HELP!!! FS04 wont run!!!

[homesicktexan]

Ok, I was tooling along trying to intall the jet aircraft smoke pakage but it wasn't working. So I stopped doing that and took a "relaxation" flight in the Baron.  I'm in the middle of a climbing turn and all of the sudden the sreen (and entire computer) freezes. I press ctrl+alt+del and my sreen switches to safe mode and say there has been a video card error. So, I close everything and try to shut my computer down. It wont. The start menu wont come up. So, I have to push the power button. When it comes back on, it says my system has recovered from a major  failure, but everything seemed normal. I click on the FS icon, the cd starts to spin but nothing happens. I it does this every time but wont load. I popped that cd out and put in Combat Flight Simulator 3 and it works perfect. What is going on??? I have a brand new Gateway 835GM and tons of memory and space, what can I do? Any info will be greatly appreciated.

[garymbuska]

It sounds like you may have to uninstall and reinstall fs2004.
Without all of your system specs I do not know what happened but if your system crashed while trying to view scenery from fs2004 than it might have caused a problem with fs2004.exe. But I really do not know. Just a wild guess on my part. You might want to make sure your video card is capeable of running fs2004.
I do not know why the smoke package would have caused the problem, But than I do not know what you might have done that created the situation.

[homesicktexan]

Well my video card ran FS 2004 fine for about 3 months.  I might try the uninstall as a last resort.  Thanks.

[MattNW]

Before an uninstall/re-install try moving your Fs9.cfg file. I've had the same thing happen and replacing my Fs9.cfg will fix it. I usually keep a good copy on hand just in case but if you don't have one then move the file out of the folder and restart the sim. It will build a new .cfg and you will have to redo your settings but that fixes a lot of problems.

I believe what happens is that the computer crashes and the sim tries to resave the Fs9.cfg but by resetting the machine you interrupt the process. If you check your .cfg it will likely only be partially complete or corrupt. It's worth a try as it only takes a minute or two. If that doesn't work then you may need to reinstall.

[homesicktexan]

Ok. I'll give that a try. Any clue on why a brand new high end computer would crash? Um, and where could I find the Fs9.cfg file? Sorry.

[commoner]

..............C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Application Data\Microsoft\FS9\fs9.CFG....when you find it, why not make a shortcut to it on your desktop, and one to your FS9 main folder whilst you're at it........commoner.

[FridayChild]

Also check up the "search" function in the Start menu  ;)

[simonmd]

And before you come back saying "the .cfg file is not there" it is a HIDDEN file, so you'll need to enable 'show hidden files' from the tools menu at the top.