Before trying that, go to your FS9 cfg file and check this line:TEXTURE_BANDWIDTH_MULT=80 (whatever your figure is)I experienced the same problem with my 9800GT until I reduced TBM from 200 to 80 with frame rate locked at 25 fps. Now it is smooth without stutters. If your frame rate is locked at about 25 or 30, then this figure should not really be higher than 100. If it is, your card probably can't cope with the texture loading .Gary

That's proberly true for FSX but with his video card TBM =400 should get great results in FS9. Ramdom freezes has nothing to do with texture loading time or bandwith.Bill M

Not true. I solved what appears to be the the exact same problem with that edit. That's all I changed.http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/showthread.php?p=48070The figure is a multiplier and relates to framerate. Set it too high in relation to your framerate figure and texture loading at low altitudes especially (ie on approaches) will outstrip the capacity of the card to keep up and it will lock. Gary

The figure is a multiplier and relates to framerate. Set it too high in relation to your framerate figure and texture loading at low altitudes especially (ie on approaches) will outstrip the capacity of the card to keep up and it will lock. Gary

I really don't think that setting has anything to do with a graphics card locking up. I've been around many years and have read and done much tweaking, but I can always be wrong. That setting is not really related to frame rate, but that's getting technical. Anyways, that setting is known to give stuttering problems, but not lockups.As said before, start with the memory tests, if not successful, we'll move from there.

I really don't think that setting has anything to do with a graphics card locking up. I've been around many years and have read and done much tweaking, but I can always be wrong. That setting is not really related to frame rate, but that's getting technical. Anyways, that setting is known to give stuttering problems, but not lockups.As said before, start with the memory tests, if not successful, we'll move from there.

That's correct, TBM has nothing to do with locking up. If you have a low end video card ie (9800gt), and increase the TBM setting, you will get stutters. He's has a 280 GTX. He can run dual 30" wide screen monitors using TBM=400 and not get studders. My system is simular to his except I use a 8800GTX card. I don't get studders using TBM=400. But I did get system lockups in FS9 because of nidivia drivers. I beleive if there was a bad memory module, the system will lockup under load whether using FS9 or not.Bill M

OK...memtest86 + results. 8 tests performed with 0 errors. I did reseat the sticks before running the test, BTW.

HMMmm...just found something interesting...which is totally unrelated to hardware. While running through the FSManager Diagnostics looking for duplicate textures (there were none) I decided to try the Scenery diagnostics...and it found several "Layer Mismatches". One of these was for the area I had been recently flying over:[Area.186]Title=Fiji_NadiLocal=Addon Scenery\Fiji_NadiRemote=Active=TRUERequired=FALSELayer=176I've corrected this but...could this have caused the kind of problem I'm seeing? I'm setting up to try the flight, again, to see what happens.

The sorts of problems you're seeing look hardware and/or driver related to me.I think sticking with version 178.xx drivers based on the state of nVidia drivers last April isn't necessary...from 182.50 through 191.03 there were big problems with nVidia drivers and MSFS, but the most recent drivers are pretty good.I'd try uninstalling the driver, reboot and run a utility like Driver Sweeper to get rid of any lingering components of the old video driver installation, then reboot and install the latest update to DirectX from the Microsoft downloads site, then reboot and install v191.07 or later driver. Then install the most current nHancer and configure per NickN's tutorial.After the DirectX install, I'd also consider uninstalling the sound drivers, reboot, and install the latest.Do you have any drivers installed for USB devices, including those that are not currently connected, like TV video, headsets, scanner, cameras, etc? If so, consider stopping/killing those processes before loading FS.Good luck.Bob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Well, Bob, I can tell you that solving that scenery issue didn't accomplish anything...crashed the PMDG 747F before I could get all 4 engines started! Usually takes longer than that for FS9 to go down.I can't use anything from nVidia after the 178.13's. Anything after that will not create a custom flat panel resolution, in 4 X 3, that is useable or readable. I just tried the 195.something and they don't even allow flat panel scaling...let alone allowing it and having "garbled" graphics, so that's a non-starter. I did install the latest DirectX, cleaned out my sound drivers and installed the latest for those.The only USB device with drivers is an HP all-in-one printer, scanner, fax...and it's never caused a problem before. I'll try anything, at this point. Any thoughts on other USB devices like my joystick, keyboard or mouse? Any way to check their consistent operation without running out and simply buying new?

Well, Bob, I can tell you that solving that scenery issue didn't accomplish anything...crashed the PMDG 747F before I could get all 4 engines started! Usually takes longer than that for FS9 to go down.I can't use anything from nVidia after the 178.13's. Anything after that will not create a custom flat panel resolution, in 4 X 3, that is useable or readable. I just tried the 195.something and they don't even allow flat panel scaling...let alone allowing it and having "garbled" graphics, so that's a non-starter. I did install the latest DirectX, cleaned out my sound drivers and installed the latest for those.The only USB device with drivers is an HP all-in-one printer, scanner, fax...and it's never caused a problem before. I'll try anything, at this point. Any thoughts on other USB devices like my joystick, keyboard or mouse? Any way to check their consistent operation without running out and simply buying new?

Vic; I'm not following you on the "custom flat panel resolution" issue. What is the native res of your monitor? I use a Samsung 26" T260 @ 1920 x 1200, and run FS9 in windowed mode in a 1600 x 1200 window. I use the leftover 320 x 1200 margin for FMS, ADVDisplay etc. Are you you trying to push a fullscreen 4:3 image straight to a 16:9 monitor (i.e. 1600 x 1200 )? If so, why? What I see is a very old video driver running on top of newer OS and DirectX versions/updates. The 178.xx driver was written before the current version of DX9 and maybe even before Win XP SP2. That can cause instability. It might be worth running a current video driver, using windowed mode, and see if that fixes it...at least that way you'll know it's the driver. One other thing I forgot to ask...are you running XP with the /3GB switch set in the boot.ini? If you are, this problem may well be the result of crowding out the 32 bit OS. An 896 MB video card on a 32-bit OS means you have close to a gig of system RAM blocked by hardware address mapping. That leaves very little room for the OS if you're running it in a reduced address space with 4 gigabyte tuning enabled (i.e. the /3GB switch).RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Victor, I suspect your problem is somehow linked to your SoudMAX device and the nVidia drivers(whatever version, I use 195 or so for a recent 260)I had built a new rig recently and encountered with horror a load of freezes such as the one you describe: first the sound going into a loop and then the need to hard reboot.On my side as well, nothing recorded in the event log. Nothing.I also had an onboard soundmax sound device. I ended in taking the dust out of my old SoundBlaster 5.1 Live! card, mounted it on t he new pc, and the problem was gone.If you have another sound card, try this out, and dont forget to unistall the soundmax drivers first.I also had nHancer rewrite toi the registry after the soundblaster drivers install.Since then, never suffered again any freeze or lock upMy idea is that nVidia revisited by nhancer doesnt like soundMax at some point :(The TBM entry is also a good try, but on my side I had not lowered the value and the freezes are gone.On a side note, reading your last post makes me fear that you had reached the point where too many drivers install/uninstall have screwed your XP pro 32 installation,and that you might consider a fresh install. I run the nVidia 195 version without any problems.

Vic; I'm not following you on the "custom flat panel resolution" issue. What is the native res of your monitor? If so, why?

I do the same thing, I run FS9 in full screen mode (4:3 ratio) on a Samsung P2350 23" Widescreen LCD (native resolution of 1920 x 1080). It works great and no oval gauges.

I can't use anything from nVidia after the 178.13's. Anything after that will not create a custom flat panel resolution, in 4 X 3, that is useable or readable.

Vic, you should be able to use a newer video driver and still create a custom resolution. See the very bottom post in this thread:http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=245280Good luckRJ

OK..."let me 'splain, Loocy". :( The ASUS 26" LCD advertised a menu setting to set a 4 X 3 resolution. What they didn't mention is it only works in VGA...not DVI. Now, the other thing I noticed was horrible "tearing" in windowed mode with FS9...which went away in Full Screen. I also have several older games which only play in Full Screen (Silent Hunter III to name one) so my only option is to set up a "Custom Flat Panel Scaling" set-up in nVidia CP. This gives you the black bars on the left and right of the display (pillar boxes, I believe...as opposed to letter box, which is top and bottom). This allows any 4 X 3 game to play, whether Windowed or Full Screen, without any "stretching" issues. It also does away with what would be, in my opinion, annoying pieces of desktop showing on the left and right (but, hey...that one is just me! :( ). As to the LCD "tearing" with FS9 in Windowed mode...I tried and have applied every setting I have found or read about to stop it...with absolutely no luck. The only other thing I read about is possibly changing the LCD to something other than 60hz (not by much...65 hz or so). Others apparently do this all the time...they apparently don't own an ASUS LCD as it flat refuses anything other than 60 hz.So, as you can see, I use full screen for all the above reasons. That being said, the very last drivers which allowed you to set a custom flat panel resolution of 4 X 3, which did not exhibit horrible graphics corruption were the 178.13. Here's a thread when I originally asked about later drivers not working:http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=292724Here's a post when it was obviously my GPU OC, looking at the textured artifacts:http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=299555And here's one at nVidia with a request to return the fixed scaling option:http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=153374 As far as the 3gb "switch"...yes I am running it, but with an addition that is supposed to leave enough for XP 32bit to run:[boot loader]timeout=30default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /3GB /Userva=2560Arnaud, I always make sure and delete old drivers in safe mode using Driver Cleaner Pro before a new driver installation so I'm not too worried about my XP installation. The SoundMAX issue you mention is one I will keep in mind, however! The above should explain why I can't run the latest drivers? RJ...I had not seen this "latest" on setting up a custom flat panel resolution...although it sounds a lot like what I just tried with the 195 drivers. With this write up you linked I may give it another shot...Thanks!Now...for an interesting, if very preliminary, occurance. With all the updating I have done I could not get my HP printer to be recognized today. I found the USB cord from the printer not fully inserted into the back of the system. I cleaned up my wiring several months ago and it is a little "tight"...the system can't be pulled too far away from it's present location without pulling cables. I redid some cable supports/guides and made sure everything was correctly seated, including all other cables. I have just completed a 3 hour flight in the PMDG 747F with absolutely no issues. Granted, one good flight points out nothing at this point, but it does bring up a question. Although my printer seemed to be working fine when I was experiencing past lockups...is it possible that an "intermittent" USB connection could have caused them? The printer is also recognized as a "Removeable Drive" due to its ability to read memory cards (it's the "G" drive). If this USB connection was occasionally losing full contact, would that possibly cause what seems like a USB shutdown? The printer being fully connected will show a "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the system tray area...which leads me to believe any inadvertent disconnection of the USB cable from the printer...without first clicking that icon...may be a "bad thing"? I am of course, drawing at straws! :( Anywho...remains to be seen what happens. Like I said, I've flown several times without issue before today, only to have the lockups return."...to boldly go where every FS'er has gone before...hopefully returning with an answer!" :(P.S. Bob, should have a flight completed in the next couple of days with the new 1.26 TM2 gauge. I'll let you know how it works for my flaps, etc. issues. Thanks for that!!

As far as the 3gb "switch"...yes I am running it, but with an addition that is supposed to leave enough for XP 32bit to run:

Well, I think we're getting somewhere now. With 4GT and userva=2560 specified, you leave 1.5 GB for Win XP 32 to run. That was good advice when video cards had 256-512MB of RAM on board. But with an 896MB video card plus a sound card, you have close to 1GB of your 1.5GB of system address space carved out just for hardware address mapping for the video, sound, and a few other system devices on the mobo. That leaves around 512MB for XP...it quite simply is not enough.The "A" solution is to make the leap to a 64-bit OS. That instantly solves all these memory address space problems...and frees up a full 25% of your physical RAM to do useful work. Right now 1GB of your installed 4GB of RAM is doing nothing but generating heat. With a 64-bit OS, all 4 GB of your RAM gets used by the system, the OS doesn't have to try and wedge itself into a half a gig or less, and FS9 has a full 4GB of address space to operate in.As an alternative, you can also get rid of the 3GB switch and run less complex acft and sceneries in XP32. But the bottom line is that I do not believe that an 896MB video card can be run in a stable manner with FS plus a bunch of add-ons on a 32-bit OS with 4GT enabled.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

I tried removing the 3gb switch and we went backwards, IMHO. Since doing that I completely lose FSNav functionality after switching from Windowed to Full Screen...it just locks up. So I'll be undoing that and continue to hunt an answer.

I still believe it is a GPU OC issue, guys. Even though I flew a flight with no GPU OC, and it locked up, I believe that was caused by something else in scenery or textures. The problem with Full Screen (at least on my setup) is that when something happens, you don't get the "benefit" of the "FS9 has encountered an error..." message window. When it locks, in Full Screen, it just locks. In Windowed mode, if it was a texture dupe or scenery error, you would get the OOM error or some other...not so in Full Screen. I believe the lockup I had, with GPU OC off, was due to something else. Whenever I had an OC issue in windowed mode, in the past, I would not get an error message...everything else would open an error message. So, I'm going to fly my butt off with no OC, as I just did tonight, and see if I can get 20 flights in without issue. If I can get 20 straight I think that more than proves the GPU OC was excessive. :( Will let you know how it goes.And THANKS!!!