newbie: blackened captain's monitors before start / saving flightplan ...

[hariseldon 2]

Hi,I've just purchased and flawlessly installed the 747X 1while following the Normal Procedures manual (#5) and after setting up the FMC, all three captain's monitor suddenly blackened, as well as the FMC iteself (while the two flight officer monitors stayed on, as well as his FMC), and I don't have the faintest idea about what may I possibly have done (I swear I did not touch anything related to lights...) ... isn't there a quickstart for inexperienced players? 2as I have programmed a long haul, from KIAH to EDDF, still I haven't found a way to save or retrieve a flight plan, neither with FMC or through AddOns/PMDG menu ... thanks for any help

[vc10man 732]

Hi hariseldon. Rules of the PMDG Forum is that you sign your post with your name, or you run the risk of your post being deleted. Warnings have been posted by the PMDG Administrator. The black screens you are seeing could be a licence issue, in which case, you may have to contact PMDG via a ticket and they will clear any licence issues. If there are no licensing issues and you have started in a Cold & Dark mode from the drop-down menu, then you will have to power the aircraft.

[hariseldon 2]

ok for the rules, thanks: Marco Gabbrielli------------------------------I started in a cold & dark situation, yet the aircraft is powered, as otherwise I won't have flight officer monitors on, as well as lightining and air conditioning operating sounds and FMC ... I wouldn't say about a licence issue, I purchsed the 747 a week ago, and I had no problems installing it, and granting access to all requested gauges permissions ...

[ubersu 78]

ok for the rules, thanks: Marco Gabbrielli------------------------------I started in a cold & dark situation, yet the aircraft is powered, as otherwise I won't have flight officer monitors on, as well as lightining and air conditioning operating sounds and FMC ... I wouldn't say about a licence issue, I purchsed the 747 a week ago, and I had no problems installing it, and granting access to all requested gauges permissions ...

Make sure you have either external power or the apu on... DJ

[sheepfu 3]

In order for it to be a power issue, there would have to be a failure of the Left side bus. Otherwise, Captains side panels would be the only ones working. It is not unusual for the CDU to blank out for a few seconds once the EXEC button is hit. However the neither the CDU nor the FMS have any control over the power system. Also if one were to assume that it is a power issue, then the standby power as well as the left side bus would have to be off with the automatic cross tie open. Thats a lot of misconfiguration. My guess would be one of a few things: 1. Bad install (even though it appeared flawless)2. Bad Activation3. Loading 747 after flying a different aircraft (not fresh start)4. In full screen mode and not windowed mode (can cause random strange issues)

[hariseldon 2]

In order for it to be a power issue, there would have to be a failure of the Left side bus. Otherwise, Captains side panels would be the only ones working. It is not unusual for the CDU to blank out for a few seconds once the EXEC button is hit. However the neither the CDU nor the FMS have any control over the power system. Also if one were to assume that it is a power issue, then the standby power as well as the left side bus would have to be off with the automatic cross tie open. Thats a lot of misconfiguration. My guess would be one of a few things: 1. Bad install (even though it appeared flawless)2. Bad Activation3. Loading 747 after flying a different aircraft (not fresh start)4. In full screen mode and not windowed mode (can cause random strange issues)

- I don't know what to say about #1 and #2, because everything went smooth: purchase, download, registration, validation: no faults at all - concerning #3, I always make a fresh start when flying complex models: I think I'll try again with another flight from scratch before uninstalling and reinstalling ... - about #4: on my PC, if I want to play full windowed mode, (as a matter of fact) sometimes I have first to Alt-Enter to fullscreen for a second and then Alt-enter back, because -after loading- the FSX flight screen won't display on my desktop, and this happens mostly with complex aircrafts (I own Cessna Mustang, Ifly 737, LevelD767, and 747) ... it's a long time installation with lots of addons ... thanks anyway for the valuable hints

[sheepfu 3]

Full screen mode causes problems with systems that operate outside of FSX and then transmit data to an object in FSX. Going to full screen at all can cause issues. Just to test, try setting up the fmc without FSX going into full screen mode at all. See if this fixes the issue.

[hariseldon 2]

fixed; no more experiencing the issue; thanks