DAL488

Hi all, I keep getting FSX crashes when using PMDG 737 and Reboot. It seems to be somewhat random, except for one instance: after engine 2 is started, right after "starter cutout" it's crashed a few times. At this time, I also have the PMDG pushback underway, so I do try to avoid "stepping" on each other. I'm going to try making sure both engines are running before I set the parking brake per the pushback, or I could wait until the pushback is fully complete before even beginning the engine start. The other lockup that seems somewhat consistent is when I do manage to "step" right on top of something else. I guess that's just a timing issue, and I do try to time it so I don't. Anyway, my question is this: would my first method to try and resolve be uninstalling and reinstalling Reboot, or should I uninstall PMDG 737 also? FYI, reinstalling FSX just isn't something I'm gonna do (I'll just deal with random crashes vs. 2 days of agonizing and painstaking reinstall/setup; just the thought of it makes me cringe!!) Thanks, James White

I doubt I did, but that's certainly a possibility. The systems were on IAN for some reason and I couldn't get them to switch back to ILS G/S. So, it could be that I inadvertently armed APP to early. I read the manual a little while ago, and I'm just going to make sure I use VOR/LOC first, to capture the LOC and then engage APP once I have the G/S. Thanks for the help. James White

Yes, absolutely selected the ILS approach. It was KDEN 34L the first time and KMDW 4R the second. Both full ILS approaches with G/S James White

Hi all, I've had the same problem on the last two flights. When I try to fly an ILS approach, it's not working as expected. Basically, I have the ILS freq/course set on both NAV1 and NAV2. I have double checked this and it also matches the FMC. I have it in APP mode, and it intercepts the LOC (I'm below the G/S). But once I intercept the G/S, APP kicks off, and PFD states "LOC/G/P" and it tracks the G/P in VNAV mode (I guess). I try to re-engage APP to track the G/S instead of G/P, but it won't let me. I don't understand why I can't track the ILS G/S. Granted, in both cases I used LNAV/VNAV to intercept the LOC, and also descend to FAF altitude, but shouldn't it let me fly the ILS? I definitely have selected the ILS approach within the FMC. Any awareness/knowledge of this, please let me know. Thanks, James P.S. - I did a quick test flight, and used V/S mode to get to FAF altitude, and it then went into ALT HOLD. From here, I was using HDG SELECT to intercept the LOC, and I armed APP mode. It intercepted both LOC/G/S properly.

Hi All, I'm considering P3D v3, but I'm totally confused on which license I need to buy: $199 or $59?? I've been a longtime FSX user, and have all the "power user" addons: ASN, UT2, PMDG, A2A, GSGlobal, UTUSA, EZCA, GEX. You know... all of it... So, frankly, I've been disengaged and out of the loop on P3D, but I read a few reviews on P3D v3, and I get the impression that this sim is the way of the future. But, I can't find a guide, or something like that, for a person like me who needs to understand the fundamentals of P3D so I don't jump in and make a bunch of bad choices, or not really understand what I'm getting into. What I know: I'll probably have to re-buy add-ons. Some might still work, but installers can be an issue. v3 apparently has some pretty nice feature improvements over FSX? v3 works (properly) in Windows 10 vs. the way FSX works, and also uses DX11. v3 has better use of hardware, like offloading to GPU and SLI, and the OOM fix. What I don't know: 1. Lockheed says NOT for "Personal Consumer Entertainment". So, that's that... can't buy it. But I CAN buy it, and just lie to Lockheed, right? (This is really confusing to me.) So, if I can buy, having read P3D's "License Options" webpage the difference between the $59 and $199 versions is incredibly unclear. Does anyone know the difference between an "undergraduate" and "graduate" feature set??? Anyway, I just don't want to buy the $59 version only to find out that you can't use retractable gear aircraft or something. I'll gladly drop $199 if I have to. 2. Am I correct in my perception that the sim community seems to be gravitating toward P3D, and it's probably the future, or am I misguided? Anywho... please drop me some comments. Much appreciated, James

I would like to read the manual to help me decide if I should buy. I've seen all the enthusiastic posts, but as a button user, I really want to confirm that this is a worthwhile investment over the old FS2Crew. Is there some place that I can download the manual? Thank you, James

So, I wanted to post a quick note to mention that I've solved (well, 95% sure) the issue. I believe that I did have a mobo that was on the fritz, as I resolved the issue by replacing the mobo. Cannot be sure what it was, but likely something to do with the SATA controller, or the south bridge. I was having all sorts of peculiar things related to the HDs, most of which culminated in a completely locked system, and BSODs with error codes pointing toward HD issues or just hardware failures in general. I should note that I also replaced the power supply at the same time, but I still believe the issue was HD-related. I've used FSX for about 12 hours with the new mobo, one flight was 9 hours. No problems. Anyway, cost me $hundreds but that wasn't important. Having my favorite sim fully operational was. James

Ian, yeah, more good advice. Replacing all the SATA cables was one of my first steps. Although, the ones I removed were locking so I might revert to those once the new mobo gets installed. Thnx, James

Olli, yeah, absolutely. I made a Memtest boot CD and ran that the other day. All memory tested good. James Wow.... just had the same lockup after I tried to open Disk Management within Windows. Something is failing; geez, I hope it's the mobo, since I already bought that replacement...

Yeah, good advice, thanks Ian. Yes, Vonmar, it is overclocked. I monitor temps pretty closely, and all's clean inside the case. I've run Intel Burn Test many times, and the CPU temp never exceed ~70C, which I'm very comfortable with. I have a Corsair H80i CPU cooler which does a great job. I'm pretty comfortable with the OC I'm using. It's a i7-2600K default speed at 3.5 ghz (I think). I've overclocked to 4.2. I've had it as high as 4.4 ghz and it still makes it through the Intel Burn Test, but the temps are close to 80C, which I don't like. I'm pretty sure that I turned off all OCing last week, and tested in FSX, but still got the hard lockup. So, I sorta ruled out the OC as the cause. FYI, I was installing DCS World just a few minutes ago, and it completely locked up during the installation process, in similar fashion requiring a hard reboot and then the same SATA disk issue. The fact that this lockup occurred during the installation where lots and lots of data is being jammed through the SATA/HD architecture makes me think that the HDs or SATA controller once again are the culprit. I found a program called CrystalDisk which uses the SMART check the integrity of the HDs. It says they're all good. I don't know for sure. I already bought a replacement mobo, and also a good quality power supply... I hope I didn't waste a bunch of money... Troubleshooting these hardware issues seems to be shooting in the dark. James

I have a repeatable issue that I'm looking for some guidance on. I have FSX Gold with Acceleration. I also have GEX, Ultimate Terrain, Ultimate Traffic 2, A2A GA aircraft. System: Gigabyte Z7 mobo 1155 socket, i7-2600 CPU, 8GB RAM, 2X Intel 530 SSDs (1 for FSX, other for Windows), and 2 regular HDs. Using Windows 7 Home Premium (64 bit). The problem I get is FSX will freeze. I can still see the image, but it's hard locked. Sound continues in the background. No error messages of any kind (usually). When I CTRL-ALT-DEL, the screen just goes black, and I have to reboot by pressing the power off then on. Sometimes I will get a BSODs - Stop code 0X000000F4 = hardware error of multiple kinds - Stop code 0X0000007A = usually related to a hard drive issue When rebooting, almost always, the SATA controller cannot find the hard drive that has Windows7 on it. I can fix this by disconnecting the SATA cables, power on, shutdown, then reconnect the cable and boot. - sometimes I get a DISK BOOT FAILURE when W7 tries to load. I have to insert a W7 repair disk, it reinstalls the BOOT stuff, and Windows starts. - sometimes I get the DISK BOOT FAILURE and repair doesn't work, and then I'm screwed. Reinstall W7, thank goodnes for my backups. I have yet to experience this with any other software other than FSX. I play all sorts of games on Steam like Civilization, Train Sim, first person shooters, etc. So, I think I have some piece of hardware that's failing. - Back in Mar-2014, I had the issue where the primary HD wasn't showing up on the on-board SATA controller during boot up. I thought the HD had failed, so I bought a new HD and one of the SSD. That's when I installed W7 onto the SSD. It worked well for a while - Maybe Sep-2014, I had it again, and decided by on-board SATA controller was going bad. Bought a PCI-e SATA controller. Worked well for a while. - Last week, I then had multiple hard lockups in FSX, pretty much repeatable after anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes of flying. Most A2A C182, but I did get one in the Real Air Duke, and the default C172. - Finally, the other day, I got one and I wasn't able to repair the DISK BOOT FAILURE. I bought another SSD (to install FSX onto) and did a complete reinstall of W7 and FSX. - Just 1 hour ago, on my fresh system, it did it again. Thank goodness it booted, but I did have to disconnect teh SATA cables first. I can't figure out what hardware needs replacing, if any (could just be FSX I suppose...). If it's hardware, is it the mobo? I really doubt it's a SSD or HD, as I've had this occur with various HD configs. I switched to a different SATA controller, so that can't be it. I also did MEMTEST on the memory, with no probs. Could it be OOM error, or do those always have a pop-up box? Before I start placing orders for new mobos and other stuff, I thought I would post this and try to get some feedback. Any thoughts appreciated. James

Why don't you post a message in the PMDG JS41 forum? It's right here on Avsim. James

Damian, No, I still get the error message. I thought I had it figured out, but I didn't. I just responded to the ticket. James

Damian: Not sure if you received my e-mails. The build fixed the issue, but I get an "AS2012 has stopped working" dialog box when I connect to FSX. It's weird though, because AS2012 hasn't stopped and continues to work just fine. James

Ground suppression is only active in standard depiction. Having said that, I disabled it in standard depiction, and then switch back to smooth transitions. Had no effect; still same issue exists. Will submit a ticket. James

Using AS2012 smooth cloud transitions depiction mode. Went to an airport today. Set date/time to Oct 17 and 19Z. All was good: wind, temp, baro accurate. The trouble starts when I decide to change the date/time. I switched to Oct 23, 19Z, AS2012 did it's update, and the AS2012 METAR changed with new wind, temp, baro. Unfortunately, this new WX just refuses to show up in FSX. I don't know if it's an FSX issue or AS2012., but it seems like AS2012 is unable to interject the WX into FSX. The clouds appear to update; it's the wind, baro, temp that just retains the last setting. So, I "clear all weather" using FSUIPC or the FSX menu. Press refresh on AS2012 and wait... nothing happens. Even the clouds refuse to work. Been waiting for like 5 mins now as I type this post. Is it impossible to change the date/time on the fly? I'm specifically trying to get Smooth Cloud Transitions mode to work because I just don't like the clouds with DWC and having to use ATC Lock or Force Destination WX. James

Nice. Thanks guys. James

Folks: Would someone tell me what this alarm is and how to silence it. Load the default panel (engines running, etc). Then fail the AC STBY BUS. Wait a few secs and you will get the alarm. Thanks! James

Sorry, I have to disagree. Big, gigantic, wide open areas of clear sky when the WX reports solid overcast. Seen it many times. And, like you, I also use 12 and 20. James

Hmmm, I must not have looked closely enough. Thanks Bert.James

Has anyone figured out the ideal setting for takeoff trim, and how to visually set this (I can't see any position markers on the trim indicator, and thus I never seem to set the trim correctly for takeoff)? Thanks,James

Yup, AS2012's overcast doesn't work. Period. Maybe it's being addressed, but I don't know.James

I've read the pinned post above, and I have FSUIPC 4.761. I consistently get incorrect surface winds in FSX when using AS2012 in DWC mode. The wind direction is always off by some random number of degrees: 60, 120, even 180. The wind speed is off by some random amount. A couple weeks ago, the METAR reported clam, and FSX had it at [email protected] morning's flight, the wind speed was close, but the direction was about 40 degrees off.I can't seem to see any pattern of error, it's just always wrong. I expect to see a level of randomness, say +/- 10 degrees and +/- a few knots, but what I'm getting seems more like bug causing a prob.Happy to try some testing or whatever to try and address this.James

I just transitioned from FS9 to FSX about a month ago... yeah, you heard that right. Anyway, I had the Aeroworx King Air 200 in FS9 and the PT6 modeling left a lot to be desired. I understand this was caused by limitation in FS9. I am pleasantly surprised by the PA46T's PT6 modeling in FSX. Things work right, most noticeable: 1.) pull back prop and Tq goes up; 2.) low Tq settings and the prop stays at 2400 rpm.Is this better modeling in FSX or just a nice job by the Carenado folks?James

I had this exact problem a few minutes ago while flying the Flight 1 Cessna T182T, which is fuel injected and thus no carb heat to turn on. I didn't know you could hit "H" so I just kept climbing/descending as I had power and lost power. Finally, I just cruised at 2500 ft and it seemed to do okay.Not very realistic. I guess the FSUIPC "prevent all icing" setting could be used.Using AS2012 for weather.James