Just an idea how to debug CTD

[Kosta 122]

Lately I have been getting unexplained CTDs. The ones that simply shut down the FS9, then I restart the flight and all goes well. Usually happened like after takeoff, or little later. Don't have a thing to do with overheating or similar (been playing other games, which require more CPU and GPU!).So I've been thinking of how can I see what causes it, because usually you get some unknown event in Event Manager only.Idea: leave FileMon running (makes the FS9 run a bit slower, on my highend machine) and I think when the CTD occurs, you would see in FileMon what caused the CTD! You can even restrict FileMon only to one disk (partition), if you are smart enough to have FS9 on its own partition.Only problem is, how to catch one of these CTDs, if they happen randomly like this. Well, I will be trying, and while this might not help some, maybe others find its uses!FileMon available here:http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html

[Murmur 3,941]

>other games, which require more CPUCan't think of another game which requires more CPU than FS9 :( :( :(

[Kosta 122]

X3 Reunion does. Or better said, same - maximum :-)

[Guest Philip Olson]

Hey Word Not Allowed, Just an observation based on my experience, it is always best not to assume that a computer problem can not be related to something just because it does not happen with some software. A few months ago I got a call from a fellow simmer who was having random and more frequently occuring CTD's with flight sim on a 4 month old Dell computer. I took the system with me and went crazy trying to diagnose the problem until finally it came down to the power supply. I got lucky in this case because after I went through testing it for a little over a day I started to get CTD's with other programs and then it went down hill very fast, finally bringing me to the power supply. In a system that new with a CTD only showing in one program you would not think to look at the power supply but that was it. Sadly I got a new power supply from Dell and it turned out to be bad as well, but once I put a good Antec power supply in it not one CTD. This is one thing that I have learned in my years of owning my own computer business, never assume anything. While I am sure that you are probably right, do not completely discount anything until you can prove it beyond a doubt. As to your suggestion, great idea!!!! Anything that will record what your computer is doing up until a crash will help to point you in the right direction, most of the time. I am still searching for a solid method to chase out computer problems and have not found it. Memory testing software will often tell you the memory is fine when it is indeed the problem and vice versa, log files will often take you down a path that is useless in finding the real problem, diagnostic software in general is hit or miss, sometimes working fine and others completely missing the mark. To tell you the truth the easiest way to take care of a problematic CTD is a stick of dynamite and a credit card! Yes, blow the darn PC up and buy a new one! :-lol When someone comes up with a completely reliable method to chase out PC problems I will buy their beer for life!!!!!!Take care,Philip Olsonhttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

[Kosta 122]

Philip, great answer, just great!Where I totally agree that it must not be software, I must point out that I know my computer inside out, and concerning PSU, it is one of the very known PSUs here and according to tests also one of the best around (Chieftec).Another point is, that I have many addons installed in FS9, both payware and some freeware, and in my case, I strongly believe it is software-related. It is not usual CTD which is related to g3d.dll or some other module, but the hardass crashes which give you no clue.I myself have never been fond of any "testing" software. My only test are stability tests. Max heat up, see if it is stable, and then just run stuff you use. And until todays day, I did not have *any* other crashes but the one caused by the heat (in summer) or when I forget to turn up the cooling fans! For testing I only usually run Prime95 (Inplace Large FFTs) and paralelly leave ATITool runing in the foreground to generate max heat on the GPU. If it doesn't crash in 3 hours, it's rock solid.Anyway, as I said in my first post, this might help some, where others will find it useless. It is just a suggestion! :-)

[Guest allcott]

CTD's that offer no Windows Error messages are often traceable to either poor hardware, or software compatibility problem that extends beyond Windows. Even top-of-the-line power supplies can go faulty, hard drives fail, memory gets fussy and broken. The mere presence of a CTD in Win XP with no other messages often means something that you otherwise wouldn't look for SHOULD be the first place to start looking. In this case, power supply, RAM and hard drives, mobo and chipset drivers, sound card and drivers, that kind of thing. Assuming that you've removed all recent adons to FS to check that one of those isn't causing the problem, of course!It is a nightmare, I agree, even software unrelated to FS can cause problems. Perhaps you could look at what ever else you may have been playing with outside of FS - I had a problem with some game protection software causing difficulties with my sound suite at the beginning of the year, and it was just about the last thing I looked at. Typical! Allcott

[dragon09 2]

I used to get random crashes all the time.One day day I decided to improve the timings of my ram to 2-2-2-5-1T.So I increased the ram voltage on notch from 2.6V to 2.7V.That was the solution to my problems.I have not had a single crash since.And I thought I knew computers. Have Fun James