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Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Fri May 14, 2010 5:37 amby patchz
I was getting some spikes and blue rectangles but they only lasted half a second and were intermittent. But I called Alienware tech support jic. The end result was them sending a certified Dell tech to my house to install a new video card. Before the tech left we fired up FSX and when changing views with the 'A' key, I briefly got a tan screen. But then it seemed to settle down and other than a slight drop in frame rate, was fine. A couple of hours later my Saitek was returned after repair so I hooked it up to check. I started getting the blue/tan/black screens everytime I changed views, as well as lock ups. And when it did work, stutters with very low frame rates. Suspecting the Saitek might not be fixed, I disconnected and tried using just the keyboard. Same result. It has since stabilized slightly allowing some extended flight, but the problems still show up on occasion. There were no changes in any settings or any additions when it was working fine shortly before the tech arrived and since he left. It is exactly the same in the original install and the copy/duplicate install. And I have to run FSX in window mode because full screen frame rate/stutters will not allow flight. Before, I always ran in full screen with frame rates around 30.
I also sometimes get an error message saying the display driver has stopped responding and has recovered, though the lock up continues. Sometimes it will stabilize and allow flight, sometimes not. I also found two identical entries for the video card under Display adapters in Device Manager, identical except one is on PCI buss 10, the other on PCI buss 11. I have no idea which one was the original. I tried disabling one, then the other and both times system reverted to default. It would seem to me that if one was the original which is no longer connected, disabling it should have little or no affect but this was not the case. Any help appreciated.
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Fri May 14, 2010 9:21 amby Ang2dogs
Did you try letting the sim write a new FSXcfg? Try that first.
Also sometimes (when things get really wacky) it seems that the logbookBIN gets corrupted and removing it, (the sim will write a new one), or replaceing it with a back-up logbookbin, will
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Fri May 14, 2010 10:37 amby patchz
[quote]Did you try letting the sim write a new FSXcfg? Try that first.
Also sometimes (when things get really wacky) it seems that the logbookBIN gets corrupted and removing it,
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 1:11 amby Ang2dogs
Sorry to hear that, hope all goes well for you and you get it sorted out.
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 7:12 amby Brett_Henderson
Maybe try a different driver set for tha v-card ? Sometimes the newest isn't always the best, for FSX..
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 7:22 amby Fozzer
I've collected a number of (very) old Drivers for my nVidia Video Card, and I often have to try them out to prevent various Graphic anomalies!
Many of the "older" ones often give better/more reliable results!
Paul...with a Folder full of various Drivers....
...!
In most cases, the original Drivers supplied, and designed for my Card when new, perform the best...
...!
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 9:41 amby patchz
[color=#000000]My card is an ATI Radeon HD 5970. The driver for it, is an older driver for the 5870. I don't think an older driver is available for this card.
I just spent about two hours on the phone and connected to Alienware tech support. He downloaded and installed a new driver. It appeared the issue was fixed in FSX. But then he had me load FS9 and the tan and black screens showed up and the sim locked up. He said I had two options.
1. Install another new card. (I don't think there is anything wrong with the card.)
2. Re-install windows. (I really do not want to do that.)
He said with a re-install of windows we would be able to tell whether the problem was hardware related or software related.
I think it is all related to computer, card, and sim settings. But then I don't know much. At this point I am going to back up all my files to my outboard drive and test FSX further. I am not going to get in a hurry with my decision concerning the re-install.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 9:55 amby Fozzer
..if I can remember, Larry...
...didn't you once have and old Computer.....running FS 2004...wonderfully?... ::)...
...
....!
Paul...G-BPLF...FS 2004...and a really old computer... [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]....!
.....all this "newfangled" stuff!....BAH!....
...!
....
....!
Serves you right, for moving from the Forum just below this one.....
....
..."Upwards" is not always better...
...
...
...!
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 2:31 pmby patchz
..if I can remember, Larry...
...didn't you once have and old Computer.....running FS 2004...wonderfully?... ::)...
...
....!
Paul...G-BPLF...FS 2004...and a really old computer... [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]....!
.....all this "newfangled" stuff!....BAH!....
...!
....
....!
Serves you right, for moving from the Forum just below this one.....
....
..."Upwards" is not always better...
...
...
...!
[color=#000000]Now Paul, don't be petty.
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 8:06 pmby olderndirt
Larry - You're obviously a person with a much gentler frame of mind than me.
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 9:21 pmby patchz
[quote]Larry - You're obviously a person with a much gentler frame of mind than me.
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sat May 15, 2010 9:39 pmby Tomcat5
Are you overclocking your graphics card? Probably not, but an 'overoptimisitc' clock can make artifacts happen. This sounds a lot like an artifact.
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sun May 16, 2010 8:30 amby patchz
[quote]Are you overclocking your graphics card?
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Sun May 16, 2010 2:23 pmby eno
There is another posibility ............. it maybe a power problem.
What is your power supply rated at?
ATI cards generally suck more power out of a system than they say on the spec sheet.
Re: Lock ups, stutters, black/blue/tan screens
Posted:
Mon May 17, 2010 9:17 amby patchz
There is another posibility ............. it maybe a power problem.
What is your power supply rated at?
ATI cards generally suck more power out of a system than they say on the spec sheet.
875 watt. The ATI 5970 HD minimum requirement is 650 watt for a single card, 850 watt with dual cards via Crossfire. I think the 875 watt is enough for my single card.