On three occasions recently, always towards the end of perfect flights otherwise, a simple change of View results in a black screen and moments later a total shutdown of the PC! Not just a CTD, but, yes, the machine suddenly switches itself off! I was running FSX and JS41 only, no other appsDoes anyone have any idea why this might be happening? My machine is a Sony laptop model VGN Z31VN, 32-bit, 4GB RAM, Intel Core2 Duo CPU P9600 @ 2.66GHZ.With thanks!David

Could be a couple things:- Exactly which OS are you running? You say "32-bit" there, so it could be an out-of-memory error. FSX is very prone to these unless you use a 64-bit version of Windows.- It could be the uiautomationcore issue if you're running Win7 - unzip and place the dll file here into your FSX folder: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28441/UIAutomationCore.zip

Your computer may be overheating. This has happened to me a few times while using high detailed addons, the computer will start to overheat and shutdown to protect it's components from being ruined. One way to tell that this is about to happen if you touch that little transformer box that is on the power cord (I don't know what it is called) you can almost burn yourself. This is just what I believe to be the problem from my experience with the same situation.hope this helps,Kevin W.

Thanks Kevin and Ryan. I'm stuck with Vista 32-bit for now, if that's the issue ... and, yes, the transformer is pretty hot. Perhaps the REX Weather Engine is causing the overload. Maybe I should try with prior REX texture installation but no continuous updates??And guess what: it just happened again, complete shutdown, on a perfect ILS into Zurich. Oh bother!! :( Best wishes,David

David, You can install CoreTemp and monitor Your CPU temperatures, maybe it's really getting to high.

REX is not overheating your system, I know that much. FS itself uses WAY more CPU than REX.

any logs of the crashes in the event viewer? I can see your CPU is not overclocked but still, maybe running a stability test while keeping an eye on temperatures could help you determine if there's something wrong with your system in general, and see if it tends to overheatprime95 and furmark (to stress your GPU) for example. CoreTemp and HWMonitor to monitor temperatures

Your computer may be overheating. This has happened to me a few times while using high detailed addons, the computer will start to overheat and shutdown to protect it's components from being ruined. One way to tell that this is about to happen if you touch that little transformer box that is on the power cord (I don't know what it is called) you can almost burn yourself. This is just what I believe to be the problem from my experience with the same situation.hope this helps,Kevin W.

It would be extremely unusual for a PC to shut down due to over heating. Most CPU's these days recognise they are over heating and slow themselves down to prevent it. Power supply overheating on the other could do it. If the power supply is not big enough for the job it will run hot and will shut down at a certain point. If it is running near its rated max then it can get flakey as well and not deliver correct voltages and the PC will do all sorts of wierd things.

Grzegorz,Ryan,Dario,John,I really appreciate your further thoughts on this. So the front runners would seem to be power supply overdemand with a possibility of general system instability ... It obviously surprises me that this should occur at all. It's never happened running any other app combination, I must say.Fingers crossed!Best wishes,David

Just to report back in case it's helpful to anyone. Following a series of sudden, total PC shutdowns on final approach in the JS41 (especially in bad weather), I did install the excellent core temperature monitor CORE TEMP by Arthur LIberman. It confirmed the PC was running way too hot and the cause seemed to be dust settled on the processors' heat exchangers inside the PC. Very careful and gentle blow-through with a compressed air cannister, the sort used to clean camera lenses, apparently did the trick. The dust was visible as it exited the grilles - and the processors' temperature hasn't gone into triple digits or shut down since!So thanks again to all those who took the time and trouble to advise in this forum. Great help.:( Best wishes,David Abrahams

Glad to hear you got it figured out David - you may want to look into purchasing an aftermarket cooler for the CPU though if it's that close that some dust can get it to overheat.

Not to mention the fact, that stock coolers for CPUs like i7 are unable to cool them at 100% for longer than few seconds, shame on you Intel!