On several flights I have experience MSFS2024 freezes during descent, usually towards the end of an arrival before starting approach. The last test flight was KBWI WOOLY CLIPR3 KDCA. Somewhere around EYESS or BRUNC complete freeze. The original flight using CLIPR arrival was KBOS PATSS7 PATSS NELIE Q75 MXE CLIPR3 KDCA and the freeze occurred making the turn at BRUNC to FELTY. I was flying PMDG 738 from FT KBOS to Drzewiecki KDCA with LVFR KBWI, Flightbeam KIAD and Drzewiecki WashingtonLandmarks active in community folder, running Dynamic Load Reset Edition, Lossless Scaling, TrackIR, ChasePlane, SimAppPro (WINCRTL PFPN3 FMS), PSXT with AIG models, VRAS, ActiveSky, littlenavconnect. I also have current Navigraph FMS data installed in the PMDG and using current Navigraph AIRAC in MSFS and any running utilities for which it can be installed.

CPU utilization, VRAM, system memory all within normal ranges and nothing saturated or at anywhere near 100% utilization, and prior to freeze there is no warning stutter, sound crackle or anything - it just freezes and never recovers.

I've had this happen on other flights between different airport pairs at similar positions on the arrival relative to destination.

I have tested the problem scenarios with an empty community folder and none of the external stuff running, but for the life of me, don't remember the result - so I'll have to test again and record the results.

It's very frustrating after an hour, or two, or three of flying to almost get to the destination and have MSFS freeze! It's always close to the destination and never at any other point on the trip.

ANY HELP WELCOME!!

Did you try this route or/and arrival and approach, with another airliner other than the 738?

I note you've seen it other flights too, but is it always with the 738? 

[Note: It's no comfort to you, but I've been flying the MSFS2024 PMDG 737-900, quite a bit recently, without any issue...I'm on Xbox.]

Edited February 25Feb 25 by P_7878

CPU Temp?

2 hours ago, Noel said:

CPU Temp?

Not unless CPU is getting sensitive to temp (it's old after all) but never goes above 50C-60C.

4 hours ago, P_7878 said:

Did you try this route or/and arrival and approach, with another airliner other than the 738?

I note you've seen it other flights too, but is it always with the 738? 

[Note: It's no comfort to you, but I've been flying the MSFS2024 PMDG 737-900, quite a bit recently, without any issue...I'm on Xbox.]

Going to try the PMDG 739 tonight with everything active as on the failed flights with the 738. I will also be trying same route with no extras running and nothing in the community folder.

Until the first time it happened a couple weeks ago 2024 had been running flawlessly for me with not a single freeze, CTD etc. with surprisingly good performance compared to 2020 - so good I've been thinking I wouldn't bother upgrading computer for a while. At this point anything prebuilt with a 5090 and 64GB RAM is $5500-$7500 what with the outrageous memory prices.

12 minutes ago, somiller said:

Going to try the PMDG 739 tonight with everything active as on the failed flights with the 738. I will also be trying same route with no extras running and nothing in the community folder.

Until the first time it happened a couple weeks ago 2024 had been running flawlessly for me with not a single freeze, CTD etc. with surprisingly good performance compared to 2020 - so good I've been thinking I wouldn't bother upgrading computer for a while. At this point anything prebuilt with a 5090 and 64GB RAM is $5500-$7500 what with the outrageous memory prices.

Yes, that's a good idea. Great that you've both the 738 and the 739 in MSFS2024.

However, for testing, I would suggest trying the identical flight with an airplane other than PMDG 737 e.g., a Fenix if you own or even the (default) A320neo (V2) by iniBuilds. This is because some folks have recently reported freezes and such in MSFS2024 with the PMDG 737 (though, never in my experience). These 737 incidences seem nowhere near as frequent as what has been reported for the iniBuilds A340/A350, but nonetheless a bit concerning.

Anyway, do what you think best, and see if you can rule out some of the possibilities. Yes, eliminating the "extras" (you seem to have many) on your test flight is a good idea too.

I hear you about the price points of PCs for our (expensive) hobby. I'm a bit immune from those concerns, on an Xbox X...🙂..., but, of course, I also don't have access to the nice "extras" you have...it's a zero-sum game...🙂...

I had to disable FSR3 FG on my 5060TI because my memory didn't like it plus it is 90F here today.

dd

Edited February 25Feb 25 by Sky_Pilot071

Can you describe “Freeze” … are you able to get back to the desktop (aka EndTask MSFS)?  Or, do you have to reboot the PC?

10 hours ago, somiller said:

Going to try the PMDG 739 tonight with everything active as on the failed flights with the 738. I will also be trying same route with no extras running and nothing in the community folder.

If none of that works, set the sim to low graphics settings and try again. Test your RAM or try slowing it down to see if that helps.

10 hours ago, SayAgain said:

Can you describe “Freeze” … are you able to get back to the desktop (aka EndTask MSFS)?  Or, do you have to reboot the PC?

I have to EndTask MSFS2024 in task manager but am able to get to desktop and all other functions seem normal on PC.

4 hours ago, flyingscampi said:

If none of that works, set the sim to low graphics settings and try again. Test your RAM or try slowing it down to see if that helps.

RAM is not overclocked - no XMP applied.

16 hours ago, P_7878 said:

his is because some folks have recently reported freezes and such in MSFS2024 with the PMDG 737 (though, never in my experience). These 737 incidences seem nowhere near as frequent as what has been reported for the iniBuilds A340/A350, but nonetheless a bit concerning.

The only info. I can find on MSFS2024 freezes related to PMDG737 is from the year 2024:

https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/pmdg-737-for-msfs/general-discussion-no-support/327847-new-738-freeze

https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftFlightSim/comments/1b77cha/anyone_know_how_pmdg_is_doing_when_it_comes_to/

Are you running two WinCTRL EFIS (Left and a Right … defined in the SimAppPro)?  I ran into issue last night when both L and R EFIS were enabled in the PMDG 737-9ER … the MAP,VOR,PLN knobs would rapidly start switching without any input from me.  I unplugged the Right EFIS and the issue stopped.  I do need to investigate further.  I know in the past MSFS would have “freeze” when USB controllers would go to sleep or have momentary disconnect but I thought that issue was fixed (I currently have not run into it)?

Did the problem just recently start or has it been happening for a while?

Since you can get back to Desktop then it’s not likely hardware (still possible but not the direction I would go for diagnostics).

Try the usual:

1.  Disable everything in the EXE.XML

2.  Disable (move out of community) all custom/3rd party scenery/tools/WASM and/or other items

3.  Use RTSS or other external tool to log VRAM, RAM, CPU temps, volts, etc. to file … since you can get back to desktop then logging file should remain intact without corruption.

4.  Don’t use any aspect of DLSS and run native 

Other things to try:

1.  At elevated cmd prompt do “sfc /scannow” .. if it reports errors, run it multiple times.

2.  Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

3.  DDU process on AMD or nVidia drivers to uninstall and manual re-install (disconnect network, boot to safe mode etc.)

4.  Remove any registry hacks for GPU (ReBar)

EDIT: BTW, I have not discovered anything malicious in regards to WinCTRL devices nor the SimAppPro software … all seems legit, even my security guy gave it the thumbs up even with SimAppPro login.

Edited February 26Feb 26 by SayAgain

4 hours ago, SayAgain said:

Are you running two WinCTRL EFIS (Left and a Right … defined in the SimAppPro)?  I ran into issue last night when both L and R EFIS were enabled in the PMDG 737-9ER … the MAP,VOR,PLN knobs would rapidly start switching without any input from me.  I unplugged the Right EFIS and the issue stopped.  I do need to investigate further.  I know in the past MSFS would have “freeze” when USB controllers would go to sleep or have momentary disconnect but I thought that issue was fixed (I currently have not run into it)?

Did the problem just recently start or has it been happening for a while?

Since you can get back to Desktop then it’s not likely hardware (still possible but not the direction I would go for diagnostics).

Try the usual:

1.  Disable everything in the EXE.XML

2.  Disable (move out of community) all custom/3rd party scenery/tools/WASM and/or other items

3.  Use RTSS or other external tool to log VRAM, RAM, CPU temps, volts, etc. to file … since you can get back to desktop then logging file should remain intact without corruption.

4.  Don’t use any aspect of DLSS and run native 

Other things to try:

1.  At elevated cmd prompt do “sfc /scannow” .. if it reports errors, run it multiple times.

2.  Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

3.  DDU process on AMD or nVidia drivers to uninstall and manual re-install (disconnect network, boot to safe mode etc.)

4.  Remove any registry hacks for GPU (ReBar)

EDIT: BTW, I have not discovered anything malicious in regards to WinCTRL devices nor the SimAppPro software … all seems legit, even my security guy gave it the thumbs up even with SimAppPro login.

Comforting regarding SimAppPro clear of anything malicious.

Today I repeated my test KBWI CLIPR3 KDCA and had done everything on top list except clean EXE.XML, and before the flight did everything on your bottom list except for DDU. My system can't run Rebar and I have never done any other reg hacks for GPU

For the test flight I departed BWI in the PMDG 739 climbing to 10,000 FT and then with LNAV/VNAV flew direct to BRUNC on the arrival and sure enough on the turn through BRUNC the sim froze - same place it always does - sounds still play, task manager shows CPU still active on MSFS2024 with minor utilization changes over time. I checked event log and found no errors or warnings within hours of my sim session.

My test tonight will be with the TDFI MD-11 and I'm predicting right now that it will freeze.

SayAgain if you wouldn't mind testing my scenario I'd be curious what you find. The above flight took about 40 min. from the time I launched MSFS2024 till freeze and that was starting cold and dark at the gate and using the PMDG EFB to load simbrief OFP.

27 minutes ago, somiller said:

SayAgain if you wouldn't mind testing my scenario I'd be curious what you find

Will try to make time this weekend … can you PM me the SimBrief export?  739 or 739ER?

Highly recommend trying the same flight with everything in the EXE.XML disabled … if you can.

When you were back at the desktop, did you check OS Event Viewer for errors?

FYI, ever since the SimAppPro/WinCTRL installs, I get a crash message when I shutdown Win11 …

”PilotsDeck.exe”: exception unknown … PilotsDeck.exe is a StreamDeck plug-in (I use 4 StreamDecks) … not related to your issue and doesn’t impact MSFS but something I need to get resolved and don’t understand why I started getting those errors after install SimAppPro/WinCTRL … possibly some conflict?

Edited February 26Feb 26 by SayAgain

7 hours ago, somiller said:

The only info. I can find on MSFS2024 freezes related to PMDG737 is from the year 2024:

https://forum.pmdg.com/forum/main-forum/pmdg-737-for-msfs/general-discussion-no-support/327847-new-738-freeze

https://www.reddit.com/r/MicrosoftFlightSim/comments/1b77cha/anyone_know_how_pmdg_is_doing_when_it_comes_to/

Hi:

No, I was referring to very recent reporting of WASM related freezes and such in cases of PMDG 737 NG, that have started late 2025 and early 2026.

For example, here, below are 2 threads, in Feb. itself, right here in the Forum, but I understand there are others to be found on-line and in the PMDG Forum.