FSX frustrations....

[LawnDart 19]

In my opinion, FSX was released a bit too early. I haven't yet finished a long distance flight in any jet (737/747, etc...) without being subjected to lockups, freezing or any variance thereofHere's the crux of my rant:My hardware: AMD-"It shouldn't matter" as long as it's not a 486? :-)(Ok it's an AMD 2.2Ghz, 1Gb RAM with an NVidia 6800 AGP) FSX locks up if I try to download real-weather...FSX locks up if I try to switch between outside views...FSX locks up if I try to switch planes mid-flight...FSX locks up if I try to change the time of day...I have tried all the Disk-defrag-doohickes, memory managers, registry cleaners, the list goes on... FSX is just too unstable for my continued use.What baffles me is that FS9 behaves perfectly well, with no lockups. I fear I shall be sticking to FS9 until FSX SP43 is released... I suspect I am not alone in this frustration?... Comments?

[vonmar 122]

Just wondering:Do you get any error messages?How much video memory do you have?Do you have other programs running like virus checker etc. or is it just FSX that is running?What are your sliders set to. Low, medium, high?How long have you been running/testing FX?

[Lange_666 167]

I guess that you at least have a problem with your system because i had only one Lockup/CTD during the time i have FSX on my system which is for 2 months now. When downloading real world weather and the server is not available, FSX should at least come up with a message that the server is either unreachable or does not respond (at least, that's what i get).My CTD was "probably" due to a little add-on i installed in order to smooth out AI aircraft problems because it was the second time i was running the little extra program when the CTD occured, since then, i didn't run this program any more and i had no problems what so ever which caused a lock up or CTD.When the CTD took place, FSX lockup for about 2 minutes, then the CTD came and every program which interfered with FSX als stopped (AISmooth and TrackIR). No error messages whatsoever. After the CTD, i was not able to make it run again without a reboot.

[CPEPE 0]

Hi, Just try running with SIMCITY off!Tony

[Tierborn 188]

I had the lock up when trying to switch between outside view ... and video card driving update appeared to solve my problem ...Regards,Vern

[aerdt 0]

I doubt that it is your copy of FSX, because FSX works just fine for thousands of other users. Unfortunately lock-ups are difficult to pinpoint and troubleshoot, but I recommend that you try these steps first to avoid a complete re-install.- Uninstall all drivers (video cards, sound card) and unplug all other (USB) devices that are NOT needed for FSX. Use the free "Driver Cleaner" tool (google it) to get rid of ALL driver artifacts.- Re-install the latest drivers for you video card and sound card- Re-install the latest version of DX9- Remove all unneeded startup programs from you "StartUp" menu folder and from HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run- Re-install/repair your FSX installationBe very careful with automatic registry cleaners and always backup the registry before using tools like that. In the worst case your registry has been already corrupted to a point where only an OS install will bring relief. Defrag is only a performance enhancer and not responisble for lockups, so you can scratch that off your list for now.Good luck,Pat

[Guest Len]

>In my opinion, FSX was released a bit too early. I haven't>yet finished a long distance flight in any jet (737/747,>etc...) without being subjected to lockups, freezing or any>variance thereof>>Here's the crux of my rant:>My hardware: AMD-"It shouldn't matter" as long as it's not a>486? :-)>(Ok it's an AMD 2.2Ghz, 1Gb RAM with an NVidia 6800 AGP)> >FSX locks up if I try to download real-weather...>FSX locks up if I try to switch between outside views...>FSX locks up if I try to switch planes mid-flight...>FSX locks up if I try to change the time of day...>>I have tried all the Disk-defrag-doohickes, memory managers,>registry cleaners, the list goes on... FSX is just too>unstable for my continued use.>>What baffles me is that FS9 behaves perfectly well, with no>lockups. I fear I shall be sticking to FS9 until FSX SP43 is>released... >>I suspect I am not alone in this frustration?... Comments?>Your processor is likely too slow unless you bare bone FSX. Your memory should at least be 2 gigs if you're going to use anything beyond default settings. I find lockups and freezes often result from a lack of system resources.

[David Vega 348]

If your suspicions are based on other postings in this and other sites, you're correct, you're not alone. It appears that FSX requires more resources than FS9. It appears that this was a manufacturer's decision. Others will suggest you change your configuration, to include adding more resources, and clearly you have that option. I would suggest returning the product, if you can, and get a refund. Do not be frustrated by a computer program, life is too short.Have fun,Dave Vega

[LawnDart 19]

...I'm going to try another complete ground-up system rebuild. Life is too short not to sim! ;-)

[delta november 0]

Sounds a great deal like a problem I had with a stick of underpreformingRAM. None of the memory diag programs would find it....but removed onestick and then another until the bad one showed up.

[LawnDart 19]

Update:Facing yet another clean install of the O/S and FSX I decided instead to take the entire system apart and have a look. What I found was hopeful and yet embarrassing... Dust everywhere. So much dust that the CPU heat sink fins weren't even visible anymore. The original problem: Lockups after 30-60 minutes of flightNow it all makes sense. After a thorough cleaning, new heat sink compound for the CPU (The true measure of geek-ness if you happen to have heat-sink compound laying around), refreshing the gold plating on the memory sticks and PCI/AGP cards I am happy (very happy) to report that after 2 hours of flight... ...not one single lockup. (By now I usually experience 5, maybe 6 lockups)I've put FSX through it's paces. (Trying to eliminate all false-positives) I've switched menus, loaded and reloaded weather, changed planes mid-flight... basically trying to make the CPU/Disk workload as high as possible...It's still flying... and looking really good. Sometimes the problem is so obvious that you have to dig for it. Embarrassing but encouraging.

[LawnDart 19]

Just completed a flight from Seattle to San Fransisco in the default 737. Not a single glitch. Normally this would have required 3 or 4 reboots.I know these computer parts are engineered to just below operating maximums, so one errant dust particle (or the accumulation thereof) will render a system unstable, as I've seen tonight.Amazing what a can of canned air can do.... (No pun intended!)And my sincere apologies to the Aces team. I suggested (firmly) at this thread's beginning that possibly FSX was released too early, but... perhaps my brain needs SP2 instead.Keeping it clean,Ray

[Gypsy Baron 10]

>-SNIP->And my sincere apologies to the Aces team. I suggested>(firmly) at this thread's beginning that possibly FSX was>released too early, but... perhaps my brain needs SP2>instead.>>Keeping it clean,>RayNo, your initial take, that it was released too early, wascorrect IMO.I take it your KSEA-KSFO flight wasn't done at night usingthe default 737-800 VC. The gauges cannot be read unlessyou turn on the panel lights however the 2D panel has somedecent night lighting with the panellights off.This is just one of many instances of things that make me wonder just who did the testing and did they fly the modelsas the users use them or were they too preocupied watchingthe animals run around...I am underwhelmed at the overall quality of the released product and further disappointed at the choices they madethat led to the neutering of the 2D cockpit environment infavor of the VC environment. Paul

[oktorn777 0]

Well I run fsx without freezing or lockup problems on a much lower spec machine: Athlon XP 1800+, 1024mb ram, ati radeon 9800 Pro with 128mb vram, so that shouldn't be the problem really.I even get good framerates (around 30) and visuals nearly everywhere, except of big cities. (how I get good framerates on this machine: no weather, no air & car traffic, no autogen and only flying the ga aircraft and helos)cheers, :-beerchugC.G.

[vonmar 122]

Hi,What I do not understand is how MSFS9 (and all other programs) could have been running perfectly fine.MSFSX was your only application causing computer lockup problems.