Can't do long haul flight..

Hi everyone,

The past 2 days i've attempted to do a long haul flight on FSX. I have noticed when i have stepped away from the computer and then returned i've noticed everything completely closed down. It seems the computer has restarted.

I'm using Windows 10 and i'm thinking this might be Windows Update causing it to restart. Does anyone know how i can completely stop the computer restarting itself and only i can restart it?

I could be wrong in thinking its Windows Update, but it seems the most possible culprit.

Before making assumptions, 1st thing to do is to find out what actually closes down your system. So stay with it 'til it closes, don't walk away.

Wim

I've been sitting with the system for a while.

It doesn't seem to be doing anything. is there anything on the computer i can check to see if it was a restart that closed everything down?

As copperpen stated at post #3 you can't turn off updates - however, based on my W10 system when it updates, it has never installed updates and forced a restart in the 3 months I have had it installed. Normally, the only indication that I get that an update has been download when I have had other apps open is when I come to shutdown - I then get an option to either shutdown or update and shutdown. It may be that, if you don't regularly shut down your computer but leave it running for days on end then maybe W10 will force a shutdown to update essential system files.

However, I think your problem is more likely related to the computer going into sleep or hibernation mode. Check what settings you have set for these by looking at the Power settings in control panel.

What i see from what you say is: fsx is running, you come back, you see only the desktop.

That could mean a restart (but you would then expect to see the login screen.).

With sleep mode you would also see login screen, but fsx would still be running.

Or it could be fsx has simply shut down. (that's the most likely. You don't always get an error message.

To check, keep a notepad document open while running fsx.

If fsx is what stops running, the notepad doc will still be open.

If it's a restart both will be closed after reboot.

That could mean a restart (but you would then expect to see the login screen.).

If the login has been bypassed this does not apply, go straight to desktop.

Having re-read the OP I believe that the cause is more likely due to the computer going into hibernation rather than sleep mode or FSX shutting down. The clue here is the OPs statement 'everything completely closed down' and the differences in how sleep and hibernation modes work.

Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows a computer to quickly resume full-power operation. It achieves this by putting your work and settings into memory, drawing a small amount of power to retain the information.

Hibernation is also a power-saving state, but whilst sleep retains info in memory, hibernation saves information to the hard disk and then turns off your computer.

A simple explanation of how these two mode work can be likened to watching a DVD film using a DVD-player:

Putting your computer into sleep mode is like pausing the DVD and leaving the DVD player powered on — the film will immediately stop playing but is ready to start again when you want to resume watching.

In hibernation mode its like pausing the DVD and then powering the player off then back on —the film will immediately stop playing but when you restart it will be from the opening menu screen

I've been sitting with the system for a while.

It doesn't seem to be doing anything.

Does that mean it is still flying the long haul flight? If so, is this the same long haul flight you've had issues with before? (Are you flying the exact same route at the same altitude with your scenery settings exactly as before?)

When your long haul flight is stopped when you come back to your computer is the flight simulator program itself still open? If so, there should be a fault indication.

Are you talking about your Windows home page page itself being open rather than flight simulator?

Have you tried walking away for similar period of time with any other program such as MS Word open? If so, what happens then?

What are your power settings set at in the Control Panel? Is your display and computer set to go to sleep or shutdown mode? If so, is/are that/those settings for less time than you "walked away" from the FS program?

Knowing all these details helps us to analyze your issue & give advice!

Does that mean it is still flying the long haul flight? If so, is this the same long haul flight you've had issues with before? (Are you flying the exact same route at the same altitude with your scenery settings exactly as before?)

 

When your long haul flight is stopped when you come back to your computer is the flight simulator program itself still open? If so, there should be a fault indication.

 

Are you talking about your Windows home page page itself being open rather than flight simulator?

 

Have you tried walking away for similar period of time with any other program such as MS Word open? If so, what happens then?

 

What are your power settings set at in the Control Panel? Is your display and computer set to go to sleep or shutdown mode? If so, is/are that/those settings for less time than you "walked away" from the FS program?

 

 

Knowing all these details helps us to analyze your issue & give advice!

Hello Rupert

I reckon you are onto something here.

The OP should definitely check his power settings as you describe.

I am sure I had to set mine to something like 'never turn of computer'

The only other possibility I can think of is the PC has not shutdown and restarted as the OP descibes ,but rather FSX has minimised itself because something else (anti virus or suchlike) has taken priority .

I've experienced this sort of thing myself using Fs9.

The OP should make sure he has no other programs (unless of course FS related ) that are running in the background during an FS session.

Anyways

Cheers

Andy

PS my anti virus has a special gameing mode ,that I think is meant to be used precisely to prevent such minimising issues.

I agree with Mr. EGSJR 1956 about checking to see if it's still running, just minimized so you can't see it.

And with checking the Power options about Shutting Down, Hibernating, Sleeping, whatever.

Finally, are you using the Speed-Up feature? Making the Sim run at 2X normal speed, and so on. I've heard bad things about speeding up for long periods, trying to make turns with the autopilot while accelerated, and so on. I never use it, so I can't say that IS the problem, but it's a possibility.

Pat☺

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your replies.

I'm sorry for not adding more information into my original post.

I have had another programs running at the same time as FSX, I have a ACARS system always open next to FSX on the taskbar for my virtual airline flights.

I think this is a key indication that its not FSX crashing without an error message as this is also closed down. Chrome is also not open and i know i usually have that open too.

I don't know what settings i picked when first setting up my computer but i know when i restart it i don't have to login, It goes straight to the desktop.

I currently have another flight going as i type this and will see how this goes. I have changed a setting for Windows Update to notify me about the update instead of installing it automatically. I have also checked my power settings and there is nothing set for the computer to turn off after a period of time. The only setting in there that i changed was for my monitor to turn off after 30 minutes but i left the computer settings alone.

I will post back in a few hours if i manage to complete the flight or if it happens again.

Hey, my problem is when I step away from a long flight for a while, ATC terminates my IFR navigation - bummer :)

There is a trick to that! When ATC hands you off to new controller...acknowledge but don't contact on the new frequency given until you are ready.

UPDATE:

Hi all,

So last night i had another flight going and i went away to get a drink, was gone literally a few minutes and when i returned all i saw was the desktop with nothing open. Seems it had restarted again.

I decided to try and investigate a little bit and i never opened FSX again and just left my computer running overnight with some windows open ( notepad, chrome etc.. ) Just to see if it would restart while i was sleeping

I woke up this morning and checked and everything is still open and it hasn't restarted. Now if i had FSX running it would of all been different so i think i've now managed to narrow it down to it only happening when FSX is running.

I've checked GPU temp when running FSX and that all checks out good so i'm really unsure where to look now.

You mentioned cm acars program. Run fsx without it to test.

Also, check the event viewer, administrative events -section.

And look there for recent fatal errors. (red exclamation marks). Find causes and fix them.

I've looked in the event viewer and this is what i see around the time it last did the reboot.

There are a variety of things that make no sense to me as i've never come across this before. I'll paste them here.

The previous system shutdown at 23:58:51 on ‎29/‎03/‎2016 was unexpected.

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Its showing Kernel-Power as source.

Audit events have been dropped by the transport. 0

My thoughts.

This error basically means: Computer shut down unexpectedly (Meaning not cleanly shutting down all programs first) and then restarted.

Possibly a Hardware issue.

Why restarted? Because you have set your computer to start up itself if power is lost for some reason.

You can change that in settings.

What could be the cause:

-PSU failing. (Not very likely. If that was it, it would not have run cleanly overnight when you tried ithout fsx. It would have failed after a shorter time I think.)

-Overheating Processor

-Overheating Videocard.

More likely. FSX puts a lot of stress on both those parts. They heat up when intensively used.

Basic things to check:

**Shut down PC.

Then:

Open side of computer.

Turn on the pc and visually check if the CPU-Fan and Videpocard fan ar espinning.

Then:

***Shut down PC and disconnect the power cord.***

Make sure the CPU-fan is connected

Clear the dust out of the processor fan, the processor metal heatsink,

Also from the videocard Fan, the Videocard Heatsink, and the Videocard ventilation openings.

That should improve cooling.

Check Fan cables are still connected,

Close the PC.

-------------------

Overheating can be caused by overclocking. If you had this set up, remove the overclock of both your CPU and videocard.

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I googled the error. Google:

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly. "kernel power"

Resulted in this page, and more. Where Microsoft gives a few more tips on what to do.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2028504

Two easy to use freeware tools to help monitor the CPU/GPU temps:

CPU - Core Temp - http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

Easy to use and gives real time temps. One key temp figure to note is the Tj max number - this is the temp that all recent CPUs have 'built-in' and is the temp that the CPU will automatically shut itself off to stop major heat damage. It can be adjusted but is best left at the default, the figure is detected by the app and depends on the type/series of the CPU.

GPU - TechPowerUp GPU-Z - http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2627/techpowerup-gpu-z-v0-8-7/

This tool monitors more than just the GPU temp, such as voltage usage, which might point to spikes in the amount of power being provided by the PSU.

Both tools have logging which can be invaluable to determine what was going on at the time of a 'shutdown'.

Well guys i have followed tips and advice on here and i'm now on day 4 of attempting this long haul flight haha.

I'm going to begin shortly and i'm going to watch the PC like a hawk to see if it happens, It more frustrates me that it happens when i'm out the room so i can't really see whats going on but i will watch it and report back here.

I've changed my screen settings so that the screen doesn't go into sleep mode anymore and will just stay on so i will have a constant view of what's going on.

Fingers crossed it doesn't happen.

We're all pulling for you!:cool: Let us know what you find out. It will surely help others in the future!

Thanks Rupert

Currently at cruise and so far no problems.. Last night it happened just after midnight UK time. Fingers and toes crossed!