Crashes While Doing Nothing Obvious

[Rob G 60]

Hi folks. Recently my MSFS system has started crashing even while not flying. I can bring the system up to the home screen and let it sit there. After some time (5-15 minutes) it just crashes. When I look at the Windows event viewer (I am using Windows 11) it shows the famous 00000005 code with no other useful information other than that the offending module was the flightsim module.

If I bring up the sim without using MSFS Addons Linker (i.e. no mods in Community folder), the same thing happens so it's not a mod.

I am kind of at a loss at how to diagnose this and make any progress.

Ideas? Thanks.

[Bob Scott 7,720]

I'd start by running a memory test, e.g. MemTest 86+ to see if you've got some RAM going south on you.

Also, run dism and sfc to check for corrupted WIndows system files.

[Sonosusto 679]

I would start by telling us your settings. All of them, especially NVIDIA and MSFS settings like Terrain and Object level of detail.

I would continue using addon linker and check for ICAO duplicates, which is under "Tools." I would also check for "Modellib and MaterialLibs" changer under the AddonLinker app. Again, under the tools section.

After doing this, my CTD's have not happened in several weeks. Part of me thinks its related to GNS addons and a payware plane but I don't know.

 

[Fiorentoni 4,224]

If it crashes in the main menu, it's either a faulty installation or a hardware problem. You might want to check the offical folder for any 3rd party addons you downloaded via marketplace, just to be sure it's really not a mod causing this.

[Funky D 269]

What video drivers are you using? Nvidia fixed a CTD issue that was common over the past few months with their latest drivers, although some people report still having issues with Freestyle filters in GeForce Experience.

[Gerwil 177]

To add another one to the good suggestions here you could also move the LocalState and LocalCache folders to another place and see if that makes a difference. MSFS will build these new, it's like a fresh install. You might have to point the Install Manager to your custom MSFS install path if you done that.

For the Market place version these folders are found here:

C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.FlightSimulator_8wekyb3d8bbwe\

[Rob G 60]

20 hours ago, Bob Scott said:

I'd start by running a memory test, e.g. MemTest 86+ to see if you've got some RAM going south on you.

Also, run dism and sfc to check for corrupted WIndows system files.

I love this forum because for any issue/question you have, you are able to get a cross section of ideas/suggestions from folks who understand what you're talking about. After reading this suggestion, I ran Memtest86+ for about 6 hours on my system (4 full passes). In that time the program recorded 680 errors (ugh!).

Rather than starting right off removing DIMMs and swapping DIMMs, I went into my BIOS, and changed the memory settings from XMP to AUTO. I then re-ran Memtest86+ for another 6 hours. It did not record a single error in that time.

So I guess even though the memory I have is rated to a speed of 4000, my motherboard/system could apparently not handle it. Since changing it my system is running so much better. It's amazing that other programs did not do weird things from the memory errors.

Last night I put the sim on the home screen and it stayed there, fully functional, for over 10 hours.

So I am a happy camper. Thanks to all the great people in this forum that are always willing to take a minute to respond to your inquiries. I love this group :-).

[Bob Scott 7,720]

2 hours ago, Rob G said:

I love this forum because for any issue/question you have, you are able to get a cross section of ideas/suggestions from folks who understand what you're talking about. After reading this suggestion, I ran Memtest86+ for about 6 hours on my system (4 full passes). In that time the program recorded 680 errors (ugh!).

Rather than starting right off removing DIMMs and swapping DIMMs, I went into my BIOS, and changed the memory settings from XMP to AUTO. I then re-ran Memtest86+ for another 6 hours. It did not record a single error in that time.

So I guess even though the memory I have is rated to a speed of 4000, my motherboard/system could apparently not handle it. Since changing it my system is running so much better. It's amazing that other programs did not do weird things from the memory errors.

Last night I put the sim on the home screen and it stayed there, fully functional, for over 10 hours.

So I am a happy camper. Thanks to all the great people in this forum that are always willing to take a minute to respond to your inquiries. I love this group :-).

I've found that often you can bump up the DIMM voltage by one or two hundredths of a volt to get it running stable at the memory's advertised XMP settings--I've had quite a few DIMMs that wouldn't run stable even right out of the box at their rated speed/timing/voltages, most likely due to differences between the BIOS setting and the actual voltage applied by the mobo (they're not generally tightly calibrated, where the factory testing equipment is). 

[Waldo Pepper 1,952]

4000mhz with 32gb ddr 4 is fairly difficult to stabilize on most platforms,  imo.   

If you want to claw back some performance try re-enabling XMP.   But before you exit the bios,   set the memory speed to 3800 mhz.   (If that doesn't work,  I'm willing to bet that 3600 mhz will work.   Fall out of my chair if it didn't).

Since you have an Asus board,   you're likely to see 2 XMP profiles in the bios XMP menu.     XMP 2 reads the memory manufacturer's specified XMP timings directly from the memory sticks,  BUT XMP 1 sets "Asus optimized timings" from the motherboard bios.   

They both usually have the same exact primary timings,  but the Asus optimized timings for the secondary and tertiary timings are much tighter.   You might try one or the other. 

Various motherboards manufacturers play around with the default timings a little in order to make their particular boards benchmark better faster than the competition,  Asus is particularly known for constantly tweaking timings with each bios release.

With each bios release they tend to play around with the ddr timings,  and even system voltages.    You might be able to do some reading about your board and find that the most recent bios isn't always the best one for your memory.

One other thing to check is CAS 1 vs CAS 2.   Some DDR4 sticks (and some motherboards) can run CAS 1 with stability,  but many others have a lot of issues with CAS 1.    Asus might be trying to set CAS 1 at 4000mhz,  which is tough.    Might have to manually set CAS 2 to run faster timings.

I usually run the stability tests while I sleep or do housework.

edit:

Asus Hero boards also typically have a menu with several DRAM presets developed by Asus,    

Run CPUZ to see if you have Samsung,  Micron,  or Hynix.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Waldo Pepper