FSX Hard Lockup; Reboot required; Help?

[DAL488 2]

I have a repeatable issue that I'm looking for some guidance on.

 

I have FSX Gold with Acceleration.  I also have GEX, Ultimate Terrain, Ultimate Traffic 2, A2A GA aircraft.

System:  Gigabyte Z7 mobo 1155 socket, i7-2600 CPU, 8GB RAM, 2X Intel 530 SSDs (1 for FSX, other for Windows), and 2 regular HDs.  Using Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit).

 

The problem I get is FSX will freeze.  I can still see the image, but it's hard locked.  Sound continues in the background.  No error messages of any kind (usually).  When I CTRL-ALT-DEL, the screen just goes black, and I have to reboot by pressing the power off then on.

Sometimes I will get a BSODs

 - Stop code 0X000000F4 = hardware error of multiple kinds

 - Stop code 0X0000007A = usually related to a hard drive issue

 

When rebooting, almost always, the SATA controller cannot find the hard drive that has Windows7 on it.  I can fix this by disconnecting the SATA cables, power on, shutdown, then reconnect the cable and boot.

 - sometimes I get a DISK BOOT FAILURE when W7 tries to load.  I have to insert a W7 repair disk, it reinstalls the BOOT stuff, and Windows starts.

 - sometimes I get the DISK BOOT FAILURE and repair doesn't work, and then I'm screwed.  Reinstall W7, thank goodnes for my backups.

 

I have yet to experience this with any other software other than FSX.  I play all sorts of games on Steam like Civilization, Train Sim, first person shooters, etc.

 

So, I think I have some piece of hardware that's failing.

 - Back in Mar-2014, I had the issue where the primary HD wasn't showing up on the on-board SATA controller during boot up.  I thought the HD had failed, so I bought a new HD and one of the SSD.  That's when I installed W7 onto the SSD.  It worked well for a while

 - Maybe Sep-2014, I had it again, and decided by on-board SATA controller was going bad.  Bought a PCI-e SATA controller.  Worked well for a while.

 - Last week, I then had multiple hard lockups in FSX, pretty much repeatable after anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes of flying.  Most A2A C182, but I did get one in the Real Air Duke, and the default C172. 

 - Finally, the other day, I got one and I wasn't able to repair the DISK BOOT FAILURE.  I bought another SSD (to install FSX onto) and did a complete reinstall of W7 and FSX.

 - Just 1 hour ago, on my fresh system, it did it again.  Thank goodness it booted, but I did have to disconnect teh SATA cables first.

 

I can't figure out what hardware needs replacing, if any (could just be FSX I suppose...).  If it's hardware, is it the mobo?  I really doubt it's a SSD or HD, as I've had this occur with various HD configs.  I switched to a different SATA controller, so that can't be it.  I also did MEMTEST on the memory, with no probs.

 

Could it be OOM error, or do those always have a pop-up box?

 

Before I start placing orders for new mobos and other stuff, I thought I would post this and try to get some feedback.

 

Any thoughts appreciated.

James

[cianpars 1,185]

Whenever this happens to me, it's always as a result of overheating.

 

Are you running coretemp or another temperature sensing program to monitor your temps whilst using fsx?

 

FSX is very demanding on hardware especially if you overclock and when a system shuts down unexpectedly like that, you often seem to get the kind of problems you describe when re-booting.

 

If you have an overheating issue, you may need to clean out the dust and check the fans are working.  A good test is to run with the case open - my system runs several degrees cooler like that.

 

IAN

[vonmar 124]

James,

 

Any overclocking?

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[DAL488 2]

Yeah, good advice, thanks Ian.  Yes, Vonmar, it is overclocked.

 

I monitor temps pretty closely, and all's clean inside the case.  I've run Intel Burn Test many times, and the CPU temp never exceed ~70C, which I'm very comfortable with.  I have a Corsair H80i CPU cooler which does a great job.

 

I'm pretty comfortable with the OC I'm using.  It's a i7-2600K default speed at 3.5 ghz (I think).  I've overclocked to 4.2.  I've had it as high as 4.4 ghz and it still makes it through the Intel Burn Test, but the temps are close to 80C, which I don't like.  I'm pretty sure that I turned off all OCing last week, and tested in FSX, but still got the hard lockup.  So, I sorta ruled out the OC as the cause.

 

FYI, I was installing DCS World just a few minutes ago, and it completely locked up during the installation process, in similar fashion requiring a hard reboot and then the same SATA disk issue.  The fact that this lockup occurred during the installation where lots and lots of data is being jammed through the SATA/HD architecture makes me think that the HDs or SATA controller once again are the culprit. I found a program called CrystalDisk which uses the SMART check the integrity of the HDs.  It says they're all good. I don't know for sure.

 

I already bought a replacement mobo, and also a good quality power supply...  I hope I didn't waste a bunch of money...  Troubleshooting these hardware issues seems to be shooting in the dark.

 

James

[Don t moderate me this way 882]

Faulty RAM modules are coming to my mind, but checking core temps would be a good starting point, IMO.

 

 

 

EDIT: Temps have been checked already.

Edited November 27, 2014 by olli4740

[DAL488 2]

Olli, yeah, absolutely.  I made a Memtest boot CD and ran that the other day.  All memory tested good.

 

James

Wow....  just had the same lockup after I tried to open Disk Management within Windows.  Something is failing; geez, I hope it's the mobo, since I already bought that replacement...

[cianpars 1,185]

I've also had a bit of trouble with SATA cables from time to time.  Both poor quality cables, but usually they have a habit of just coming loose due to fan or disk vibration.

 

Maybe worth checking their security.  In this respect, I've been using locking SATA cables since getting the problem.

 

IAN

[DAL488 2]

Ian, yeah, more good advice.  Replacing all the SATA cables was one of my first steps.  Although, the ones I removed were locking so I might revert to those once the new mobo gets installed.

Thnx,

James

[vonmar 124]

"Yes, Vonmar, it is overclocked."

 

That's what I thought.

But I did not see any mention of it in your opening post.

This type of system information is important when asking for help.

 

Just the CPU or Video card also overclocked?

 

Water-cooled?

[cianpars 1,185]

OK, OOMs normally don't result in a complete shut down and I've never come across an intermittent mobo fault - these things tend to either work or pack up completely in my experience.

 

Next check is to try to run the system with half of your RAM out and then try it with the other half.

 

Also worth seeing if you get the same problem with only the SSD's attached - i.e. disconnect the HDs.

 

If that's OK, I would be inclined to look at reinstalling mobo, chip, disk and video drivers.

 

What videocard are you using by the way and what is the output of your PSU?

 

Some of these problems can be quite difficult to diagnose.

 

IAN

[DAL488 2]

So, I wanted to post a quick note to mention that I've solved (well, 95% sure) the issue.

 

I believe that I did have a mobo that was on the fritz, as I resolved the issue by replacing the mobo. Cannot be sure what it was, but likely something to do with the SATA controller, or the south bridge.  I was having all sorts of peculiar things related to the HDs, most of which culminated in a completely locked system, and BSODs with error codes pointing toward HD issues or just hardware failures in general.

 

I should note that I also replaced the power supply at the same time, but I still believe the issue was HD-related.

 

I've used FSX for about 12 hours with the new mobo, one flight was 9 hours.  No problems.

 

Anyway, cost me $hundreds but that wasn't important.  Having my favorite sim fully operational was.

 

James