FS9 will "freeze up" on me in the middle of a flight. It is hard to reproduce this problem as it can "hang" at anytime during a flight and in any geographical location and at will. Simply I never know when it is going to lock up. I do not lose the video picture but it "freezes" like a still camera shot. No mouse or other keyboard command will work to "end the flight" so I am forced to restart the computer. It does not freeze on every flight. I read a thread on this issue awhile back re FS9 which I was not flying at the time- I can not locate that thread again. I have reinstalled FS9 4 times. I have reinstalled the very latest video drivers from ATI several times. I have also layed DX9b over the video driver install each time and vice versa. I have tried every combination of install but I still get this stupid "hang".I have tried several video cards in the last few weeks including the ATI 9800 Pro. I took that back and opted for the lessor ATI9600 XT thinking it might be a power issue with the ATI 9800 Pro but they both behave the same...I still get the hang or freeze on every 3rd or 4th flight session. It can happen in 3 minutes or after 3 hours..I never know when the hang will come.I have an Athlon 2Ghx, 4X Video AGP, 1 Gig DDR Ram, 350 Watt PS, WinXP w/SP1. Yes ! I have tried a clean boot install, you name it. Can any one help or at least tell me I should "forgeddaboudit" if the problem can not be fixed. Oh yeah! I have the latest Version of FSUIPC and have installed it per Pete Dawsons instructions. My only add-ons are GoFlight Modules and a CH Yoke and Pedals. No extra add-on software...HelpKosmo007

Kosmo007Fair chance this is heat related- possibly CPU or Chipset getting to warm.FS is very CPU intensive.Back in the early days of FS2002 I had exactly the same problems with this PC- only difference then was an older Graphics card. The problem would happen - total freeze- reset to start - no other way out-any when from 5 mins up to 60 mins into a flight.Adding a chipset fan and more - lots more- cooling to the CPU cured it for once and all.Might be worth installing Motherboard Monitor 5 and let it monitor your CPU temps- it can provide a continuous readout in the taskbar and a text log. You CPU ( I guess the same as mine- Althon 2000XP) is probably going to get unhappy with sustained temps in excess of 50C- mine was getting up to 55-58C with the crashes- nowadays maxes at about 46C with FS settings maxed- online-etc etc. .The other possibilty that springs to mind is inadequate PSU but your 350W should by rights be good enough.My system is similar to yours AMD2000XP/Nvidia 4x/128mb/512MB DDRAM/WinXP/550W PSU nothing overclocked.Good LuckDave

Dave,thanks for the reply.When I put my hand near the video card and proc in the case it is plenty cool. I do have an extra fan blowing direct on the ATI 9600 and it also blows on the processor too. The processor already has a fan built in and so does the video card.Before I applied the extra fan,about a week ago, the video card would get pretty warm to the touch of the tranisters etc. but now it is always cool so I wonder if it is heat? I have no other devices pulling juice from the 350 Watt PS except a floopy and a CD. I do have Goflight Modules but they are on a powered USB Port. Other than that just the CH Yoke and Pedals off the integrated USB's.I am sure other people have had this problem as I remember a long string about FS9 "hangs" and "freezes", but I can not seem to locate the string with those key words....Joe (kosmo0070

I recall reading in a similar thread that CTD is connected to an anomaly with winter textures. The cure, if this is the root of your problem, is to go into settings, display and change terrain texture size from large to medium.Sherm

Hi, I don`t know if this will fix the problems but try it. This issue below will only create CTD, not hang or freeze."display and change terrain texture size from large to medium."You don't need to do this if you change this below.There is know issue in fs2004 that`s cause always CTD on the same spot on few area only, I don`t know about most area you fly in fs. To fix this: In the TERRAIN.CFG file in the FS9 folder,make a backup of the Terrain.cfg first, open it in Notepad and replace all and each MaskClassMap=1 AND MaskClassMap=3 to MaskClassMap=0. Save the file and re-start FS. These change will only remove the under texture from the road and rivers, almost non noticable anyways.-If you are using 3rd party landclass , you need to download the Joachim's fix and textures.http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=search*-*Also try to set your video cards; Fast write to off.*-*Disabling FORCE Feedback, specialy when you land.RegardsChris

Hi!Thank you Chris for your tip. I had a crash sistematically on the trip LFMN/EBBR at 15mn from wpt BARSO to wpt IRMAR with the PMDG 737-700NG. A very good friend of mine, indicated me that there are some geographical points on the FS9 program where, under winter textures, the PC would crash. I verify several times the same route, with the winter textures, and I had always a crash at the T/C FL310 just prior IRMAR.I tried the summer textures with the same flight, and had no crashes.When I saw your maessage, I have 0 all the lines in the TERRAIN.CFG as you indicated, and under winter textures, I had no more crashes!I can not tell anything about changes on the ground since I do not care at all in that respect. I go for full navigation and therefore I keep my nose on the instruments.Thanks very much for your precious tip.Hope it will help others as well.I enter the following route in the FMC:LFMN......NI051/KOLON/BARSO/IRMAR/BLONA/KINES etc... until EBBR.RakhamPIV 2.53 Ghz 1536 DDR RAM ATI Radeon 9700 Pro WinXP ProYoke & Pedals CH Products

Well back to the drawing board. I have a AMD 3000+ processor and 1024 Meg RAM, NVIDA GeForce FX5900 Ultra with 256 MB RAM and I did not expect any freeze problems. I changed Texture.cfg and changed terrain texture size from large to mediumas suggested. I have VATSIM, SBRelay, AS2004 on a networked machine so my main computer is basically

If your system is locking tight, and even Ctrl/Alt/Delete fails, then there may be another culprit--a failing power supply. Even a falloff of five pct in your voltages can be enough to lock a system, and is more likely to happen when the system is running with an app that's driving it hard.If your system has a voltage monitor, you might want to fire it up and watch the voltages while MSFS runs... Check out -12 and +12.... If either falls into the +/- 11.5 range, that could cause a hard freeze.Aside from that, I wouldn't call your main computer "clean" if you have VATSIM, SBRelay and the PMDG 737.... Those are add-ons, and the only true test of isolating the issue from MSFS vs. an Add-on vs. your system is to delete all traces of MSFS, then reinstall, test, and add the add-ons one by one until you hit a point of failure.I am hoping the issue is a simple one of a power supply. Sometimes, just blasting it with a blower to clear dust away from the contacts is enough to bring it back to health...-John

How do you get a voltage monitor? If it is voltage why does it only occur with FS9? This is a new machine and I doubt if much dust has had time to collect.The main computer has FS9 running with FSNav only active, all other add-ons are on the network computer. I have not run

Not sure if the thread is still around as its been over a year and a half now, but I had those exact same problems with FS2002. I tried everything concievable, and what it turned out to be in my case was the Athlon. Not saying all Athlons do this, nor am I trying to promote the Pentium chip and or Intel boards, but ever since I got this Intel/pentium setup not ONE freeze/lockup! The only things I changed were (a) the board, (:( the processor.Tests before replacing the board included all typical driver upgrades, memory tests galore, new power supply, multiple video cards, removed every PCI card one by one, etc etc etc...I could go on and on- and the worst thing about it is that it would even freeze during the windows 98 re-install- now THAT was the most annoying part! I even opened the case and turned a fan directly onto the board- it still froze up. I thought of maybe setting the computer in the driveway and running over it repeatably but the Wife wasn't going for that, so I took the advice of a friend and dumped the board/processor.Man- please this is taking me back to bad memories so I need to stop now lol!EDIT- Yah and now as I read your post again relating to a nice 45 minute flight without a freeze, then BAM open something or breathe the wrong way and it freezes-- sounds too familiar! Its like a certain power/heat load that triggers this problem. I even used to run out and turn off the clothes dryer or dishwasher thinking it was robbing voltage from my computer- again Wife not happy :)

"Is there any drainage from the main computer through WideFS to the networked computer?"Possibly, although I am now leaning away from voltage as an issue. I did have a similar problem a few months back, but it only showed itself in one app--my TV Tuner. Since that involved an external card, I was drawing more power than I would under normal circumstances. It's possible the hit on the LAN port/card on the computer is enough to tip the scales...Most modern MB's are equipped with voltage sensors and have software that can read them. A canned system like a Compaq or a Dell might not... Sometimes, simply a visit to the BIOS will allow you to pull up a page with voltage readings.The problem with the scenario is it isn't a "standard" FS9 setup. This is an application specific mix of software and hardware... Although many tasks are offloaded to a second PC, you still have a channel of communication and many pieces other than FS9 involved. My guess is it's one or more of those pieces that's causing the issue, and I'm sorry to say I can't help you there since I don't have that mix of apps. I can say that SFO alone doesn't cause me any issues, and also I'm certain that the issues described are outside of the "Terrain CTD" issue that's been hashed around lately.Only thing you can do is rule out COF as the culprit, then throw in each add on until you find the one that seems to break things. Remember, these add-ons often throw in extra dll's into the modules folder--dll's that weren't part of the base COF package. That's why I wish it would be a H/W problem, since I haven't seen this type of CTD ever reported with COF except on a broken system...

The whole thing is confusing but it seems like a scenery problem.I just flew KPHL to KBOS same aircraft PMDG 737, same VATSIM setup and AVC voice on the network machine. No problem (occasional stutter

Hi guys,since I started this latest thread I feel I need to yell "Time!"I have tried clean installs of FS9 several times as some have suggested, but still manage to get a freeze hang up in mid flight at times. I must reboot when it happens. I have put fans on the video card and CPU and still I get hangs. Sometimes when I first turn on the comuter and immediately get into FS9 and am in the air I get a hang. Other times I can fly for hours with no problem - but then bam! it may or may not act up.Since I have a heavy duty electric back up power supply on my sim computer I would think that would eliminate "spikes" of power and more or less provide adequate level juice! (I am not positive about this.) My hangs do not occur on any specific route or area but I will pay more attention to that possibility at the next hang. I also have MSFS02, and all things equal, NEVER get a hang on 02.I have not tried the terrain.cfg fixes yet but will do so.....thanks for any continuing help.Kosmo007