abax2000

Fully understand that this not a cure, but it will be proof that this is indeed the mechanism that gets triggered. Your analysis is the first I come across that gives a logical explanation on this issue; the "race condition" assumption also makes sense. If it is proved that the underlying mechanism is the one you describe, then I hope that experts (quite a few in this hobby) can "immune" addons and apps against it. PS: I have kept some logs from WhatIsHang during 8min freezes. The following was repeated in all cases: Execute Address: 773E70F4 ntdll.dll!KillFastSystemCallRet Call Stack: 03D4FD3C 75461818 KERNELBAS.dll!Sleep+0xf ... ... ... Hope this can help more knowledgeable guys.

It seems that you've got something there! I am freeze-free for some time now, using the affinity mask (core0 left for OS and accompanying apps) and unlimited frames. To my experience the 8min freeze is not directly related with ASN, as I have seen it (many times) without ASN in use (I have seen it many times with AS2012 in use). As you mention, ASN must be one of many things that can trigger it. If someone knows what he is doing (and currently experiencing the freezes), he could modify the registry setting (e.g. to 30sec) and see if the freezes go down to 4min. I also read in the article you provided, that windows should report in Event Viewer the timeouts. I was never able to find any record in EventViewer of these freezes. Would you know where in EventViewer should we look for them?

Could you please direct to the relevant windows documentation? It does happen in HD. In fact, it seems that is happening to a very wide range of hardware, so most probably It is connected to os/software issues.

AS2012 seems that works ok. I thought that all HiFi products use the same network.

Are the ASN servers down? ASN reports "Downloading weather", but never completes. A couple of times, it reverted to static weather.

Please take all of the following with a pinch of salt. It looks to me that 8min freezes can be caused by any (unidentified yet) sim overstress (see note), so it can be PMDG aircrafts or ASN or some traffic addon or heavy/faulty scenery or..... This seems to match the fact that so many users with different sim setups and different machines experience this problem. After going through Jim's advices, I am still not able to pinpoint the culprit (although I have a "cleaner" sim). For the last couple of weeks, I am almost ( :ph34r:) freeze-free with the following basic settings: unlimited frames, addon scenery only related to the planned flight (all other deactivated), FSX on three cores (affinity mask used), all other running programs only on the free core (weather addon, maps, EFB). I am not sure (on the contrary) that this will prove bulletproof for ever, but looks fairly ok till now. Whatever triggers the 8min freezes, seems to affect a certain "thing" that takes 8min to recover, regardless of processing power, OS, addons or memory. Unfortunately, no expert yet can identify what can have this "recovery time" of 8 min. If this would be identified, I am sure that someone of all the talented and knowledgeable fellow-simmers could trace back the possible causes. Notes: the alleged "overstress" is surely NOT something obvious. It is definitely not VAS, RAM or GPU load. During the freeze, I have observed any possible combination of CPU load (all cores idle, any only one fully loaded, two fully loaded). Never seen all three or four fully loaded.

Seems like it's lacking PWM control (since it has only 3 pins) which would be needed in order to be controlled by the mobo. You can only adjust speed with the provided knob (speed regulator).

Forgot to mention that i did had all scenery disabled (except UTX which i have tested in an earlier test with no success). I'll try also the latest recommendations and report back. Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

I tried several things, following the recommendations here (and elsewhere). All things in Vargveum post checked, but with no luck. DEP was ever at "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only". fsx.cfg rebuilt, dll.xml plain vanilla, sceneries inactive, overclock totally reverted (back to std clocks)...still no luck. I attach again the reports from WhatIsHang and WinCrashReport, if Jim has still the energy to have yet another look, in case something emerges. Note: WinCrashReport contained 7 events (for fsx.exe). The report contains only the three first due to size limitations. Can other fellow simmers with the same problem please check the version of their fsx.exe? Mine is 10.0.61637 (which I believe is FSX Acceleration), although I have FSX Deluxe updated to sp2 (via the downloadable updates). WhatIsHang.txt

Jim, I don't have any AppCrashView report, since it logs only crashes, which is not (is only a long freeze of 8 min) leaving no traces in Event Viewer or AppCrashView. I can only log it with WinCrashReport and WhatIs Hang (and of course SysInternals tools).

Hi Jim, thanks for the detailed reply. I do not use TrafficX (or any other traffic addon). Furthermore I run the sim with all but the basic entries commented in dll.xml. I have also revisited my overclock (in a much older rig than yours though). Although it was double checked through the usual tools and for long times, I stepped back. This gave me several freeze free flights, until it happened again. I do have ProcessMonitor, but I seldom use it for the reasons you mention. I will give it another try though.

I tried everything recommended by Jim and others about the 8 min freeze, but after a series of trouble-free flights, it reappeared. In the attached file I have copied the reports from WhatIsHang and WinCrashReport. At the very end is the list of the handles that ProcessExplorer reported relevant to the thread that hanged. Can anyone knowlegeable (hi Jim :ph34r:) please take a look in this file in case there is something to be found?

I have tried most of the recommended steps to no avail. I was hoping that since this 8 min freeze is so characteristic and repeatable, someone could pinpoint the culprit. As posted already in another thread, WhoIsCrashed did not provide any insight for me. I guess I will have to run yet another series of investigation.

I have the same issue with the op. Freeze lasts exactly 8 mins every time. Jim, how did you manage to get rid of the problem with the internet connection? PS: pls take a look here http://forum.avsim.net/topic/431806-8-minute-crash/ NOTE: This topic was split off from another topic - http://forum.avsim.net/topic/431139-fsx-freeze/page-0 as members should start a new thread for their particular issue and not tag on with other topic starters. It makes it confusing to determine who's problem is what when you have several posting in the same topic.

I am having this problem for quite some time. It is 8min exactly every time. Aircraft used or route does not seem to make any difference. Frame rate setting does not seem to solve it for me either. WhatIsHang reveals nothing material (at least to me). Happens with AS2012 and ASE (not tried ASN yet). Seems something like that the sim does not cope with well but I cannot nail it for a long time. Please do not let this thread die unanswered. :unsure: Is there anybody that knows what can have a process/cycle time of 8min?