SP1 just won't work

[Spike26]

(original msg: Service Pack 1 crashed FSX)
After SP1 kept causing a "fatal error" and I could no use FSX unless I removed SP1, I decided to do a complete reinstall of FSX and SP1 without adding in any previously downloaded aircraft.  The clean load of FSX worked fine, but SP1 again caused a fatal error once I loaded it.    

I'm baffled...any thoughts from the more mighty and wise sim experts?

Dell XPS Gen 3 Pentium 4 (3.60GHz) // Windows XP // 4Gigs Ram // GeForce 6800

[Keep It Simple]

Others have had the same problem as related on other fourms and it was traced to a file not removed during the FS-X un-install.

Try un-installing again and make shure the FS-X folder is completely empty.

[Spike26]

Yup, I manually went through and ensured all FSX stuff was gone throughout the system.

[Nick N]

Make sure the following are deleted:

Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX

C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX



Windows Vista:
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX



And the FSX folder in My Documents along with the main FSX install folder in Program Files\Microsoft Games




Do not uninstall FSX and turn around and reinstall it WITHOUT a reboot. It removes service start files and DLL's that have to unload on the next reboot.


ALWAYS uninstall\reboot\re-install\reboot\install SP1\reboot

then defrag, defrag, defrag

[Spike26]

Rog!  That's more than I had done before so definitely worth a redo.  Thanks for the detail and we'll see how she goes.
Cheers

[Wing Nut]

Listen to Nick; he knows his stuff...

Plus try this:

From the PTaylor's Weblog:
[quote]
FSX SP1:Preparing to Install

Setting up for SP1



SP1 needs a pristine RTM.



That includes no add-ons. Many 3rd party add-ons can cause crashes, especially if they load dlls. In that case they will likely need to be refreshed.



If you really don