Some help please !After years of FS, I'm blocked for days on JS41 turbo prop !!I've red on the forum many topics about my 2 problems : starting engines and powering up the FMS, and I've tried a lot of proposed solutions, but with no interesting result, except the fact it seems a lot of people have some trouble with JS41When, sometimes, I succeed in starting engines (after loading default CESSNA, shutting down engine, battery, avionics, then loading JS41, verify blades are unfeathered or if not, unfeathered them when in reverse and after switching unfeather switch to left then right...), I press the FMS "ON" button and ....nothing ! despite the fact I have re-installed SP2 and "repaired" the JS41 file, as explained in one topic.In the other way, when I succeed in powering up FMS (especially when I load a flight with avionics already on), I can't start engines !!!Thank you for your answersPS : my OS = XP + SP3(sorry for my poor english)Pierre BOILEAU - Nantes FRANCE

Open a trouble ticket at the pmdg support web site for the FMS problem. Make sure all electrical busses on are on first, if they are you shouldn't have a problem.As far as starting, there is not a know starting 'bug' in the airplane but it is operationally challenging to figure out what works and not work. If there were a bug, there would be tens of thousands of complaints rather than the two or three a week I see in the forum. I know you don't want to hear this. Sorry.There are lots of experience helpful people in the forum. If you would like to focus on the engine starting I am sure you would get plenty of assistance.

I don't know if this will help, but I also had extreme issues starting engines. When you start with the Cessna, turn every thing off, but do not touch Avionics switch. Load J41 and DO NOT TOUCH the batteries, they should be on and leave them on. For some reason when I turned everything off, I could not get the engines to unfeather. Once you get the generator connected, start feathering the engines and then lock them into place. This worked for me and hope it works for you.

Pierre,It sounds like you have managed to start the engines a few times, so I think it sounds like you might be having some operational errors as Dan and Unnamed (Name, please) have commented. Try those. I might also suggest that you make sure the throttles and prop condition levers are in the right locations. As for the FMS, some more information, please. Do the other electronics work? (Have you turned on the generators? Can you get the FMS started when running on ground power? Have you tried the on button both in the cockpit, and the pop-up? Does either of them work? (The first few questions here are trying to isolate whether it is an electrical system issue, and the last couple are trying to isolate a SP2 issue.) Try turning it on/off while on ground power. Try turning it on through the cockpit, rather than the pop-up. Report back if you find something. p.s. Your English is actually quite understandable. No apologies needed.

Pierre have you tried following the tutorial flight step by step and seeing if you have the same problems?

I don't know if this will help, but I also had extreme issues starting engines. When you start with the Cessna, turn every thing off, but do not touch Avionics switch. Load J41 and DO NOT TOUCH the batteries, they should be on and leave them on. For some reason when I turned everything off, I could not get the engines to unfeather. Once you get the generator connected, start feathering the engines and then lock them into place. This worked for me and hope it works for you.

Easiest way is to load the JS41 tutorial flight with the cockpit already configured off. Change to the airport you want (with me it was KSEA) and when loaded save the flight.I use KSEA as a hub for some of my flights and all I now need to do to get started is boot the default flight at Friday Harbour with the hang glider thingy then load my KSEA saved flight and all is fine from thereon!

I don't know if this will help, but I also had extreme issues starting engines. When you start with the Cessna, turn every thing off, but do not touch Avionics switch. Load J41 and DO NOT TOUCH the batteries, they should be on and leave them on. For some reason when I turned everything off, I could not get the engines to unfeather. Once you get the generator connected, start feathering the engines and then lock them into place. This worked for me and hope it works for you.

Just a question : Why do you get the generator connected before feathering the engines : I thought they had to be OFF until the engines ran and were stabilized ?Pierre BOILEAU

Pierre,It sounds like you have managed to start the engines a few times, so I think it sounds like you might be having some operational errors as Dan and Unnamed (Name, please) have commented. Try those. I might also suggest that you make sure the throttles and prop condition levers are in the right locations. As for the FMS, some more information, please. Do the other electronics work? (Have you turned on the generators? Can you get the FMS started when running on ground power? Have you tried the on button both in the cockpit, and the pop-up? Does either of them work? (The first few questions here are trying to isolate whether it is an electrical system issue, and the last couple are trying to isolate a SP2 issue.) Try turning it on/off while on ground power. Try turning it on through the cockpit, rather than the pop-up. Report back if you find something. p.s. Your English is actually quite understandable. No apologies needed.

DougAbout the FMS : Yes - other electronics work and NO the generators aren't turned on (even if sometimes I do some tries with them ON) and the FMS doesn't start when running on ground power (in fact all my tries are done with GPU working)When I try to push the ON button of the FMS through the cockpit rather than the pop-up, I have the same result.On the other hand, I must say that, when I succeed in powering up the FMS, sometimes, yes !..., I have no problem to have it back when I stop the avionics for starting engines.I think I'm going to let the JS41 have some rest for a while and I will return to my PMDG MD11 or 744 !Thanks a lotPierre BOILEAU

DougAbout the FMS : Yes - other electronics work and NO the generators aren't turned on (even if sometimes I do some tries with them ON) and the FMS doesn't start when running on ground power (in fact all my tries are done with GPU working)When I try to push the ON button of the FMS through the cockpit rather than the pop-up, I have the same result.On the other hand, I must say that, when I succeed in powering up the FMS, sometimes, yes !..., I have no problem to have it back when I stop the avionics for starting engines.I think I'm going to let the JS41 have some rest for a while and I will return to my PMDG MD11 or 744 !Thanks a lotPierre BOILEAU

Based on this, I'm guessing that maybe you should have the Gens on when the engines are running, or that you otherwise don't have enough power for the FMS. But, the fact that you can't get it to turn on at all (or sporadically) is a bit of a mystery. Enjoy the MD11.

DougAbout the FMS : Yes - other electronics work and NO the generators aren't turned on (even if sometimes I do some tries with them ON) and the FMS doesn't start when running on ground power (in fact all my tries are done with GPU working)When I try to push the ON button of the FMS through the cockpit rather than the pop-up, I have the same result.On the other hand, I must say that, when I succeed in powering up the FMS, sometimes, yes !..., I have no problem to have it back when I stop the avionics for starting engines.I think I'm going to let the JS41 have some rest for a while and I will return to my PMDG MD11 or 744 !Thanks a lotPierre BOILEAU

Pierre, I just got this plane a few days ago myself and after having completed the tutorial flight I tried setting up a cold and dark flight myself buy using a powered off C-172. For what ever reason I could not get the FMS to power on either. The only thing that solved it for me was using the coldanddark.exe that another fellow on this forum made. Now what I do is start a free flight with the J41 at what ever airport I want then when the flight loads I press Tab-Q and the J41 goes cold and dark. Then when I power on the batteries and GPU, the FMS will now power up without having to start the engines. I think part of the problem I was having when I created my own cold and dark flight with the C-172 was that I was turning off the avonics button and then when I loaded the J41 the FMS wouldn't power on. Not sure if that was it or not, but using the coldanddark.exe has solved my problems.Sean Campbell

I've never used the cold and dark default cessna to get my JS41 cold and dark. I've always had success by simply shutting everything down in the JS41 and saving it. Voila! However, you must first start with a simple default plane (I use the trike) before loading a saved JS41. My trike isn't cold and dark, it doesn't seem to matter.It is important to not have a complex airplane set as default, and if loading a saved JS41 flight to first load a simple default then load the saved JS41. At least that is my experience.

I've never used the cold and dark default cessna to get my JS41 cold and dark. I've always had success by simply shutting everything down in the JS41 and saving it. Voila!

I do what Dan does as well. I load the default flight, then load my saved flight, and then move the bird to wherever I want it to be. I use REX 2.0, so, the weather follows me (I usually use real time weather and move it to somewhere where the weather is, um, interesting.) With the other birds that have panel save settings, I put a default bird at the airport I want and then change it and then load the panel state I want. Works everytime.

I do what Dan does as well. I load the default flight, then load my saved flight, and then move the bird to wherever I want it to be. I use REX 2.0, so, the weather follows me (I usually use real time weather and move it to somewhere where the weather is, um, interesting.) With the other birds that have panel save settings, I put a default bird at the airport I want and then change it and then load the panel state I want. Works everytime.

Doug, DanYou know what....I'm happy ...it works, engines start !Of course there is always the little problem with the FMS which is always refusing to power up, but a first step is done.More over, before shutting down the J41 to save the cold and dark flight, the FMS was OK, (I'd just loaded FSX, choose the J41 airplane and launch the flight !). Perhaps I did something wrong with these d.. power and condition levers or with the feathering.I remain confident.Thanks a lot !!Pierre BOILEAU - LFRS

I spent yesterday reading about the problems with the FMC failing to power up. I now have the same problem. I say now, because when I first started to familiarise myself with the J41 the FMC worked fine. So the big question is what changed on my computer. Well from my perspective nothing. So is there something in the J41 software that is corrupting a file? I don't know I'm just posing the question, I suggest this is something for PMDG to investigate. Whilst browsing the forum yesterday I also noticed a few post's relating to problems with the RMU not working. I had the same problem , but unlike the FMC this had never worked,. I followed the recommendations made in the forum and uninstalled and reinstalled FSX SP2, checked to see if the glassga font was present in the windows font library and the reinstalled the J41, selecting the repair option. The RMU now it works fine. It had been suggested that these actions might fix the FMC power problem, in my case it didn't.So I'm still in my steep learning curve attempting to master this aircraft, but feel that I can't enjoy the full simulation until the FMC is fixed.Chris Knight

When I got the J41 a week ago I was having trouble with the FMC powering up as well. I tried shutting down the J41 to a cold state then saving the flight, however sometimes when I would reload the flight and I had it powered up the FMC would not power up sometimes. It was about a 50/50 chance that I would get it to work.Since then, I downloaded the simple Coldanddark.exe that another fellow wrote. It's simple now. I load the J41 where ever I want it. Once it loads its running with everything on, I press TAB-Q and it sets the a/c to a cold and dark state, plus now the FMC always powers up. It's a lot easier imho, than loading a saved flight, then changing locations, then changing the time.The Coldanddark.exe is posted in this forum somewhere. There is also another similar tool that uses FSUIPC, I am using the one that doesn't need FSUIPC.

Most likely something that you do not consider significant did change.I think that the problems some users are seeing while others don't are related to the lack of a panel state load/save feature in the JS4100 product. The state of some simulation variables will be different depending on the exact procedure you use to load the plane, which could explain why the "colddark.exe" solves the problem for at least some users.If the colddark.exe solution does not work for you (or you don't want to use it for some reason), try the following:* Make sure that you have DisablePreload=1 in your fsx.cfg* On the "Free Flight" screen, select the "AirCreation Trike" and the location where you want to start from. Then select "Fly Now"* Once the Trike has loaded, turn off the engine using the on/off switch. Don't touch anything else.* Load the JS1000These are the exact steps that I use, and I've never had any problems with the FMC.The JS4100 does not load completely dark this way, but it is simple enough to turn off the few switches on the overhead that are in the wrong position. The key thing to remember is to use the unfeather pumps before starting the engines, or they will fail to start correctly.