Simviation Forums

Right now, am just trying to get FS2004 working properly on my new comp. (FSX will follow once FS9 is successfully working). I've deleted everything including saved files, and done a fresh install several times. Still, whenever FS is run, the system often crashes with a brief blue screen displaying - in fact, so brief that I cannot read it; and worse, the textures have started to go crazy...(apologies for bad quality, pics taken with a camera as screenshots not possible when crashing). This manifests anywhere from about 10 seconds to 10 minutes of flight time. Am running both WinXP & WinVista, and the pics here represent what happens in XP. With Vista, the system just crashes completely.

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd2/ ... prob_A.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd2/ ... prob_B.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd2/ ... prob_C.jpg

Computer hardware:  GEForce 8800 GTS 640MB PCI-E videocard (factory superclocked), ASUS Striker Extreme motherboard, 4 X 1GB Ballistix RAM, 4 X 250 GB Seagate SATA harddrives in RAID array (with WinXP & WinVista installed on separate drives), 1KW Antec power supply, Intel E6420 Core Duo processor, 1 X Zalman CNPS9700 NT CPU fan. Temps running maximum of 35 Celsius, motherboard at 34 Celsius (with FS running). Any suggestions appreciated.

First thing I would suspect is your BIOS, make sure you've downloaded and installed the latest BIOS version for the Striker. The next thing I'd suspect is the memory.

Err which part of NO LINKED IMAGES is causing trouble?
I'm with Jim on this one it sounds like the BIOS. Have you checked the setup of your BIOS?

I'd check / replace the video driver first, next I would suspect the Video card or overheat.

Have you got other games software, and does it do the same thing on those?

Temps running maximum of 35 Celsius, motherboard at 34 Celsius (with FS running). Any suggestions appreciated.

I suggest you get a handle on the temps, 35*C load just doesn't sound right on an air cooling system, unless the room temp is very cold.

What's the GPU temp? Does this happen if you underclock the video card? If so, it's probably faulty.

Incorrect BIOS settings could cause system instability. Your mainboard is a complex one and bios needs to be thoroughly understood and correctly configured. A single incorrect ram timing option can cause BSOD's.

Your mainboard has caused a lot of problems for a lot of people, half of that likely

Many thanks for the help everyone. Bios uses default settings. I ran a lengthy memtest on each individual RAM stick and they all returned error-free results. I then tested FS9 using two sticks of RAM and then again using the other two, and it worked fine all around. Lastly, I did additional memtests with three and then all four slots filled, and received error messages only when all four were inserted. So it appears there is likely a problem with a RAM slot in the motherboard (and with Vista I want all the slots filled).  Strangely, with four sticks in place, total RAM  available indicated 3025 MB - however with three, it indicated 3070 MB - that alone indicates something isn't quite right there. If anything further crops up I'll check out your other suggestions...thanks again!

[quote]Strangely, with four sticks in place, total RAM

Are the motherboard/chipset drivers installed for this rig and if so are they the correct ones?

Make dang sure the correct motherboard drivers are installed PRIOR to the video driver going in. If you installed the video driver before the motherboard driver, or, you do not have the motherboard chipset driver installed, or, the wrong version, you can expect the issues posted above although there may be a flat out hardware failure in another area too.

When it comes to testing memory you must be sure the sticks are correctly set up in the BIOS. AUTO memory settings are not always correct especially for sub timing and VOLTAGE. Research the sticks at the manufacture web site and make SURE the memory is set up correctly in the BIOS before assuming memtest errors are from failed hardware.

Also, make SURE the motherboard is designed to use the memory product. The slots on many motherboards can be different. In the case of the P5k3/E 2 slots are low speed and 2 are high speed, therefore if you attempt to run 4 sticks you MUST make sure the system is set to run the higher timing/lower speed for the slower slots. In those cases one must purchase 2-2GB sticks and NOT use 4 1GB to get the highest rating out of the memory product.

Also, some motherboards simply do not like certain memory sticks. Again, it is best to go to the manufactures web site in their forums and either research the board or ask a question. Corsair, OCZ, Muskin, etc have techs on their forums which will tell you if what you are doing is incorrect and how to resolve it. I think Crucial also has that support but I have never used it so I am not sure if they have tech forums.

Be very careful about assuming memory is defective. You can only make that assumption after you have eliminated setup and configuration issues, and made sure the sticks will play right together on the motherboard in all 4 slots.

Thanks again for the info. I'll have the inidividual who built the computer check all of this over before proceeding.

Brian

Over 512MB video RAM on 32 bit gives adress space conflicts....

Just an update - you all pointed in the right direction. Did a BIOS update and everything is now working well. I did also exchange the RAM for the NVIDIA SLI-ready OCZ type and am not sure if that also had anything to do with it, but FS runs beautifully. Many thanks.