate Sine Wave type.again, thanks in advance for your help. i was hoping to have better news for you. happy flyin, FM

[Guest Nick_N]

well Nick, 5-6 hrs. into the flight today the computer restarted again during a flight with FSX. i had the AutoRestart disabled in Windows (per your suggestion) and the computer restarted instead of giving me a BSOD. to this point 2 items appears to have been eliminated as the potential prob. - Mem. and Mobo. what would u suggest i try replacing next, PSU or CPU? also, is it possible that my UPS surge protecter could be the prob.? i don't know that much about those things. according to the owners manual for the Enermax Galaxy 850W PSU that i have it recommends using a Sine Wave type (whatever that is) UPS unit which is what i have. and, that it's not compatible with a Simulate Sine Wave type.again, thanks in advance for your help. i was hoping to have better news for you. happy flyin, FM

What makes you think the mem is not the issueand how do you know your clock settings are not the problemthis is a hard failure and in most cases such reboots are memory failure.. could be settings in the clock directly related to memory stability too however unless this happens when your system is set to DEFAULT, no clocking at all, you are probably not looking at a PSU.. although there is what I would consider a very 'outside' chance of a PSU.My money is on the clock settings and/or unstable -or-defective memoryunless this PSU is not very strong and was underspec'd to begin withwhat are the PSU specs.. link it