what the hell is wrong

[dvpro]

This POS computer sucks.
I can't fly for more than 30-60 minutes without FSX locking up. Doesn't matter the plane - the WX - the anything. Brand new installation of FSX and still, smae thing.

How do I determine what is causing this? As I write this...fsx is locked up. It may free itself after 10 minutes or so, but will lock up again in a few......OR both displays will go black than it will shut down.

Can the Oclocking be causing this? Meaning...I don't have a setting correct or am pushing it too much?

[Wingo]

What have you overclocked and by how much? Also, do you know what your temps are when FSX does lock up?

If you want a quick test set all your clocks back to default and see if FSX runs fine.

[jwenham]

Have you looked at the event viewer to see what is going on when the crash happens? Is it a lockup w/ no BSOD? My advise would be first to take a deep breath, uninstall anything that is not essential, ie 2nd monitor, DVD/CD, internet, ect. See if you can run without problems on a bare bones system. If you can, then start adding things back 1 by 1 so you then will know exactly what is causing the problem.

[JSpahn]

I am willing to place a wager on your video card overheating try monitoring your GPU temp while flying.....

[dvpro]

I'll take that wadger: GPU is 59c steady, cores are around 60-65.

Multiplier is 22 @ 181 netting me 3.98.
Normally I run 22@ 182 for 4.08
I just changed everything back to auto. I have a limited knowledge of what affects the different voltages have on one another. I just know the limits that Nick said to use. However for a while now I have had an issue of IE locking up for a few minutes  every now and then, but not nearly as much as FSX locks up. Nothing else has any issues. I can render video blazing fast. I can create multi page pdf files from word very fast.....most all the other programs is just fine. That;'s why I totally uninstalled FSX and rebuilt it.

I did have an issue with my old 260 card. I never "uninstalled the drivers" just plugged in the new card and it was working. Someone said to uninstall the drivers so I did....no difference, and I am on the latest 64 bit drivers. Same file from the 260 and the 285.

FWIW:
every now and then one of the displays starts to vibrate a little bit. Can't notice it unless you are trying to read. This is some other issue than the monitors or GPU as the card was replaced and with the monitor, I can change the dvi plug and the problem follows #1 port (therefore it's not the monitors) and the card is new(not the card)...so it's either Vista or the mobo?

I don't really care about that monitor issue too much...a simple reboot fixes it for a few weeks. FSX locking up is driving me to smoke again. I know it's part of the process in home building but after the thousands spent and countless hours working on it.....I can barly get a 45 min flight. Thx

[jwenham]

I couldnt get a stable clock using the 22x multiplyer. I went with 21x 193. My CPU voltage 1.35 and QPI/DRAM voltage 1.3125 and Dram Bus Voltage 1.64.  I just helped a guy set uyp his using the same specs as he had the exact same components as I.  Did you run a stress test on that clock to see if it was stable?

[dvpro]

I lowered some sliders a little and at the 3.9....clock it was stable from KPHX all the way till about 15000 at KSJC. For some reason I decided to up the sliders on my 285 card and it ran for about 3 seconds than crashed. Not a BSOD just black than the reboot. So with att the settings the same, I restarted the flight and at about 10000 I selected 2X to get me back where I was a little faster.....frozen after about 10 seconds. 20 minutes to free up...reset it to normal....another 20 minutes or so and it froze up again. I just had to shut it off and take a little walk. jwenham I am going to try your settings as we have very similar specs. I think this is a clock setting issue. I removed GEX...no difference....Nhancer...no difference.....everything is defragged...less than 1% fragged at this point. I want to run memtest to rule out a ram issue. Also, how important is it to totally remove the old 260 card that may have left SW or drivers in the registry? Do I really need to get a registry scrubber and go after the remaining?

[stevehookem]

Have you used OCCT to check your OC? Jim has me running at 4.0ghz and we all have the same components. Put your clock back, make sure the cores are selected correctly in OCCT (they keep changing each time) and run OCCT. If you can run for 15 min without crashing you should be good. Mine crashed after about 10 seconds the first time. Raised the CPU voltage one notch and ran again. Crashed after about 3 minutes. Raised it one more notch and now it runs perfectly.

With the True 120 cooler, I ran OCCT for 2 hours and never got above 61

[vgbaron]

DVPro - yes - it IS implortant to clean out the prior drivers. Some people don't and get away with it just fine but if you're having issues. it's one more thing to eliminate.
As for OCCT - if you can't get 1 hour stable you have problems and even if it IS stable in OCCT - that's *no* guarantee that FSX will run properly.

Set up your clock - run OCCT and MEMtest for at least an hour - then try to fly FSX for at least an hour. If FSX crashes - you need to change your clock. FSX puts more demands on your CPU/Memory/Graphics systems than any other program you can run.

Passing OCCT or Prime95 does not mean FSX will work well but it's a start.

Seems like you have more testing to do, IMHO.

Vic

[dvpro]

At the 21X193 clock, I was not at all stable. FSX locked up fairly quick. And FWIW I run OCCT and pass the 1 hr test all the time. Only when I first set up the clock did I blow over, but that was poor heat sink installation. My cores are cool as is the GPU.
So at 21x193 it was frozen...I lowered it to 21x190 and no improvement. went back to
22x188 and did an hour flight from san to sfo. than from sfo to sea. (I was testing different clocks on these flights) went from sea to egll overnight. I timmed it to see if it locked up, and all the numbers were on, no lock up accross the pond. So now it's egll to lirf, but I am noticing some graphics issues. on departure I lost the VC....there were bits and pieces of the panel, but the majority of the panel was not there. 2d mode worked just fine. Also the way my monitors are set up is not in full screen mode. I use the monitor on my right for fsx and the other for plates / charts....internet..etc... So anyhow when I load up my level D 763 the config mgr list is displayed fine when that little window is over the panel sonewhere, but when i move it off to the other panel...it's blank. Same with the push back page. Now the clock directly affects the display...that is clear to me. So I will throw this out too....when New Egg sent me this new 285 there was a slit in the thin plastic packaging and the Nvidia (maybe it was EVGA) sticker that keeps people out of the box....that was cut, so obviously I know someone got in. Called NE and they would send out a new one..but than I gotta send in mine forst...blah blah.

THe card didn't have any dust on it or appear to be used, I was thinking there is no way in hell I am going to keep this thing, but I will try it out. The image quality is exactly the same as my old 260, but this card is a bit faster in processing, that is clear to see. 150 faster? I don't know. So I went back to the NE site to read up the reviews and the part was discontinued......sigh......could this be simply a bad card? I don't get much artifacting or shimmering and I have Nhancer uninstalled at the moment.

Apparently they got more in stock...it read deactivated for about a week and a half: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130446

oh, and the price dropped by 30 bucks :-/