When I booted up FSX today the Aircraft selection screen was completely black and when I proceed into FSX the main screen is also completely black.  After searching the forums for answers I've tried a system restore (Win 7) but the problem remains.  Deleted the fsx.cfg but when FSX is rebuilding the .cfg file I get a message that it cannot find the default flight file and the process aborts.  Now I'm at the stage where I'll have to try and repair FSX.  Question:  Do I need to un-install SP1 and SP2 before I run the repair?  or can I just run repair and then re-install SP1 and 2?, assuming the repair solves the problem.  I'm sure this problem is self-inflicted but for the life of me I can't figure out what caused it.  I did install an add-on aircraft this morning but I've deleted it from the SimObjects directory but that didn't help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honestly if you don't have too many addons to reinstall I would just reinstall it from scratch and save yourself a bunch of time and headaches.

 

Which addon did you install?

 

 

Which addon did you install?

 

It was an FSX aircraft downloaded from Simviation, but according to the site this particular file has over 8,000 downloads so I don't think the file itself was the problem.

If you go ahead with the Repair, do uninstall both SP2 then Sp1 before running it.  After completing, run the Sim and start a flight to be sure it's working, close and reboot your computer.  Now reinstall SP1 and do the same.  Finally reinstall SP2.  Run-close-reboot and the if you are not on a SSD- do a defrag.

 

 

Do I need to un-install SP1 and SP2 before I run the repair? or can I just run repair and then re-install SP1 and 2?, assuming the repair solves the problem.

 

No.  Just insert you FSX disks and select repair when asked.  Make sure you start up FSX and run it once.  Then reinstall SP1.  When SP1 is installed, start up FSX again and run it once before reinstalling SP2.

 

Rebuilding your Fsx.cfg is basically the same as repairing your FSX.

 

I wrote about the black screens at aircraft selection and in the view screen several times in the past here.  I have a lot of photoscenery installed.  Photoscenery loads everything even though you may not be flying over it.  I was getting the black screens and it took over 20 minutes for the screens to appear.  In the background I could hear the HDD's thrashing (they were loading the photoscenery).  My FSX was paralyzed until it all loaded.  Then I decided to download and run SceneryConfigEditor and I only activated the addon scenery I was going to be using during the flight.  That fixed the problem. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

 

 

No. Just insert you FSX disks and select repair when asked. Make sure you start up FSX and run it once. Then reinstall SP1. When SP1 is installed, start up FSX again and run it once before reinstalling SP2.

 

Thanks for the info.  I think a repair is the best option for me.  There is no photo scenery on my system and if I wait after the black screen appears there is no drive activity.  Waited 60 mins but the aircraft selection screen remains black, so I must assume something else is causing the problem.  Today I'm enroute from Florida back to Ontario (a Snowbird eh!) so I'll follow up with my results once I'm back home ans settled in.

 

Cheers,

 

Dave W

You didnt remove the plane you use for yoru default flight by any chance did you? That will cause the issue

Go into your FSX.cfg with Notepad and make sure there is nothing after the SITUATION= line. Delete anything that is there, just leaving the line as SITUATION=

 

 

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I used the FSX disks to run the repair, then re-installed SP1 and then SP2, and that solved the problem.  Thanks to everyone here in the forum, the help was much appreciated!

 

Cheers,

 

Dave W

Just insert you FSX disks and select repair when asked. Make sure you start up FSX and run it once. Then reinstall SP1. When SP1 is installed, start up FSX again and run it once before reinstalling SP2.

 

 

I thought I would add this comment for anyone about to attempt a repair of FSX. 

 

I inserted the FSX disk 1 and choose the repair option.  When the repair function completed I tried to run FSX but during the load process it aborted with a "Fatal Error" message. ("Flight Simulator has experienced a fatal error and will now close".)   I rebooted the computer and started up FSX again but the "Fatal Error" message was still there.  Next I reinstalled Service Pack 1 and it completed successfully.  Tried FSX again but still had the error.  With nothing left to lose I decided to install Service Pack 2.  When the installation started a pop-up screen appeared giving me two options for SP2.  The first was to do a repair of Service Pack 2, the second was to un-install it.  I choose the repair option.  When the process finished I tried FSX again.  Success!!!  No more error message and no more black screens.

 

My advise,  if you're attempting an FSX repair, carry on despite the error messages and complete the process before you give up.  The repair is a lot easier then starting all over from scratch and having to re-install all those many, many add-ons!

 

Cheers,

 

Dave W