problem - no GPS

[Bamboo1]

Today about noon I decided to take a work break by flying my Aloha Airlines 737-400 from Kahului to Honolulu.  (Thanks go to Bill Melichar for his great Kahului scenery!)  However, my normally stable computer decided I should spend the afternoon problem solving instead of flying!  I sure hope someone can help.

Here's what's happened:
When I started FS2002 professional on my Dell Inspiron 8200, first I got a message saying, "Software 3D enabled. Safe mode has been enabled because your system is currently unable to use hardware acceleration..."  The message goes on but that's the key part.

FS2002 continued to load, then another message popped up stating, "Error loading GPS_Engine.  The flight plan will not be used.."

When the program finally came up, the graphics sucked and without flight plans, what's the point?  I quit and started trouble-shooting.  I do at least one flight a day and this is the first time anything like this has happend.

This morning Windows XP announced a "critical" new upgrade had been downloaded and asked permission to install it, which I did.  Thinking that might have been the start of my problems, I did a System Restore to yesterday's configuration.  That solved the hardware acceleration problem, but the GPS still won't start.

Where do I go from here?  My weekend of flying fun is threatened!

-Scott

[BFMF]

Are you using updated graphic card drivers plus the new DirectX?

Not sure about your flightplan problem

[Bamboo1]

I just finished downloading the latest video driver (to be installed first thing in the morning).  I've been using DirectX9 since it came out with no problems.  

The thing I find interesting is that other than the XP upgrade, nothing else has changed on my machine.  Since I reverted to a Windows setup prior to that upgrade, it should be same/same as before (but obviously isn't).

[BFMF]

hmm, i'm stumped.Maybe tipster knows, he seems to know everything about computers & FS2002!

[FSTipster]

hmm, i'm stumped.Maybe tipster knows, he seems to know everything about computers & FS2002!

Far from it!

I can only add the following:

I downloaded the same critical updates (I not long re-installed and there have only been 2 since then) and they didn't do this to my setup.

I'm wondering if you added any scenery or AFCAD files recently? They can sometimes mess up the ATC bgl files and cause crashes at the start of FS2002. Lee Swordy posted a thread here about it recently.

Even if you didn't, I'd recommend d/loading ScanBGLs v1.2 and running it. It looks suspiciously like your ATC BGL files may be corrupted whatever caused it.

As to your grapics problem, if the only update you've made since last flying in FS2002 is the XP critical update, it would seem it's had a conflict with your graphics drivers.

Need more info on your system and driver specs here really otherwise it's just pure guesswoirk.

[Bamboo1]

GPS PROBLEM UPDATE:

First of all, thanks to everyone for jumping in with your suggestions!

Here's where we stand right now:
The initial software acceleration problem has been cured, although I'm not sure how.

[FSTipster]

It's always a good idea to re-install DirectX after you do a new driver installation - you might want to do that.

I can't see it having any effect on your GPS problem though. If ScanBGLs didn't find any problems with what you have installed, I'm wondering if some files have been deleted altogether (or had their extensions re-named).

It's pretty difficult to analyse because of the nature of the original problem. The fact that it didn't happen the second time you installed the updates could mean one of two things:

It suffered a one off glitch the first time. (Once that happens, anything could have changed). Or:

The file that it had the conflict with is no longer present, or one that was added in the process is.

Be aware that system restore is limited in it's function. It's not a substitute for a hard drive backup. If something has been modified that it considers a file you want to retain, it won't attempt to revert it.

One last test:

Open FS2002\SCENEDB\ATC\Scenery folder, right click a blank area within it and select Arrange Icons - by type. Then check if the first and last icon in the folder both have .bgl as their file extension. If you find anything else, please report it.

[Bamboo1]

Following FSTipster's recommendation I'll reinstall DirectX this morning.

My SCENEB\ATC\Scenery file contains all BGL files with one exception:
traffic_ORIGINAL.bbb
which is a really large (11,087kb) file which seems to correspond to the only other large file in the directory:
traffic.bgl
which shows a file revision date of 3/14/2003!

I spent that Sunday evening installing a bunch of newly downloaded airports (Bill Melichar's wonderfully detailed Lanai City, Keahole at Kona, Kahului, and Lihue, plus Guam and LAX) BUT those scenery files were installed 3 hours AFTER the time stamp on the traffic file.

[JohnP]

Another possibility to consider is checking the Fs2002.cfg file to see is the GPS section has been altered in any way:
This is a copy from mine:
  [GPS_Gauge]
CurrentMode=Map
PageMenuActive=False
Radius=20.000000
Orientation=TrackUp
DisplayAirports=True
DisplayVORs=True
DisplayNDBs=True
DisplayIntersections=False
DisplayVictorAirways=False
DisplayJetAirways=False
DisplayTextOnMap=True
DisplayFlightPlan=True
DisplayTrack=True
DisplayRangeRings=True
SavedMode=Route

[GPSMap]
show_airports=1
show_waypoints=0
show_vors=1
show_ndbs=1
show_ac_twr=0
waypoint_flags=0
declutter=1

Fs2002 uses this file when it starts the program and if there is a problem in the start-up, an error message will appear.
 My computer has basically the same configuration as yours, and I have not encountered any problems. However, I do no put any add-on scenery in. This too, could be an issue.
Hope this helps.