fs9 shutting down suddenly

[1958biggles]

I am having problems with my fs9. I run it for about an hour then it shuts down (doesn`t shut the pc down though). I can run other programmes for a lot longer with no problems. I have been monitoring the cpu temp but its not going above the norm either.

I have been starting it up with fsautostart but reverted back to the standard shortcut for the last 2 attemps but the same thing happens. I have cleaned the dust off the cpu heatsink, ran virus checkers etc, dxdiag etc etc but to no avail. Does anyone have any ideas?

I don`t want to re-install my disks as I don`t want to lose my aircraft and other add-ons etc.

My system is a 3.4 cpu, 1mb RAm and a 256mb graphics card.

Thanks

Colin

[JBaymore]

colin,

Do you have the Flight Sim update installed?  That makes it FS version 9.1.  it cirrects a memory leak issue...... which might be your problem.

Anotehr typical issue that causes sudden shutdowns to the desktop with NO warning is missing textures.  Get the freeware Microsoft FileMon and see if the sim can't find some textures.

best,

.......................john

[Mark_C]

Sometimes an uncommanded FS shutdown can be caused by cycling through too many different add-on aircraft or even panel views within the same FS session.

I've personally seen and experienced occasions when just moving between 2 or 3 different add-on aircraft and their panels is sufficient to cause this.

This seems to happen more with some aircraft and panels than others.

If the likes of what I've suggested does prove to be the issue .... then what you could try doing is cycling through the default FS CESSNA (or other default FS aircraft) prior to changing from one add-on aircraft/panel to the next.

Although this won't completly stop such uncommanded FS shutdowns from ocurring, it does seem to prevent it from happening too frequently .... according to my experience.

Mark C

[MadWings]

Hello Colin,

[...] then it shuts down (doesn't shut the PC down though).

This is commonly referred to as a "crash to desktop" (abbreviated: CTD), and happens to many simmers. Flight Simulator is a very modifiable game -- that's both a blessing and a curse. Much as the variety of possible modifications and add-ons available, there is also a variety of issues that cause CTD. To find the cause, you usually need to narrow things down.

I run it for about an hour then it shuts down (doesn't shut the PC down though).

Do you regularly experience CTDs after a certain amount of playing time? (Like "the last six times is played FS, it always crashed after 50-70 minutes.") Does this happen with a certain aircraft or in a certain region, or does it happen with any aircraft, anywhere? Do you use any add-ons? They can cause problems if they are not installed correctly.

I can run other programs for a lot longer with no problems. I have been monitoring the CPU temp but its not going above the norm either.

It might also be a hardware problem. The easiest way to check this is running a hardware-demanding 3D-game and see if it also causes trouble or crashes. Then, there are test programs. A good program to check the CPU is Prime95 (can be run from Windows; Homepage; the short Wikipedia article is a good introduction). Checking the RAM can be done with Memtest86+ (you need to boot it from a floppy disk, CD or USB device; Homepage; Wikipedia).

Another "root of evil" are driver problems. I experienced similar trouble myself recently, maybe reading this helps you, or you recognize similar symptoms. I had trouble with my video driver (AGP/Radeon 9800 Pro), all the ATI tabs were gone in Windows' advanced display settings. I installed the Omega Drivers from omegadrivers.net, and the ATI settings tabs were back, but now games don't recognize my video card's advanced features. All graphics are now calculated by my GPU without any hardware acceleration, which results in a noticeable frame rate drop. I use Asus PC Probe (which shipped with my MB) for monitoring and when playing FS2004 or CivIV, it frequently displays small drops of the +3.3V voltage, which supplies the video card. These games used to run stable (as did my PC), but now they often crash after one or two hours of playing. (I'm still working on this issue.)

That's it for now. Hope we figure out your problem.

[1958biggles]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to reply and my sincere apologies for the delay in replying to you but it turns out that the PC went on the fritz and its taken me a while to get myself back up and running. I took the easy? way out and replaced the graphics card and upped the RAM and it works like a belter now! (Just to be on the safe side I renamed my original FS9 folder then reloaded it from the disks and cut and pasted my "old" folders to replace the new ones too)

Thanks again guys for taking the time to attend to my problem.

Colin