A few weeks back I began to experience an unhappy phenomenon where my FSX session would suddenly be interrupted by a very hard system lockup and a loud sound loop of the engine drone of my 737 which sounded like a loud BUZZING noise. The only action possible was a physical reset of the PC (hard reset). Note that this was NOT a Blue-Screen CTD. The video was frozen, the sound was looping. An additional problem was unexplained stutters that I could NOT seem to get rid of, no matter what I did with NVidia Inspector or the NVidia Control Panel (driver control software in Windows 7 for the GTX690).

 

Naturally, my first assumption was my PC was the trouble, it never even dawned on me that a bit of software could somehow be involved. Short story: I tore my machine apart and replaced almost every component part, the memory I replaced three times...thinking each time I had fixed the issue. I backed the overclock down from 4.8 Ghz to 4.4. I blew all the dust out inside the system. I hard-coded the memory timing in the BIOS. I was on the verge of repacing the motherboard and CPU! Frustrated? Ready to donate my multi-dollar PC to charity? YOU BET.

 

Then I began to think about my add-on hardware, particularly all my stuff from VRinsight. Now, the MCP-II is controlled by Linda (free here on Avsim), but the V737 Overhead and the CDU-II Flight Management Computer pieces are controlled by VRiSim Software. Over on the VRinsight.com website, I read a remark where a user stated that this software was very resource-hungry and could take up to 28% of CPU cycles, even when 'not doing much of anything.' Well, I could fly without my beloved CDU-II and my 737 Overhead, but there had to be a workaround, and this same poster said going into task manager in Windows 7 and reducing the priority on the VRiSim software -might- help.

 

The early results look hopeful that forcing VRiSim.exe to low level priority in Windows 7 may be a great workaround for the unexplained crashing shortly after takeoff (typically about 10 minutes or more into a flight). The symptoms exhibited are much like a DRIVER issue - a sudden unexplained hard system lockup!

 

VRiSim.exe eating 28% of processor time? Yikes! That got me looking about on the web for a utility to 'limit' the CPU slices consumed by VRSim.exe instead of manually addressing it via the task manager in Win7. Found it - see below.

 

**** NEWS FLASH! **** Conducting testing on two pieces of Free Software which seemto offer promise to relieving this issue:

 

GAME BOOSTER (shuts down unneccessary Windows 7 services so more CPU slices available for gaming) -plus-

 

PROCESS TAMER (allows you to customize tasks automatically for specific programs, e.g. FSX gets High Priority and FORCED to HIGH, while VRSim.exe gets FORCED to BELOW NORMAL it's running just fine only taking 16% of CPU. FYI, other than FSX, the only process that is of note in terms of resources during flight is VRSim. You the user can graphically see what's happening during flight in the Process Tamer Configuration window. You can change Task Priorities "on the fly" and see how they impact your gaming experience. Hint: FSX should be forced to HIGH, while VRSim.exe should be forced to BELOW NORMAL. Just for grins, I also forced AivlaSoft's EFB Data Provider and EZCA (EZDok camera software) to BELOW NORMAL as well as REX ESSENTIAL.

 

 

In the graphic above, you can see the CPU instruction for FSX.exe is 65%, and averaging 42% (currently). If VRiSim.exe was at 28%, you would be dangerously close to cpu saturation, which could (I'm guessing) cause freezes/stutters/crashes, yeah? So how crucial is process tamer? Pretty important, it 'seems' to me in the early going. VRiSim.exe may be using a lot of resources because the CDU-II is constantly refreshing distances to waypoints during flight (guessing). I don't think the V737 OVHD by itself is a cause.

 

I think Andy's idea of 'when worlds collide' may well have been the problem. Interestingly, REX Essential is NOT a villian here. It is set to 'forced low' by me in the Process Tamer and no problems. Snagit32 and SnagitEditor.exe are utilities I used to capture the screenshot for this post. They were not in use during the flight. DK Service.exe is Diskeeper, it knows enough to not run during the flight. Wininit and Winlogon are running but not using any cpu cycles during the flight.

 

Now here's some screen shots of Game Booster, first the "launch screen" you use to select a game, (highlight it) then click the big BOOST & LAUNCH button at the bottom of the screen, and all the unneeded Windows services will be shut off until you quit your game, at which time Game Booster will turn them all back ON again!

 

 

Before you use Game Booster, you are presented with a configuration screen (you can come back to it any time) where you can put a checkmark into processes you don't think you need! I've enclosed my configuration screen as a guide...

 

 

I highly recommend the two programs I mention here - both are freebies... no, I'm not a spammer. I flew problem free / stutter free at Night from complex airports (FSDreamteam's KLAX to FSDreamteam's KLAS) without incident. Cautiously hopeful. Cranked my overclock back up to 4.8 Ghz on air cooling (Noctua DH-14). So far... so good, but it's early days.

 

Hope the two programs I mentioned prove of use to some others. Thanks to ANDY (the moderator on the VRinsight forums) for his great idea about the VRiSim software possibly causing issues... looks like maybe he is on to something.

 

FYI here's my specs

 

System elements:

_________________________________________________

 

Win7 64bit Ultimate all service packs/patches

ASUS P8P67 Pro rev 3.1 Mobo

64MB Corsair Vengeance LoProfile 1866mhz

Crucial M4 500GB SSD

Western Digital 1TB Black Sata III 7200 rpm x 2

EVGA GTX690 Dual Keppler GPU (SLI on 1 Card)

Intel i7 2600k 4.8 Ghz - Hyperthreading OFF

Noctua DH-14 Air Cooler

Coolermaster HAF-X case with dual rooftop fans, extra GPU fan

Corsair AX850 Gold 80 fully-modular PSU

 

Control Surfaces/Panels

Thrustmaster Hotas Warthog Throttle/Joystick duo

Saitek Combat Rudder Pedals

Saitek Radio Comms Panel

VRinsight MCP Combo II (Boeing)

VRinsight V737 OVHD

VRinsight CDU-II

I'm going back to the drawing board. If Andy Digital can make all of HIS VRi stuff work PLUS uses Linda without a problem, clearly some THING in my setup is awry. I will completely uninstall the VRi drivers, modules and software, and start all over... one way or another --- I intend to whip VRiSim.exe into proper operation - even if I have to wipe my system and reinstall all of it... yesterday I was successful in getting VRiSim to ZERO percent if I used VRiSim to control every bit of my VRi hardware. Then I reinstalled my Solid State Disk and whammo - some stuff has gone sideways - wow what a nightmare - I remember I totally reinstalled LINDA from scratch --- hmmm....

 

Maybe I have an idea...

 

Serious? You could say I'm serious.

Happy to report that all problems are solved, and none of my VRinsight hardware is dragging down my CPU. Pictures and solution are at underlined link.

 

FINAL SOLUTION posted Sept 20, 2012 on VRinsight Forums

by Robert McDonald - Avsim Member / Hardware Reviewer (non-staff)

 

The time, effort, and worry invested on this was pretty substantial. I share only for those who seek relief from similar problems.

Prior to discovering the fix, VRiSim.exe was eating 16 to 25% of CPU slices during flight ops - which was murdering my system performance, and causing crashes.

My theory of how this happened is not fully formulated, but revolves around a number of system crashes, which might or might not have been caused by this problem. Also possible that some files in Linda and or FSUIPC may have been corrupted when those hard lockups occurred. Not a CTD - a full blown system failure, which in every case meant pressing the reset button and rebooting. Also possible, some older VRinsight drivers may have been left behind. I discovered a great driver uninstaller specific to VRinsight hardware, and the Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL) certified drivers for the VRi hardware chipset located on the FDTI website. My post over at VRinsight forums has links to both of those software bits.

Well, there WAS a bit more to the FINAL SOLUTION than I'd hoped... apparently a combination of elements were conspiring - so I decided to knock them all down at one time. Thus far results look very GOOD.

 

Read the blow-by-blow at VRinsight forum

 

As always - perform a full system backup BEFORE you attempt major repairs to your setup!