FS9 keeps freezing up & crashing. Help appreciated!

[martinlest2 58]

My family think I should wipe my PC and find another hobby, but before I consider that (?!) maybe someone can help me get my sim working again.

 

I have been plagued with CTDs recently. Typically, like tonight, I can fly for two or three hours only to have the sim freeze up as I taxi off the runway (that might be relevant? I run PFE and FDC). No keyboard or joystick inputs work any more. If I put FS9 into windowed mode, the FS screen is black. I have to use Task Manager to kill the FS9.exe process (which I can see is at 0% CPU usage) to get control of the PC back.

 

I thought bit might be a problem with gaugesound.dll, which had been overwritten (not sure by what) with an old, 2003 version, but replacing it hasn't helped. (So hard to know what are red herrings here!).

 

CPU temperatures are OK, around 65 degress when I am running FS9. Can't see much in Event Viewer - only the results of the crash, not the cause. I did get this tonight though:

 

A request to disable the Desktop Window Manager was made by process (Microsoft Flight Simulator)
The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because composition was disabled by a running application

The maximum file size for session "ReadyBoot" has been reached.  Session "ReadyBoot" stopped due to the following error: 0xC0000188

 

No idea if this is significant. Any ideas welcome. I am meanwhile browsing the CTD guide here.

 

Thanks.

 

Martin

[Jim Young 2,356]

Hi Martin,

 

You should download and run AppCrashView (see page 1 of the AVSIM CTD Guide for link).  It provides more information about any of the crashes.  The Event Viewer might provide some clues but the ones you indicated are normal errors that occur occasionally.  AppCrashView normally provides a faulting module which might give a clue as to what is causing your crash(es). 

 

The following link provides a fix for ReadyBoot errors - http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/circular-kernel-context-logger-error-0xc0000188/d2aa4b79-be60-43d0-8d31-0072235a8f43?db=5&auth=1

 

The DWM errors are more difficult to define.  Google searches indicate the errors might be caused by display driver problems.  Some others have indicated problems with FSUIPC.  It all varies depending on what you have installed and what you are doing. 

 

Best regards,

[martinlest2 58]

Hi Jim,

 

Thanks for the reply! In answer to your points:

 

1. I already have AppCrashView installed and there are no entries at all for anywhere near the time of the last crash..

2. I have the Superfetch service disabled as my PC runs with only SSDs. That is what is generally recommended. ReadyBoot is therefore also disabled (being controlled by the SDuperfetch service). I am, not sure therefore why I am getting errors reported.

3. DWM.. maybe I'll never get to the bottom of that one!\

 

I have run DXTFixer and AlphaSearcher and found quite a few bitmaps with errors, now corrected. Doubt if that is at the root of the problem, but we'll see.

 

I wish I could track down which sound gaugesound.dll is reporting missing. It's a shame it doesn't have an ini file with some further information on the problems it finds!

 

M.

[martinlest2 58]

I have checked again - AppCrashView is not picking up anything from FS9.exe, though it does pick up AISeparation every time FS9 crashes (which itself of course hangs). FS_Earth unregistered itself after yesterday's FS9 crash, so this is getting very annoying!

 

I do have some information from Event Viewer. I paste the entries for FS crashes over the last 10 days below. The earliest (though these weren't the first), with a .gau file cited, happened before I discovered that my gaugesound.dll file had been over-written with a version from 2003. After replacing that with my backed up recent version, there have been no more crashes with gauge files given in the details (though that may be coincidence).

 

When FS9 crashes, the window that opens continues to tell me that "Microsoft Flight Simulator 9.0 has stopped working"... "9.0"? As I have the 9.1 update installed, why am I being told that it is FS9.0? Earlier today, I checked that all the files which were installed by the FS9.1 patch are the right date and it seemed to me that they are. Maybe I should rename the FS2004/Backup folder and try applying the FS9.1 patch again?

 

The other thing, which must be relevant, is that these FS9 crashes usually seem to occur at the same point in the flight - after I leave the runway on arrival and am taxiing to the gate. Here is the information from Event Viewer. Hope someone can help as this is getting REALLY depressing now! Many thanks,

 

Martin

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Error    14/12/2015 21:42:22    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: ATC.DLL, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a88e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x0002d1da
Faulting process id: 0x1128
Faulting application start time: 0x01d136a562d30090
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: D:\FS9\MODULES\ATC.DLL
Report Id: 8e185032-a2ab-11e5-a30c-7824af3de903

Error    13/12/2015 14:42:26    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: PANELS.DLL, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a88e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000302c2
Faulting process id: 0xafc
Faulting application start time: 0x01d135b44f0fa6ae
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: D:\FS9\MODULES\PANELS.DLL
Report Id: b9cc479c-a1a7-11e5-b12e-7824af3de903

Error    11/12/2015 16:47:16    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: PANELS.DLL, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a88e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00030a5a
Faulting process id: 0x113c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d13433854311d9
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: D:\FS9\MODULES\PANELS.DLL
Report Id: d53ade21-a026-11e5-a119-7824af3de903

Error    11/12/2015 16:46:35    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: PANELS.DLL, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a88e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00030a5a
Faulting process id: 0xc0c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d134336680b4f0
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: D:\FS9\MODULES\PANELS.DLL
Report Id: bd0e02f6-a026-11e5-a119-7824af3de903

Error    10/12/2015 17:03:00    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: UTIL.DLL, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a88e
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00010350
Faulting process id: 0xb60
Faulting application start time: 0x01d1336a7eb6c9e9
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: D:\FS9\MODULES\UTIL.DLL
Report Id: dd797f18-9f5f-11e5-a9d9-7824af3de903

Error    08/12/2015 16:47:03    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: GaugeSound.DLL, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x3eb140e0
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00001725
Faulting process id: 0x548
Faulting application start time: 0x01d131d6109e3c2b
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: D:\FS9\GaugeSound.DLL
Report Id: 4e5d56e8-9dcb-11e5-a281-7824af3de903

Error    06/12/2015 14:19:39    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: ERJ.GAU, version: 1.0.0.1, time stamp: 0x4041333c
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000078ff
Faulting process id: 0x790
Faulting application start time: 0x01d13030de9d240a
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: D:\FS9\GAUGES\ERJ.GAU
Report Id: 6220c7ce-9c24-11e5-9c69-7824af3de903

Error    04/12/2015 20:47:26    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: PMDG_737NG_OHD_PNEUMATIC_800.GA_unloaded, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x407efaa4
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x6454305e
Faulting process id: 0x1330
Faulting application start time: 0x01d12ec92045c430
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: PMDG_737NG_OHD_PNEUMATIC_800.GA
Report Id: 398f13eb-9ac8-11e5-a1f0-7824af3de903

Error    04/12/2015 16:29:38    Application Error    1000    (100)
Faulting application name: FS9.EXE, version: 9.1.0.40901, time stamp: 0x4135a208
Faulting module name: nvd3dum.dll, version: 9.18.13.5306, time stamp: 0x5566828b
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x006b37c0
Faulting process id: 0x123c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d12eb049c658ae
Faulting application path: D:\FS9\FS9.EXE
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\system32\nvd3dum.dll
Report Id: 35c90929-9aa4-11e5-a171-7824af3de903
 

[Jim Young 2,356]

All of the crash reports are indicating you have version 9.1 installed.  It is strange the Windows error reporting system is reporting version 9.0 but your Event Viewer reports indicate 9.1 so I would not be concerned with this issue.

 

The last crash indicating the nvd3dum.dll is the faulting module is of course caused by a bad install of your display drivers (v353.06).  That's a really old driver.  NVidia is up to v359.00 now.  Recommend you update your display drivers.  Also, during installation of display drivers, did you right click the installer and select run as administrator?  Did you make sure UAC and any anti-virus program was disabled.  The problem with anti-virus and malware programs is that they find false positives and quarantine a required file or they do not allow for a required registry entry to be made.   Only you can determine whether you have any files located in your quarantine folder (if you have an anti-virus program installed.  Many, like me, do not use anti-virus programs).

 

The panel.dll error may be caused by an issue with your video card drivers.  The util.dll too and all of the other crashes as it would make more sense it's a system problem (and not FS9) to cause all of the crashes above.  So the first thing I would do is to fix the nvd3dum.dll error.

 

In all of the Events shown, there is nothing in the code that tells me or any techie what caused your crash.  Not even Microsoft experts could decipher what caused your crashes.  The Exception Code 0xc0000005 is common with 90% of all crash events and indicates you had a Memory_Access_Violation.  When things stop suddenly on your computer because of a missing or corrupted file, your application simply stops suddenly and your computer has no idea what caused it and that exception code is thrown.  So, if not fixed by fixing your display driver, you have to run a high level investigation into the possible cause for each crash.  My suggestion in the AVSIM CTD Guide is to move your FS9.cfg, and scenery.cfg to a temporary folder.  You could move the dll.xml file over too but I would leave that there as you want to PMDG, ERJ, FSUIPC stuff to load.  Check to see if the crashes continue.  If so, the problem is most likely in your dll.xml.  You need to disable each module being loaded and then enable them one at a time as shown in the AVSIM CTD Guide. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

[martinlest2 58]

Thank you very much Jim. I know that the information from Event Viewer is very basic, not like a dump file, so it is impossible to be precise.

 

I have reinstalled the FS9.1 patch anyway, and made sure that any newer files which were over-written (only the terrain.cfg file as far as I can see) were reinstated in their later version. When I ran FS9 after that I got an OoM CTD every time I started it up. By trial and error I tracked this down to one scenery bgl file, and having removed this one little file, FS9 starts up just fine. Odd that the file was causing no problems before..

 

OK, my next task is to update my display drivers (I probably didn't do the last driver install as administrator, I will this time - and disable the anti-virus (MS Essentials) too. UAC is disabled on my system full-time) and then let FS9 create a new FS9.cfg file. (I then have to incorporate extra information from the old cfg file back into the new one, such as [Old Modules] and the like. Then I will fly a bit more and see how things go! I will post back.

 

Thanks again - I appreciate you taking the time to help me.

[MichaelAwkward 6]

For what it's worth, I gave up on FS9 and moved to FSX:SE on Windows 7 because FS9 kept freezing. I figured it was something to do with FSUIPC at first. It would happen at an unpredictable time, so I could never finish a flight.

 

I'd be intrigued to know if you sort this out.

[martinlest2 58]

I haven't had any problem since I installed a later graphics driver, but on the other hand I haven't had time to fly in FS9 much. Will post back after a while. I am unlikely to 'defect' to FSX - I have the gold edition on the same PC, but hardly ever fly it (for reasons I won't go into here)