A brief history -  Around June 20^th my computer froze up and I got the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) with a Bad_Header_Pool crash.  So I took it on to my computer guy.  He cleaned things up, updated drivers etc and got the BSOD to clear.  He did find that my hard drive was on its last legs, so I had him order one which was 3 days out.  During the 3 days waiting for the new HD, I put about 10 HRS of flight time in with no problems…smooth ride…no crashes, freezing etc.  I took my computer back to him and had the new HD installed.  I got my computer back and went thru the tedious task of reinstalling everything back to FSX.  After everything was back online, I made my first test flight with the PMDG.  I had a whole slew of wonky twerks running the PMDG that I didn’t have before.  Every time I touched the Display Menu my computer would lock up and I would have to do a hard reboot.  The biggest problem, every minute or so FSX would freeze up for about 10+ seconds running the PMDG.  Other A/C would run a little better only freezing for a few seconds at a time.  So I poked around for a while trying to tweak things with no avail.  Finally I decided maybe it was time to try P3D.  Things are running better and the PMDG is running as it should.  I am glad I tried the change because P3D is awesome so far.  No regrets.   But, I still have the problem with P3D freezing up every minute or so for about 5 seconds running the PMDG. 

 

Running an Alienware 3.60Hz Quad Core, 16GB Ram, GTX690 graphics card.

The biggest problem, every minute or so FSX would freeze up for about 10+ seconds running the PMDG.  Other A/C would run a little better only freezing for a few seconds at a time.  So I poked around for a while trying to tweak things with no avail.  Finally I decided maybe it was time to try P3D.  Things are running better and the PMDG is running as it should.  I am glad I tried the change because P3D is awesome so far.  No regrets.   But, I still have the problem with P3D freezing up every minute or so for about 5 seconds running the PMDG.

 

Are you running an autosave program, or with autosave enabled in FSUIPC? If so, and it is set to save every 60 seconds (or whatever), it may be the cause. The PMDG data saves is extensive, and in order to make it all relate to the same instant, their code freezes everything whilst it is collected and saved.

 

Pete

Running an Alienware 3.60Hz Quad Core, 16GB Ram, GTX690 graphics card.

 

I own this exact system. I bought mine in August 2013, after 2 months of using is it, it started to freeze (blue screen, black screen, trapped sound) under heavy graphic applications only "games". I tried everything, updated drivers, reinstalled drivers, updated nvidia and reinstalled them, I spent 2 weeks trying to sort it, I even reinstalled windows but it would still freeze under heavy use. Because it was such new system I never thought for a minute that it could be a dust related problem but I decided anyway to disconnect the box and open it up (had to watch a youtub video) it didn't look that dusty, a very small bit here and there. I got my hover and very lightly went over it with a small brush attachment. Hooked it all back up and bingo it stopped freezing, it was perfect, for another 7 weeks and the same thing happens again.

 

Here's the thing though, I do this procedure every 6 weeks because if i don't the crashing starts again. It's like it's on a timer, if I don't clean it, it will crash just like an alarm clock

Are you running an autosave program, or with autosave enabled in FSUIPC? If so, and it is set to save every 60 seconds (or whatever), it may be the cause. The PMDG data saves is extensive, and in order to make it all relate to the same instant, their code freezes everything whilst it is collected and saved.

 

Pete

I think this might be the problem.  I tested briefly changing the autosave intervals and I think you're right.  I'll give it a test in FSX tonight.  Thank you!

I own this exact system. I bought mine in August 2013, after 2 months of using is it, it started to freeze (blue screen, black screen, trapped sound) under heavy graphic applications only "games". I tried everything, updated drivers, reinstalled drivers, updated nvidia and reinstalled them, I spent 2 weeks trying to sort it, I even reinstalled windows but it would still freeze under heavy use. Because it was such new system I never thought for a minute that it could be a dust related problem but I decided anyway to disconnect the box and open it up (had to watch a youtub video) it didn't look that dusty, a very small bit here and there. I got my hover and very lightly went over it with a small brush attachment. Hooked it all back up and bingo it stopped freezing, it was perfect, for another 7 weeks and the same thing happens again.

 

Here's the thing though, I do this procedure every 6 weeks because if i don't the crashing starts again. It's like it's on a timer, if I don't clean it, it will crash just like an alarm clock

Although not directly related to this problem, I think excessive dust was leading to my BSOD.  After the inside of my rig was cleaned, no more BSOD.  Thanks for your input though!