FSX on SSD is pausing for ~3-5 minutes

[lensman 0]

I'm having an unexpected problem with FSX on an SSD. The full machine specs are below, but the problem is that FSX will pause for several minutes (up to 8 min so far) and then resume. After 2 or 3 pauses at the next pause it CTDs. Using Process Explorer, there is no I/O at all from FSX, and there are 68-73 threads running or waiting to run. Active threads are all in a Wait stateThis happens with default aircraft and scenery, with REX, all PMDG a/c, and FSUIPC running. Only FSX-related software is on the SSD. It's an older 64 GB Kingston SNV425-S2 "desktop bundle" (circa 2009) but not used until Oct. 2011. I'm running W7 64 bit Home Premium on a WD Caviar 1TB 7200 RPM, as system drive and data drive. I've confirmed that TRIM support is turned on.I should add that I ran the OS off the SSD, with FSX on the hard disk, for about 2 weeks, with TRIM turned on. There was no noticeable problem.I don't know what the controller is on the Kingston SSD, but I suspect what's happening is garbage collection. What triggers it is clicking on a menu or a DU; or pressing any keyboard key.I have deleted the FSX.CFG file and allowed FSX to re-create it (several times). The only edits I add are HIGHMEMFIX=1 and those required by REX.So, I'm at a loss. There is no firmware update for this model of SSD on the Kingston web site. Should I replace the SSD? Is there a way to suppress/delay garbage collection? In the Elder Days on LISP machines there was a way to control when GC occurred.Thanks in advance,dan "lensman" davisonSystem: Antec 900 case, 850W XFX PSU, Radeon 6950 2GB GDDR5, Asus P8X58-V-Pro mobo, 8GB Crucial dual-channel memory, CPU i7-2600K@3.4 GHz,

[Guest jahman]

Please post CTD info so we can take a look.Cheers,- jahman.

[lensman 0]

Please post CTD info so we can take a look.Cheers,- jahman.

I hope you mean the data that appears in the Event Viewer. I can't cut-and-paste for some reason, so the most recent in XML format (highly edited). If there's a way to get a full dump of the process, I can use WinDbg to get more information.Note that in every case, it's a different module that faults. I always thought that this exception was a Data Execution Protection error, i.e. trying to access memory outside a process' memory space.Log Name: ApplicationSource: Application ErrorDate: 12/30/2011 8:14:12 PMEvent ID: 1000Task Category: (100)Level: ErrorKeywords: ClassicUser: N/AComputer: striderDescription:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14Faulting module name: atc.dll, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb59Exception code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0x00043cb9Faulting process id: 0x1f9cFaulting application start time: 0x01ccc74796f60805Faulting application path: E:\FSX\fsx.exeFaulting module path: E:\FSX\atc.dllReport Id: bf42ae44-334c-11e1-8d55-14dae9d820beEvent Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-31T01:14:12.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>11484</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>strider</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>fsx.exe</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb14</Data> <Data>atc.dll</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb59</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>00043cb9</Data> <Data>1f9c</Data> <Data>01ccc74796f60805</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\fsx.exe</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\atc.dll</Data> <Data>bf42ae44-334c-11e1-8d55-14dae9d820be</Data> </EventData></Event>Log Name: ApplicationSource: Application ErrorDate: 12/30/2011 5:13:16 PMEvent ID: 1000Task Category: (100)Level: ErrorKeywords: ClassicUser: N/AComputer: striderDescription:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14Faulting module name: uiautomationcore.dll, version: 7.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x4a5bdb1dException code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0x0000e52aFaulting process id: 0x230cFaulting application start time: 0x01ccc71c99bcd53cFaulting application path: E:\FSX\fsx.exeFaulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\uiautomationcore.dllReport Id: 7828aa53-3333-11e1-8d55-14dae9d820beEvent Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-30T22:13:16.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>10860</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>strider</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>fsx.exe</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb14</Data> <Data>uiautomationcore.dll</Data> <Data>7.0.0.0</Data> <Data>4a5bdb1d</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>0000e52a</Data> <Data>230c</Data> <Data>01ccc71c99bcd53c</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\fsx.exe</Data> <Data>C:\Windows\system32\uiautomationcore.dll</Data> <Data>7828aa53-3333-11e1-8d55-14dae9d820be</Data> </EventData></Event>Log Name: ApplicationSource: Application ErrorDate: 12/30/2011 11:41:37 AMEvent ID: 1000Task Category: (100)Level: ErrorKeywords: ClassicUser: N/AComputer: striderDescription:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000Exception code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0x00ffffffFaulting process id: 0x1c88Faulting application start time: 0x01ccc6f452898e65Faulting application path: E:\FSX\fsx.exeFaulting module path: unknownReport Id: 2375d5e7-3305-11e1-8d55-14dae9d820beEvent Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-30T16:41:37.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>10377</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>strider</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>fsx.exe</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb14</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>0.0.0.0</Data> <Data>00000000</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>00ffffff</Data> <Data>1c88</Data> <Data>01ccc6f452898e65</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\fsx.exe</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>2375d5e7-3305-11e1-8d55-14dae9d820be</Data> </EventData></Event>Log Name: ApplicationSource: Application ErrorDate: 12/29/2011 7:45:03 PMEvent ID: 1000Task Category: (100)Level: ErrorKeywords: ClassicUser: N/AComputer: striderDescription:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000Exception code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0xff0f0f0fFaulting process id: 0x1ffcFaulting application start time: 0x01ccc67f3a3bf61eFaulting application path: E:\FSX\fsx.exeFaulting module path: unknownReport Id: 823d488a-327f-11e1-ac9b-14dae9d820beEvent Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-30T00:45:03.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>10154</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>strider</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>fsx.exe</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb14</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>0.0.0.0</Data> <Data>00000000</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>ff0f0f0f</Data> <Data>1ffc</Data> <Data>01ccc67f3a3bf61e</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\fsx.exe</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>823d488a-327f-11e1-ac9b-14dae9d820be</Data> </EventData></Event>Log Name: ApplicationSource: Application ErrorDate: 12/23/2011 11:03:48 PMEvent ID: 1000Task Category: (100)Level: ErrorKeywords: ClassicUser: N/AComputer: striderDescription:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14Faulting module name: PMDG_MD11.DLL, version: 10.0.61355.62, time stamp: 0x49b7c81dException code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0x00154bc5Faulting process id: 0x504Faulting application start time: 0x01ccc1e71aed67a2Faulting application path: E:\FSX\fsx.exeFaulting module path: E:\FSX\GAUGES\PMDG_MD11.DLLReport Id: 47a3781a-2de4-11e1-822f-14dae9d820beEvent Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-24T04:03:48.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>9180</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>strider</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>fsx.exe</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb14</Data> <Data>PMDG_MD11.DLL</Data> <Data>10.0.61355.62</Data> <Data>49b7c81d</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>00154bc5</Data> <Data>504</Data> <Data>01ccc1e71aed67a2</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\fsx.exe</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\GAUGES\PMDG_MD11.DLL</Data> <Data>47a3781a-2de4-11e1-822f-14dae9d820be</Data> </EventData></Event>Log Name: ApplicationSource: Application ErrorDate: 12/23/2011 9:20:22 AMEvent ID: 1000Task Category: (100)Level: ErrorKeywords: ClassicUser: N/AComputer: striderDescription:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000Exception code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0xc183948aFaulting process id: 0x23c4Faulting application start time: 0x01ccc17ae4237072Faulting application path: E:\FSX\fsx.exeFaulting module path: unknownReport Id: 3f574c98-2d71-11e1-822f-14dae9d820beEvent Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-23T14:20:22.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>9124</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>strider</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>fsx.exe</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb14</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>0.0.0.0</Data> <Data>00000000</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>c183948a</Data> <Data>23c4</Data> <Data>01ccc17ae4237072</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\fsx.exe</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>3f574c98-2d71-11e1-822f-14dae9d820be</Data> </EventData></Event>Log Name: ApplicationSource: Application ErrorDate: 12/23/2011 8:57:40 AMEvent ID: 1000Task Category: (100)Level: ErrorKeywords: ClassicUser: N/AComputer: striderDescription:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000Exception code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0x51084d8dFaulting process id: 0x1c40Faulting application start time: 0x01ccc0fc35a8faf6Faulting application path: E:\FSX\fsx.exeFaulting module path: unknownReport Id: 13adabff-2d6e-11e1-822f-14dae9d820beEvent Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-23T13:57:40.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>9115</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>strider</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>fsx.exe</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb14</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>0.0.0.0</Data> <Data>00000000</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>51084d8d</Data> <Data>1c40</Data> <Data>01ccc0fc35a8faf6</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\fsx.exe</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>13adabff-2d6e-11e1-822f-14dae9d820be</Data> </EventData></Event>Log Name: ApplicationSource: Application ErrorDate: 12/22/2011 5:47:15 PMEvent ID: 1000Task Category: (100)Level: ErrorKeywords: ClassicUser: N/AComputer: striderDescription:Faulting application name: fsx.exe, version: 10.0.61637.0, time stamp: 0x46fadb14Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000Exception code: 0xc0000005Fault offset: 0xf845c7d0Faulting process id: 0x16acFaulting application start time: 0x01ccc0caa882b721Faulting application path: E:\FSX\fsx.exeFaulting module path: unknownReport Id: e48e6bcd-2cee-11e1-822f-14dae9d820beEvent Xml:<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="Application Error" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>100</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-12-22T22:47:15.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>9017</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>strider</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>fsx.exe</Data> <Data>10.0.61637.0</Data> <Data>46fadb14</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>0.0.0.0</Data> <Data>00000000</Data> <Data>c0000005</Data> <Data>f845c7d0</Data> <Data>16ac</Data> <Data>01ccc0caa882b721</Data> <Data>E:\FSX\fsx.exe</Data> <Data>unknown</Data> <Data>e48e6bcd-2cee-11e1-822f-14dae9d820be</Data> </EventData></Event>Thanks for any help!!!!dan davison

[Guest jahman]

You are having the following errors:

1. atc.dll (fix)
2. uiautomationcore.dll (fix)
3. PMDG_MD11.DLL (fix1 or fix2)
4. Unknown

You are not having the G3D.dll CTD, but just in cas make sure you are running the latest FSUIPC4 update.Cheers,- jahman.

Edited January 3, 2012 by jahman

[DescendDescend 25]

Two common fixes applied to my SSD's to stop apparent pauses:1) In bios the SSD is set to 'hot swappable'2) See picture:

Edited January 3, 2012 by DescendDescend

[lensman 0]

You are having the following errors:

1. atc.dll (fix)
2. uiautomationcore.dll (fix)
3. PMDG_MD11.DLL (fix1 or fix2)
4. Unknown

You are not having the G3D.dll CTD, but just in cas make sure you are running the latest FSUIPC4 update.Cheers,- jahman.

Hi Jahman,I applied the atc fix, the uicoreautomation fix, the PMDG fix, and the latest FSUIPC update, rebooted, and got mixed success. No CTDs in three tests, but the long pauses still happen. There's no I/O activity on the CPU graph from SysInternals' Process Explorer, but during the long pause there *is* activity on the CPU's GPU. There's usually no activity on the embedded GPU. This was with two-hour flights, one with 4X speedup for about 30 minutes.The new appearance is that when the spinning circle appears, if I click again, the screen gets "fogged", as if a white veil has been drawn over the entire FSX display. It does not matter if the screen in windowed or in full-screen mode, nor does switching between one or the other affect it.Other symptoms are CPU usage drops to 0.25%; only the system idle process uses any notable CPU (90%), there's no significant network activity, and all threads are in "Wait" states of various kinds. I've seen this kind of problem 25-ish years ago when I was writing a VMEbus driver on VMS - I used the queued-IO-wait instruction instead of the queued-IO instruction. The former waited for the I/O operation to finish, the latter just proceeded on its merry way and the device driver writer (i.e. me) had to periodically check that the I/O had completed. In a brief look around with Google and Yahoo I didn't see anything similar.@torkermax - I had not even considered memory timings. The memory is rated at 1600, but CPUZ reports XMP-1600 and JEDEC #4 at 667, voltage 1.5V (I don't overclock memory, and I haven't even started trying to OC this machine). CAS is 9. I will have to find out what "JEDEC 667" means...There must be a multiplier, because SIW reports memory is running at 1333 MHz.@DescendDescend: This board (P8X58-V-Pro Asus) has that BIOS replacement whose letters I haven't learned yet :( , something like EFCI (?). When a calculation finishes I'll check the hot-swappable status of the SSD. It never occurred to me that the power settings in W7 might try to turn off the SSD. I've set the "sleep" time to the same as yours.I very much appreciate the help! dan "lensman" davison

[Guest jahman]

The new appearance is that when the spinning circle appears, if I click again, the screen gets "fogged",

Try running FSX in windowed mode (there is an AutoHotKey macro you can run to automaticaly hide the frame).

Other symptoms are CPU usage drops to 0.25%; only the system idle process uses any notable CPU (90%), there's no significant network activity, and all threads are in "Wait" states of various kinds.

Start Task Manager, add viewable columns for I/O activity, then sort those columnes from high to low to see which process is hogging disk I/O. I often see lsass and crss scan my drives to rebuild the permissions tree.As for your MB, check with the manufacturer's web and make sure you are running the latest BIOS and hardware drivers.Also make sure you enable Windows Update for the latest MSVC and .NET runtimes.Cheers,- jahman.

[lensman 0]

Start Task Manager, add viewable columns for I/O activity, then sort those columns from high to low to see which process is hogging disk I/O. I often see lsass and crss scan my drives to rebuild the permissions tree.

Ooh, good point. Windows search indexer is running, as is google desktop, and I've never watched their I/O. I'veonly watched FSX's I/O. It's also a good point because the timing is right, in the sense that how long the "whiteout/pause" takes and the interval in between them. Even though the Kingston SNV425S2 is 3 GB/sec SATA II, I originally had it plugged into a 6GB/sec SATA III port. I'll make sure it's still plugged into the 6GB/sec port.That won't make the SSD faster, but it should prevent saturation of the port.

Also make sure you enable Windows Update for the latest MSVC and .NET runtimes.

Yes, Windows Update enabled, but it never hurts to check by hand.

As for your MB, check with the manufacturer's web and make sure you are running the latest BIOS and hardware drivers.

Gulp. My BIOS 0801, 08/15/2011, isn't even on the Asus' list of downloadable BIOS for this board. There have been five releases since that date, the most recent 12/02/2011. Guess I'll be flashing a BIOS later today. I *hate* doing that.@torkermax: memory is indeed at 1333 MHz. I won't mess with it!thanks again,dan

[Guest jahman]

Great! Let us know how you fare.Cheers,- jahman.

[lensman 0]

Great! Let us know how you fare.Cheers,- jahman.

What a disaster. The BIOS flashing went OK ... but completely destroyed the boot sector(s) of the W7 HDD. I tried half a dozen "repair" utilities (EasyBCD, testdisk, Paragon something-or-other, EBCD, various live CDs, and W7 "recovery". It would not even boot off the W7x64 DVD. I wound up having to reinstall everything. I had backups of my files, of course, but finding all the programs, blech. When HDD prices come down I'll get an extra HDD and make an image clone. I ran Microsoft Update four times before it was satisfied that I was updated on everything (OS, Office, whatever Silverlight is, but I did not let it update drivers: some were from 2006 (!)). I got those from the mfr's web site.Back to the original issues. The first was pausing, the second "fogging".Pausing: The fresh install of FSX+Acceleration still does the pausing. I set up Task manager, Process Explorer, and Process Monitor (separately) and was stunned by what happens. When FSX pauses, nothing else is increasing its I/O or CPU. FSX is literally being removed from memory. The working set goes from about 1.2GB to 24MB (that's not a typo). After it all "drains" out, it then reloads and after it gets ~75% of the way, the program resumes. virus scanning and Carbonite are turned off, Google Desktop and Windows Search are configured not to touch the SSD (which only has FSX). "Game Booster"-type programs are not in use, and FSUIPC is not loaded. It is as if the program is checkpointing itself, which would be a very nice feature, but I haven't seen that since CRAY OS days.Fogging: Remember, this is a fresh install of W7. When FSX pauses, if I click the mouse a couple times, it still fogs, but eventually (< 5 minutes) comes back. In these cases, FSX does *not* "drain" out of memory. Task Manager lists it as running, Process Explorer does not show any I/O (of any kind) and the working set size does not change. All FSX threads are in either Wait:I/O or Wait:Executive Something state. Now for the real special change: the "fogging" happens in any program, including the windows 7x64 desktop. Happens in Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome, Safari for Windows, Word 2010, Excel 2010, and while running installers. Unlike before re-installing everythingA new behavior: Now the machine runs hot (no I don't overclock). Previously, when running FSX, the temp might spike to the upper 60s, but run in the upper 50'sC. Now, all four cores happily run themselves into the lower 'sC. All temps monitored by RealTemp 3.0 and ASUS's monitoring utilities (AI Suite). No voltage/current changes, just the temp. (I am running the stock cooler: that will be the subject of another post). Leaving services alone, but killing all possible user processes (e.g. Dropbox, Carbonite, Google Desktop, search indexing, yada yada) does not alter the behavior. It happens with the PMDG 737NGX, the PMDG 747X/XF/LCF/8i/8F and the LDS 767.The case has six fans, two 140 mm over the drive bays blowing in, one 140 mm on the side panel blowing in, one 200 mm on top blowing in, and two 140 mm (one on the PSU, one on the case) blowing out. There's also two fans on the Radeon 6950, blowing into the case, but the side fan blows cool air onto it. All are running as fast as they can. The stock Intel CPU cooler fan runs proportionally to the temp of the CPU. I don't know what has changed that the temps are running so high.If you've read this far, thanks, and any advice/comments are welcome.dan "lensman19067" davison