Hi everyone I would like to point this question to primarily Phil Taylor about a problem we have been experiencing on systems we have been building for FSX using the Vista platform ... but ... if anyone else has any ideas I would be most appreciative on your input It concerns using multi Screens and in the main .. the problem arises when applying a 2nd screen to the secondary port on the graphics card. If we undock say the avionics panel over onto the 2nd screen and click on it to adjust frequencies etc etc we have no problem ... but let's say we open something which is working outside of FSX such as serv-info or even a notepad window .. when we click on it .. it disables the sound within FSX BUT the simulation continues to run .... To bring the sound back ... we can either scroll through the various views using the 'S' key and suddenly the sound is back! or place the mouse back into anywhere in the FSX screen click once and, once again the sound is back. We thought at first that maybe it is a Creative sound issue but also tried it using the onboard sound built onto the motherboard but alas we still had the same issue! Now I know squawkbox is not available to use yet on FSX but I can see this being a potentially big problem when interacting with ATC via voice. Any ideas on this would be most welcome ..Ok moving onto FS2004 using the Vista platform ... managing multi screening becomes an even bigger problem!What we are finding is that when FS2004 is in a windowed mode on one screen set as the primary the simulation grinds to a complete halt (it's working but very very slow at updating) which makes it impossible to use if flying with say Squawkbox on the other screen .... BUT as soon as we change to 'fullscreen' mode everything is perfectly fine ...FS2004 performs incredibly well .. the only trouble is though because we have now moved into fullscreen mode any windowed application running outside of FS2004 is not visible and unusable! So it is impossible to interact with squawkbox etc etcI am pretty sure that this is a vista problem because replicating the same scenario under windows XP we never came across this issue.Any ideas on both the FSX and FS2004 problem would be most appreciated and maybe Phil knows whether he has come across this and if it is being addressed.For reference..the systems we are building are:-Intel E6850 Duo 2 Core 3Ghz 1333 Mhz 4Mb CPUAbit IP35 - E MotherboardCorsair TwinX 2Gb DDR2 800Western Digital 500Gb 16Mb Cache HDD SATA DVD Re-Writer ( + & - )Ge-Force 8800GTX PCie 768Mb GraphicsCreative Soundblaster Audigy SE Sound CardGigabit LanDeluxe Midi Tower Case with Superior 700w PSUWindows Vista Home PREMIUM May I just add that to achieve the third screen we are fitting a NVidia 8500 GT 256Mb PCie card ...Kind regardsPaulUK

Re: >If we undock say the avionics panel over onto the 2nd screen>and click on it to adjust frequencies etc etc we have no>problem ... but let's say we open something which is working>outside of FSX such as serv-info or even a notepad window .. >when we click on it .. it disables the sound within FSX BUT>the simulation continues to run .... To bring the sound back>... we can either scroll through the various views using the>'S' key and suddenly the sound is back! or place the mouse>back into anywhere in the FSX screen click once and, once>again the sound is back. FS has always worked this way, even before Vista. If you change focus to another application, FS sound stops. Just about every other game behaves the same.BTW, give us AVSIMites a chance to help with your issues before invoking the "please help me Phil Taylor" call. Phil is busy enough as it is.Gary

Hi GaryWe have built hundreds of machines for Flight Sim and I have never experienced sound problems like this before so I beg to differ ..I understand Phil is a busy man but I think the question is an important one which warrants him seeing this ...As I said in my post .. I welcome any other input CheersPaul

Yes FSX has always being this way, once you take focus off FSX the sound goes, probably the way windows works, XP PRO does the same thing, I dont find it an issue, actually i find it handy when chatting on line when flying because as soon as i click off anything thats not FSX the sound goes quiet and i can hear the conversation, this is not a VISTA issue, its normal.

You can send an e-mail to Bill Gates too.Manny