Freezes within FSX

[Allan Burek 3]

Im sorry to go ahead and start bugging you all again in reference to my computer issues, however another issues has reared is ugly head following clean installation of Windows 7 Ultimate x64. My particular issue is that when operating FSX in fullscreen mode, the entire computer will freeze. No sound, image on screen frozen. First, here are the system specs:http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=823459These are the addons I use for flying, in the order I start them:REX2.0 theme generation (textures only, no WX engine)ENOD32 Anti virus offASAFSX (started through ASA)once flight selected, FS out of full screenFSInn startedACARS ( if applicable)FSRealTimeFS Screen Pusher (to show off)FS back to fullscreenPMDG or Wilco aircraft only (since install and errors)Anywhere from 2-4 hours into flight this freeze occurs. It is frustrating, because when FS is working, its working great. I am able to fly sometimes 7-8 hours before this issues happens, if at all. I reviewed temperatures during play in windowed mode (cannot go back and forth in fullscreen) and everything is in limits. GPU temp was the highest, going to 60-64. All CPU temps were steady at 49-50. Keep in mind until I get another case, I operate my current setup with a fan pointing into it.Here is the link to the mobo, as purchased:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131232Im seeing several people reference video freezing issues in some of the customer reviews. Im almost hoping that this is related because it would finally bring to light a solution. Anyhow, not sure if RMA'ing this thing is even worth the trouble. I will post this across several forums, any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance to all.

[Guest firehawk44]

Im sorry to go ahead and start bugging you all again in reference to my computer issues, however another issues has reared is ugly head following clean installation of Windows 7 Ultimate x64. My particular issue is that when operating FSX in fullscreen mode, the entire computer will freeze. No sound, image on screen frozen. First, here are the system specs:http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=823459These are the addons I use for flying, in the order I start them:REX2.0 theme generation (textures only, no WX engine)ENOD32 Anti virus offASAFSX (started through ASA)once flight selected, FS out of full screenFSInn startedACARS ( if applicable)FSRealTimeFS Screen Pusher (to show off)FS back to fullscreenPMDG or Wilco aircraft only (since install and errors)Anywhere from 2-4 hours into flight this freeze occurs. It is frustrating, because when FS is working, its working great. I am able to fly sometimes 7-8 hours before this issues happens, if at all. I reviewed temperatures during play in windowed mode (cannot go back and forth in fullscreen) and everything is in limits. GPU temp was the highest, going to 60-64. All CPU temps were steady at 49-50. Keep in mind until I get another case, I operate my current setup with a fan pointing into it.Here is the link to the mobo, as purchased:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131232Im seeing several people reference video freezing issues in some of the customer reviews. Im almost hoping that this is related because it would finally bring to light a solution. Anyhow, not sure if RMA'ing this thing is even worth the trouble. I will post this across several forums, any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance to all.

Anything in the Event Viewer indicating what might have caused the freeze(s)? Sometimes it references a .dll or .exe that quit and that info can help you troubleshoot further especially if the file is part of a driver package. Make sure your virtual memory setting in system properties is set at System Managed or Automatically. In your FSX settings I would save the config and give it a name then reset everything back to default (you can rename the FSX.cfg and then restart FSX and let it rebuild too). See if this resolves the issue. If so, one of your config sliders is probably set too high. I haven't run into this problem yet and have reinstalled most of the addons you have. I recently reinstalled ASA and fly the LevelD 767 in really nasty weather and even at night when FPS usually get real intense and use to drop down into the single digits with my old Vista32 bit OS. I've never seen the single digits yet (or while the FPS viewer is on). It could also be a device driver that might not be installed properly and taking up excessive memory. The first suspect should be the sound card driver... Also make sure you defragged the hard drive since reinstalling FSX and all its addons!Hope this helps.Best regards,Jim

[Allan Burek 3]

Hi Jim,Nothing points to anything in the event viewer. It just stops recording a the time of the freeze and restarts again at the time of the re-start. I also defragged several times following installations of all my addons and non-FS programs. Ill also be sure to double check the system managed memory. I dont recall having ever touched that, but you never know.

[Guest firehawk44]

Hi Jim,Nothing points to anything in the event viewer. It just stops recording a the time of the freeze and restarts again at the time of the re-start. I also defragged several times following installations of all my addons and non-FS programs. Ill also be sure to double check the system managed memory. I dont recall having ever touched that, but you never know.

Yes, if you didn't change any of the virtual memory settings, it should be set at automatic. I hope you do try running FSX with default settings though. If the problem still occurs, then you can go back to the settings you had before by simply renaming the FSX.old back to FSX.cfg or reloading the settings you saved as I suggested in my earlier post. I just reread your OP and saw that the freezes occur whenever you go into full screen but work okay in Windowed mode. That definitely sounds like a video card driver problem which I recall others were getting (but in the 32 bit OS). If you haven't already, recommend you uninstall the drivers and use a free registry cleaner afterwards before reinstalling. The best way I have found uninstalling the drivers is NOT through Windows 7 uninstall a program procedure but going into your device manager, clicking on the display adapters, then select the drivers tab, then click "Uninstall". But here's the most important part of this method: check the box "Delete the software for this device" before clicking uninstall. This method does a much better uninstall procedure and it has worked perfectly for me since I discovered it. I use to simply uninstall the drivers and run a registry cleaner and even delete the drivers from the System 64 folder but sometimes still had problems. Hope it works for you too. Oh! You must already know this but also turn off any Malware or Anti-virus program before reinstalling the drivers. As you might know, an anti-virus program doesn't like anyone messing with the System Registry, including you unless you tell it that it's okay. Based on your OP, it appears to me that you are very familiar with computers and their operations so I understand your frustrations when you get unexplainable freezes. When I had my 32 bit Vista OS I sometimes got freezes and the sound would continue but everything else froze. It turned out to be a bad install of the video card drivers in my case.Best regards,Jim

[Allan Burek 3]

OK here is the update. The memory was in fact not in system managed mode, but somehow limited to a custom size of 3100MB. It is now in system managed mode, and now up in the mid 4000s. After 2 hours of testing in both windowed and full screen mode, no freezes were noted. This was with a new FSX.cfg. Also, it was noted in some of the reviews of the P5N-D mobo, there was severe heating of the northbridge heatsink, causing system freezes. This seems as if it would make sense with regard to my situation, as event viewer does not report any issues with regard to drivers, etc. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboard...us-p5n-d_5.htmlThis is a review of my board, this page specifically with regard to the northbridge. There are specific instructions in the manual not to install a fan here when using active cooling, however it doesnt seem to be able to cause that much interference. Im wondering if I should go ahead and try installing the fan here, even with an active cooler.