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FSX is hanging after a few minutes of flight (Read 1784 times)
Sep 1st, 2011 at 11:10pm

BigT-65   Offline
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For the last week or so my FSX has been hanging after a few minutes of flight. I can still hear the engines and see what was on the screen when it froze but nothing is moving and the only thing I can do is CTRL-Alt-Del and shut down. Please help. I have cleaned registry and defragmented.
 
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Reply #1 - Sep 1st, 2011 at 11:21pm

Cpt. D. Striker Metcalf   Offline
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I had that problem and noticed it was timed with just about the time my screen saver was coming on, I set my screen saver to none and it stopped, so cut off anything running in the background like IM's, email notices etc if you have a slower processor, try that and see what happens. Cool
 

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Reply #2 - Sep 1st, 2011 at 11:38pm
U4EA   Ex Member

 
If it's anything like mine, and I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, then your hard drive is about to have an epic fail! Undecided

One thing I didn't do though, even though I suspected HD problems, was do a complete and full backup at the first sign of trouble. Cry  Lost a lot of pics and music.
 
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Reply #3 - Sep 2nd, 2011 at 7:55am

Strategic Retreat   Offline
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As a third, less catastrophic possibility than the second and a little more annoying than the first, possibility, make sure your graphic card's GPU's radiator and fan are in tip top working order... you know, with the fan spinning freely and the radiator's fins clean and NOT clogged by dust. Especially in the summer (that is ending, but it's still hot), this can be such an nuisance...
 

There is no such a thing as overkill. Only unworthy targets.
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Reply #4 - Sep 2nd, 2011 at 2:04pm

Capt.Propwash   Offline
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also try deleteing your FSX.CFG (not found in your Microsoft Games / FSX folder, but burried deep in your computer in hidden files.)  Delete the FSX.CFG {or at least just move it to your desktop so FSX has to rebuild a new one...} and after it builds a new one, see if the problem still exists. 

If it does, and your Heat Sink and fan are all in working order, start looking around for a new harddrive and start backing up your Pictures and Music before you wish you had more time.
 

The thoughts and expressions contained in the post above are solely my own, and not necessarily those of Simviation.com, its Moderators, its Staff, its Members, or other guests. They can not, are not, and will not be held liable for any thoughts, or expressions, or posts that I have made, or will make in the future.

Computer Specs:: Acer Aspire Laptop..Win7 Home Premium 64-bit (sp1), AMD Athlon II X2 P340 (Dual Core) [2.2 Ghz], ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 (256mb), 4GB DDR3......FS9.1(sp3) / FSX (sp2)..... Ultimate Terrain X, Ground Environment X, REX, FTX ORBX PNW-PFJ-NRM-CRM, OZx, Tongass Fjords, Misty Moorings
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Reply #5 - Sep 2nd, 2011 at 10:51pm

BigT-65   Offline
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This is the computer I am using with FSX
Motherboard Asus P6T Deluxe V2
Processor Intel Core i7-940
Memory 12 GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3
CPU Cooler Zalman CNPS 9900
Power Supply Corsair TX850 W
Graphics EVGA GeForce GTX 285
In the summer I also run an external fan on the machine.
I have had this problem before when I was running Windows Xp Pro 64 bit. When I changed to Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit the problem stopped for over a year. It just started up again 2 weeks ago. I am going to look inside to see if I have a dirt problem, but dirt was not the problem when I was using Xp. FSX is the only program that this freezing happens with. I tend to think it might be my graphics card. I do have the latest driver. It is hard to find a lot of information about many graphics cards from people using flight sims. Most of them are into Call of Duty, Halo and such. For information I did turn off my screen saver and for a while I thought that was it but it did freeze again after about 20 minutes.
Your thoughts?
 
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Reply #6 - Sep 3rd, 2011 at 3:58am

jetprop   Offline
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it is probably your graphics card then,i have the same problem and i know mine is rubbish.
 

...
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Reply #7 - Sep 3rd, 2011 at 10:58am

Capt.Propwash   Offline
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what is the clock speed of your processor? have you tried overclocking it? If you did, you might have it set too high.

 

The thoughts and expressions contained in the post above are solely my own, and not necessarily those of Simviation.com, its Moderators, its Staff, its Members, or other guests. They can not, are not, and will not be held liable for any thoughts, or expressions, or posts that I have made, or will make in the future.

Computer Specs:: Acer Aspire Laptop..Win7 Home Premium 64-bit (sp1), AMD Athlon II X2 P340 (Dual Core) [2.2 Ghz], ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 (256mb), 4GB DDR3......FS9.1(sp3) / FSX (sp2)..... Ultimate Terrain X, Ground Environment X, REX, FTX ORBX PNW-PFJ-NRM-CRM, OZx, Tongass Fjords, Misty Moorings
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Reply #8 - Sep 3rd, 2011 at 12:20pm

Squackie   Offline
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Honest truth, (though strangely as of yet unmentioned) this kind of problem, with any software, can be the result of file corruption from a bad add on, an error while the game was running, or a conflict with new hardware. try reinstalling FSX. also, there are both reports of extreme heating on the 280.26 drivers, unrelated to FSX, and also, conversely, errors with FSX, even when overheating isn't the problem. roll back your drivers, and see what happens.
 
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Reply #9 - Sep 3rd, 2011 at 7:28pm

BigT-65   Offline
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Currently my CPU is set up at stock. I have tweaked it in the past but not since switching to win 7. I thought about reinstalling but I don't want to lose my log book or add ons. If there is corruption from add ons it could be some F-16s I was having trouble with. Flying one of these was when it first started freezing after a few minutes of flying. I can get rid of these. it now freezes on all planes but runs longer with some than others. Can I uninstall FSX and keep all my settings and add ons? Besides several military planes other add ons I have installed are Abacus Extreme Landscapes and Flight Deck 4 for FSX. My FSX is running SP2.
 
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Reply #10 - Sep 3rd, 2011 at 7:42pm

BigT-65   Offline
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Here's something else. I also logged on to my computer as another user and had the same problem. I believe this would involve a different FSX.cfg file, so that is probably an indication it's not that file causing the problem.
 
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Reply #11 - Sep 3rd, 2011 at 9:05pm

Capt.Propwash   Offline
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try deleting the FSX.CFG that is burried in your computers C: in some hidden files, and restart FSX (you will have to reset your settings and Key Assignments, but that is just a drop in a bucket compared to having to reinstall everything all over again)
 

The thoughts and expressions contained in the post above are solely my own, and not necessarily those of Simviation.com, its Moderators, its Staff, its Members, or other guests. They can not, are not, and will not be held liable for any thoughts, or expressions, or posts that I have made, or will make in the future.

Computer Specs:: Acer Aspire Laptop..Win7 Home Premium 64-bit (sp1), AMD Athlon II X2 P340 (Dual Core) [2.2 Ghz], ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 (256mb), 4GB DDR3......FS9.1(sp3) / FSX (sp2)..... Ultimate Terrain X, Ground Environment X, REX, FTX ORBX PNW-PFJ-NRM-CRM, OZx, Tongass Fjords, Misty Moorings
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Reply #12 - Sep 3rd, 2011 at 10:57pm

BigT-65   Offline
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I tried to find FSX.cfg when you mentioned it befoe but I could not find it.
 
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Reply #13 - Sep 3rd, 2011 at 11:44pm

Capt.Propwash   Offline
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in Windows 7 (you will need to turn on "show hidden files and folders")

it is located in:
C:/users/(user name)/AppData/Roaming/Microsoft/FSX/FSX.CFG


i forget the path for XP, so if someone would be so kind as to post it, it would be appreciated. thanks.
 

The thoughts and expressions contained in the post above are solely my own, and not necessarily those of Simviation.com, its Moderators, its Staff, its Members, or other guests. They can not, are not, and will not be held liable for any thoughts, or expressions, or posts that I have made, or will make in the future.

Computer Specs:: Acer Aspire Laptop..Win7 Home Premium 64-bit (sp1), AMD Athlon II X2 P340 (Dual Core) [2.2 Ghz], ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 (256mb), 4GB DDR3......FS9.1(sp3) / FSX (sp2)..... Ultimate Terrain X, Ground Environment X, REX, FTX ORBX PNW-PFJ-NRM-CRM, OZx, Tongass Fjords, Misty Moorings
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Reply #14 - Sep 4th, 2011 at 12:01am

BigT-65   Offline
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Thanks, I will let you know how it turns out after Labor Day.
 
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Reply #15 - Sep 6th, 2011 at 10:22pm

BigT-65   Offline
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OK, I deleted the FSX.cfg file, reloaded FSX, reset all my settings and took a flight. I flew for about 45 minutes to an hour, landed and saved the flight. The plane was a Beachcraft Baron 58.  Later I started the same flight and flew for about 10 minutes and FSX hung. I thought I had it but I guess not. Any more ideas would be helpful.
 
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Reply #16 - Sep 11th, 2011 at 2:16pm

walter d   Offline
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Ground Hog, I also have the same issues you're having and I've determined that unfortunately there is no answer to this issue; memory, overheating, drivers, cfg files, this and that  could be an issue, either separately or in conjungtion, but I do not believe so (I'm no computer expert by any means), chances are the issue is with running FSX under Windows 7, this is a new platform, Windows from its inceptcion has always had issues and they still persist and even different ones are piling up over the older ones Smiley. This problem is so intermitent that it is almost impossible to diagnose, let us not forget that we are not running FSX as it comes from the disk, we've added tons of addons, such as aircraft, scenerys, textures, missions, etc. etc.
I've read as much as possible about this issue and haven't found the correct fix yet, sadly. Just to give you an idea, sometimes during my flight session, which last for about an hour I don't have any freezes at all, sometimes only one, yesterday I had 3, go figure, I'm usually also running Plan G, they both freeze at the same time, but it sometimes freezes up even when Plan G is not running, also, I have full control of Windows, I can surf the net and do whatever I want, while FSX and PlanG are Not Responding, at first the only way out was to shut them both down through Task Manager, but if left alone, they'll start running in about 6 to 10 minutes as if nothing had happened and I'm able to fly the entire session without any problems, except yesterday, where I had 3 freezes (I was also flying a new airplane, new install), perhaps this had something to do with it.
I'm going to try next to fly stock airplanes in stock scenerys and see what happens, perhaps it is our weather in Tampabay that doesn't help. By the way, my rig is only about 6 months old and runs like a champ, 4 cores at 3.5 GHZ running without any changes, all temps are in the cool zone, I also fly Rise of Flight and Over Flanders Fields with no problems at all, so this issue  has nothing to do with hardrive ready to go out or old drivers or whatever one might think of.
Man, I wish I had an answer, as I really enjoy this sim, more than any other one, if you find the answer to the problem, would you please shoot me a line, will do likewise.
Best wishes,
 
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Reply #17 - Sep 16th, 2011 at 8:08am

walter d   Offline
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I had totally forgotten that I had Enditall in my computer, so for the past three days I started it before  FSX, so far, no more crashes, basically what this program does is to shut off all programs running in background, including the antivirus (AVG in my case), although you can choose and pick the ones that you want to remain open.
If you're experiencing random freezes, this program might do the trick, besides, it will free up needed resources for those that do not have powerful machines.
Should it crash again with Enditall running I'll post it here, so you know, but so far so good. Cheesy
 
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Reply #18 - Sep 17th, 2011 at 12:37pm

walter d   Offline
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Sad Nope, it didn't work, Yesterday had two freezes, go figure what makes this thing tick! Grrrrrrrrr.....! Angry
 
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Reply #19 - Sep 23rd, 2011 at 7:09pm

walter d   Offline
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OK, this seems to have worked, I removed and reinstalled SP1 and SP2. After about 6 hours of flight (6 days), no freezes. Hope it stays this way, should it crash again, I'll repost so nobody is wasting their time. By the amount of responses it seems that most people having this issue have resoved it, mmmmhhhh!
 
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