FSX freezes randomly

[lkcdegooijer 0]

Hi there,i've installed FSX now for about 2 weeks on a brand new system, but it freezes randomly, without doing nothing particular. It freezes when flying 'offline', it freezes when flying default planes, it freezes when flying payware planes (like LDS 767X, PMDG MD11X), it freezes when flying at night... I have no idea why it freezes :( .Sometimes it freezes after a few minutes, and other times it freezes after more than 30 minutes.There is no particular action that initiates a freezing of FSX. The screen just freezes, and I have to start the Task Manager to quit FSX. (saying: is not responding)I use FSX with Acceleration Pack, FSUIPC4 4.53, IvAp/FSX v.1.9.8, Active Sky X, XGraphics, PMDG MD11X, Level-D B767X. I always fly online with either MD11X or 767X.FSX is installed on a secondary hard disk 'D:'My system:Windows Vista Home Premium 64AMD Phenom II X4 955 Quad Core 3,2 Ghz6GB memorySapphire HD4890 1GB graphics cardI already tried to re-instal acceleration pack, the FSUIPC4, IvAp/FSX and I installed the previous display driver from AMD/ATI v9.8 - all without any result.Can anyone help me please?Thanks a lot... :(

[Guest abulaafia]

If your PC is not overclocked and heat is no issue, check the sound system. Do you have the driver for your sound chip installed? Because they are now onboard, many people leave the default Vista/Win7 driver on instead of the manufacturer's. I had a PC where installing the sound driver solved the random freezes. Mine weren't every flight, just every 40-60 hours, and as you said, totally random. If thats not it try resetting the security settings as described here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303032

[lkcdegooijer 0]

If your PC is not overclocked and heat is no issue, check the sound system. Do you have the driver for your sound chip installed? Because they are now onboard, many people leave the default Vista/Win7 driver on instead of the manufacturer's. I had a PC where installing the sound driver solved the random freezes. Mine weren't every flight, just every 40-60 hours, and as you said, totally random. If thats not it try resetting the security settings as described here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303032

Tanks a lot! I just installed the latest drivers for my on-board audio. I will keep you informed about the result on FSX ;-)

[Andreas Stangenes 1,628]

Tanks a lot! I just installed the latest drivers for my on-board audio. I will keep you informed about the result on FSX ;-)

Just wondering how this went..? I am experiecing somewhat similiar problems, and I too have a HD 4890.

[Guest abulaafia]

haha, my advice was probably useless. I just had another random freeeze on my own, a totally clean, newly installed system. Only happens very rarely and always above 10'000ft, though, say every 80-100 hours of flight. haven't found any solution. it's not hardware because I had it on 2 previous PCs.

[Guest abulaafia]

Thanks for the PMs guys, I am aware that MANY users have seen this occasioal non-responding program. To clarify: The problem referred to in this post is not about CTDs, BEX adn other error messages. It is simply that every now and then, when flying ABOVE 10'000 ft. no matter on which hardware, in which a/c, etc. FSX will be "not responding" for 2-10 minutes, then usualla continue, although most users have given up by then and shut down the program in the task manager. This happens on different platforms, graphic cards, with or without add-ons, etc. with service pack 2 OR acceleration installed. It has something to do with thread scheduling and is a FSX internal program. Many users fly only VFR and never notice this. It has nothing to do with user accounts, running the sim as administrator, even the OS used - it happens on XP, Vista, 7, 32- and 64-bit. It seems less likely to happen - with autogen off- with default weather (as opposed to simconnect-injected weather)- with less load on the sim- with 3.5 as detail radius rather than 4.5 We are guessing it happens less with lower settings. It seems to happen more often if you add and remove scenery or AI traffic a lot - (not confirmed, just a hunch)On my current system it happens about every 80 hours, that's about every 2 months for me, so I don't bother with it much. It would be very annoying if you would fly a lot IFR. We'd like to hear from people who have experienced this, but also from heavy IFR flyers who NEVER experience the "not responding" issue. Note: you may not be aware you have the problem if you do long-hauls and leave your computer unattended. FSX just resumes after a few minutes.

[qnh 70]

Yes I'm having a freezing problem as well. FSX on an i7-920 with 6GB of RAM, GTX285 and Win7 x64. Flying the PMDG 747x all seems ok for a while and then frames start to drop until eventually everything stops, alt-tab will sometimes work and I can see that FSX is using around 2.5 GB of RAM - sometimes I can get back into FSX but more often than not all I get is a blank screen, still have sound but can't see or do anything. I am also running Active Sky Advanced, online with FSINN and have flight tracker running. I'm going to start removing these from the equation one by one over the next few days to see if I can identify the culprit. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

[Guest abulaafia]

Yes I'm having a freezing problem as well. FSX on an i7-920 with 6GB of RAM, GTX285 and Win7 x64. Flying the PMDG 747x all seems ok for a while and then frames start to drop until eventually everything stops,

I have never observed the frame dropping. If you look in the task manager, does it say "not responding" for FSX. How often does the problem occur? It might not be the same type of random freeze. It would be nice to hear full systems specs and config from people who can fly HUNDREDS of hours above 20'000 ft without ever freezing/not responding. Maybe we can then find the culprit.

[qnh 70]

The problem was occurring almost every flight for a day or two. I have removed Activesky from the equation and completed an 8 hour flight - now to reintroduce it and see if I can do it again.

[JohnE 0]

I just had this start happening to me. Widows7 Ultimate 64, i7 975, 6GB RAM, GTX285 and 2hdds: 1 w/OS 1/wFSX. At first I thought it was my Trackir but about 14 flying hours later it happened again without it. I did notice when I went to the task manager both FSX and RC4 were not responding but UT2 was still running, not sure if that means anything. I also use ASA I will eliminate it and see if that works for me.I do alot of long IFR flights and I tend to leave it alone for awhile it may come back and I never noticed! can someone confirm if it does come back?

[qnh 70]

OK, I've done a lot of testing since my last post, actually forgot to come back and report, sorry.Following some advice from the ActiveSky forum I uninstalled FSX and reinstalled it in it's own directory, i.e. not under c:\program files (x86) - I installed under c:\fs\fsx and then installed any other addons under the c:\fs directory. I then took ownership of the FS directory and have not had a problem since.Hope this helps.

[ahuimanu 50]

This is the first thread I've found that exactly describes my problem with FSX: the sim freezes at altitude for about 3 to 10 minutes and then resumes. This happens all the time now.I never saw this on Vista 64bit, but now that I've gone to Windows 7 64-bit since October, I've had the problem on just about each flight. Since I fly mostly airliners, I am up at altitute.I have SP2, FSGenesis Mesh, SceneryTech landclass, some BluePrint sceneries and various Aerosoft sceneires. I also like to run Ultimate Traffic 2 and Flight Sim Commander during my flights. I went though several reinstalls over the last month trying to isolate the problem and have never isolated or eliminated the problem. Again, on the exact same machine on Vista 64, I NEVER had this problem.What is causing this?Again, the sim freezes (not responding in the task manager) for a period of about 10 minutes and then just resumes. I've turned down many sliders and still no joy.What should I look at? Video drivers?Sound drivers?

[JohnE 0]

Well its good to hear it resumes, I've never had the patience to wait! As I mentioned before I do a lot of long hauls but TBH I'm in & out while at altitude so I never knew if it unlocked.I always have had FSX in its own directory and on its own drive with Windows7 64-bit on its own drive and still have this problem. I will mention I only get it when ASA and UT2 are running, gonna do some testing with just UT2 running then I'll ty just ASA.

[Guest abulaafia]

Well its good to hear it resumes, I've never had the patience to wait! As I mentioned before I do a lot of long hauls but TBH I'm in & out while at altitude so I never knew if it unlocked.I always have had FSX in its own directory and on its own drive with Windows7 64-bit on its own drive and still have this problem. I will mention I only get it when ASA and UT2 are running, gonna do some testing with just UT2 running then I'll ty just ASA.

what processor types do all of you have and do you use the Jobscheduler/Affinitymask entry in the fsx.cfg?

[JohnE 0]

what processor types do all of you have and do you use the Jobscheduler/Affinitymask entry in the fsx.cfg?

i7 975 w/ no Jobscheduler or Affinitymask set. MB has hyper threading turned off. My only config edit is disable preload.