FSX Freezes on Windows 7 after years of immaculate operation

[Jethro2992]

I have been using FSX on Windows 7 Enterprise and for over two years had no issues (other than simple automation core .dll for which there is a known fix, which worked for me). I run my fsx on ultra high and always have on this computer. Starting last week, the fsx freezes. The sound stays on, but i'm not sure it's not looping. As soon as it freezes I can hear the engine humming but there is no activity, all gauges freeze and there is no control. The only thing to do is ctr+alt+del which shows FSX not responding. This does not happen on any other software I run.

 

I have 2TB drive, 8GB Ram, powerful Radeon graphics card since I used my computer primarily for graphics work (Adobe Creative Suite runs beautifully on this machine, including After Effects rendering). The latest heavy duty graphics software runs great, but a 10 year old game does not!

 

I thought maybe I'm putting too much strain on graphics, so I tried running at minimum graphical settings, but the problem occurs regardless. Granted, I have been running it for 2 years on this machine with ultra high settings without problems so I wasn't expecting this to change much after lowering the settings anyway.

 

I have performed a complete fsx reinstall and today ran it without installing any add ons yet, just a pure fsx in its out of the box form. Barely 5-10 minutes went by and the same problem occurred. Here's the report:

 

The program fsx.exe version 10.0.61472.0 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Action Center control panel.

Process ID: 198

Start Time: 01d1f6423b8368f5

Termination Time: 320

Application Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\fsx.exe

Report Id:

 

The only rational next step that I can see is the total operating system reinstall, which would be an absolute pain to do, but may have no choice. I searched forums and realized that many people have had similar issues, but I have never found any that had a real solution to the problem. If any of you traced the issue and actually came up with a solution, you will be eternally blessed and your assistance highly appreciated.

 

Thank you very much for all your help!

Airborne

 

Have you tried shutting off Windows background processes and services? Here's the solution that worked for me in solving my freeze-up problem: https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?300021-My-solution-for-FSX-freeze-ups&highlight=freezes -- I know it seems too simple, but after pulling graphics back to MineCraft levels and still getting freeze-ups, this is the only thing that solved it for me.

[SSI01]

OK, here's what the latest "error" report has to say in that window. This was just about the time I noted my first lockup in FSX this morning:

 

//./root/CIMV2

SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99

0x80041003

 

Also - the last "warning" on the top of the page had this interesting little snippet in it:

 

Name resolution for the name http://www.julescrittenden.com timed out after none of the configured DNS servers responded.

 

Here's the report on this warning:

 

QueryName http://www.julescrittenden.com

AddressLength 16

Address 020000354B4B4C4C0000000000000000

 

Who on earth is "julescrittenden"?

[SSI01]

I am running Windows 7 Home Premium Edition, SP1. AMD Phenom II X4 940 processor, 3.00 GHz, 12.0 GB RAM, 64-bit OS, AMD Radeon HD6850 graphics card. Will your Asus tool work for this configuration, or should I be looking for another tool?

[PhantomTweak]

If it won't, I use a "game booster" called Razer Cortex. Easy to find, through Google or Bing, whatever your preferred search engine is. It seems to work very well for me. You have to set it up for FSX, and it has trouble finding FSX-SE, but all you need to do is point it at the executable and it works fine.

You can select the Processes to shut down, or it has a set of default Processes it will shut down without any intervention from you.

I like it. Like I say, it works very nicely for me in this function.

Just so you know :)

Pat☺

[W2DR]

Who on earth is "julescrittenden"?

 

http://www.aboutus.com/JulesCrittenden.com

[SSI01]

Whew! I'll check into what you've sent. Don't know if what I provided can help il88pp with an analysis.

[il88pp]

No idea, doesn't look like fsx related.

 

You should look for an 'application' error in the column that says source.

And again, click the general tab. It looks like you are looking at the details.

 

It should there say clearly that the faulting application is FSX.

 

-----------

This error here reminds me of something I saw in the log once. I noticed by chance that it happened only after visiting flightsim.com. But not always.

Eventually I figured out that when going to Flightsim.com, and viewing a certain thread, it happened. Timeout error.

Turned out to be a link in someones banner (in each of his posts). The link was a dead link.

Nothing to worry about.

I'm not even sure it was listed as error, maybe just warning.

[SSI01]

Note for PhantomTweak - I installed Razer Cortex per your suggestion. Included FSX as one of the sims I wanted it to cover, shut down as many processes as possible. I used the app's default shutdown settings for all running programs, did not change anything. As I write this, FSX is again frozen. I used Task Manager to be able to access the internet and enter this note in the forum. I'm climbing out of Phoenix Deer Valley airport in a Virtuacol Shorts 360, had been in the sim for about 10 minutes or so when I got the lockup. Was functioning smoothly prior to that. Using the default 20FPS setting for frame rate. I am going to keep this sim running even if it melts the graphics card - it's going to run until it crashes. Rapidly getting fed up with this because I have a number of add-on aircraft I paid good money for and now they can not be used. There is NO fix for this problem and MS couldn't care less about this, even though they marketed the product (FSX) and encouraged people to buy it - then leave you high and dry. Getting ready to uninstall the whole damn thing and save the space on the machine for something else. Anyone want a boxed set of FSX Gold Edition, with FSX Deluxe plus Acceleration exp. pack??