Graphics Problem or compatibility issue with FS04

[sundance1970]

Hi to all,

I am encountering problems with Flight Simulator 2004.  I recently purchased a new Graphics card Nvidia GeForce 5700LE 256mo which replaces my old card which was a Nvidia GeForce 5200FX 128mo. With this new card installed, FS2004 will let me play for a little while and suddenly freeze my computer.  I have installed the latest drivers 56.75 for the new card, I have Direct X 9.0b. My Operating Environment is XP family edition. My computer is a Pentium 4 2.6GHZ with 768 RAM DDR.

I am not a big computer wiz and I have no idea where this problem is coming from.  I have other games installed on my PC which are running fine.

If anyone has a solution to my problem, I would greatly appreciate any tips, info or guides on how to troubleshoot and resolve this issue.

Thanks to all in advance for your response.

Sundance1970

[Iroquois]

There are a couple of things you can try. First, try doing a full uninstall of your video drivers. Then go to nVidia's site and download the new 61.76 drivers and install them. See if that works.

You could also try uninstalling then reinstalling FS2004.

Does the card have a power connector on it to plug it into the main power supply. Maybe its not getting enough power.

What kind of cooling does this card have. Maybe it's getting to hot. Check your case temperatures. There are programs free for download that allow you to do that. If it is getting too hot, you can buy a simple expansion slot fan that will pull hot air away from the card.

[sundance1970]

Hi Iroquois,

thank you for your prompt response.  I have followed your guidelines and later today when I get home, I will uninstall all existing drivers and reinstall the latest ones. I have already tried uninstalling/Reinstall FS2004, didn't seem to solution the problem.  As far as the temperature I will investigate and report back...

Thanks again, and perhaps these steps will resolve the problem.

Sundance1970

[congo]

You might not be able to download accurate temperature software, few graphics cards are equipped with the supporting hardware sensors.

An alternative would be to open the side cover and use a fan of some kind to blow air across the open PC case, cooling the internals in general. If your PC doesn't crash, then you know it was a heat problem. But, remember, your other games are fine....... are they graphics intensive like Flight Sim?

[sundance1970]

Hi Congo,

Thanks for the advice and I will try that option as well.  The other Games i have installed came with the Graphics card CD ROM.  It is called Moto GP2.  I would say that it is very much graphics intense.  I can see great details and performance on the game is flawless.  That is why I really don't understand why FS2004 is not working properly.

Any other thoughts are welcome,

Thanks again

Sundance1970

[congo]

Last resorts......

Have you still got the old FX5200? If may be useful for troubleshooting this problem. I mean, if you popped it back in, would FS9 still mess up? If the old card is fine, then You could have a software issue with the new card, or simply, (not nice, I know) a faulty graphics card.

[congo]

On the surface, a game may look very graphic intensive, but as far as the graphics card is concerned, it may not be. FS9 can be extremely demanding on the video hardware depending on it's settings. Also, there are video driver settings adjustable from windows as well.

[sundance1970]

Hello to all,

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to solve my problem with FS2004.  To run down the list of suggestions made by Iroquois and Congo this is what I have done or found out so far....

First I uninstalled all drivers and installed driver 61.76 for my Nvidia card. Problem still persist...

Second, uninstalled/reinstalled FS2004...No improvements still

Third, as far as the temperature, as Congo indicated, I could only see the CPU temp which was at peak 135 degrees Fareinheit...I do have a fan installed on the side of the casing as well as a fan on the new graphics card....

Still not able to do anything to resolve the problem, I haven't done what Congo suggested for troubleshooting purposes removing/adding my old 5200 card.  

I will try that next, unless someone can suggest other options before I do that...

Thanks again for any help on this matter, very frustrating not to be able to play after having spent 200.00 euros on something that should improve the quality of my graphics...

Regards,

Sundance1970

[sundance1970]

Hi to all,

After an extensive toubleshooting session I finally was able to get my problem resolved....A Rooky mistake I guess, but now it looks like all is working...The problem was that I was installing the wrong driver (Language) on my Graphics Card. Thus, not working...at least that is all that could come up with...

Now, my question to all of you, is with a Nvidia GeForce 5700LE 256mo card and 768mo of DDR Ram, what should be my settings?  When I run the game, ie (New York scenery) very busy in graphics, the game still freezes up. Keeping in mind, that I installed FS2004 terrain, airports 2, and also Traffic. I also have PDMG 737NG installed.  Also all the addons that I can download from Simviation.  My guess is that my seetings are not set in the right manner...Could anyone help me in giving me guidelines to set my card to its optimum?

Thank you in advance,

Sundance 1970

2.6GHZ Pentium 4
768Mo DDR Ram
Nvidia GeForce 5700LE 256mo
Logitech FF 3D-Wingman Extreme