FlightSimulator.exe has stopped working error

[g7rta]

Hi all, unlike many of you, I’ve had a few good months enjoying MSFS without many issues, both with the Alpha & the Premium Deluxe version.

I have however had the occasional CTD (crash to desktop) especially over the last week or two.

More often than not, it would crash to desktop within about 5 or 7 hours, even while I’m just sat on the tarmac.

Anyway, thatisn’t my reason for posting.

 

Last night MSFS had been going for almost 10 hours.. when it crashed. Again I started going through various options, hoping to fix it once & for all.

I downloaded MSI Afterburner. I’d never used this before but I understand it’s recommended by many. I doubt the Afterburner had anything to do with it..but that’s when my real problems started.

From that moment on.. I couldn’t even launch the sim. Everytime I try to launch it crashes with 2 or 3 seconds. This is the same however I do it.

whether it be from the shortcut or from the MS Store. A black box fills the screen, with a white border (not writing or text on it) two seconds later... FS has stopped working etc.

I was up last night until 2am, reinstalling Windows 10.. updating..reinstalling MSFS.

I’ve spent most of today, wiping my pc.. even deleting partitions.. reinstalling Windows.. updating it completely.. makes no difference.

Only now of course I can’t even install the main core of the sim. The little 1gb+ bit installs, as does digital ownership. But as soon as I try to launch it...

I have a feeling it could be to do with digital ownership or Xbox identifier?? I’ve installed Windows at least three times today alone. Is there a limit to the number of PC’s you can install MSFS.? I’ve signed off..rebooted.. signed in.. many times

 

Any help will be very much appreciated. I’ve tried things like repair..reset & administrator mode etc.

Thanks in advance

 

Regards

Steve

[tiger1962]

Steve, has the MSI Afterburner somehow altered any BIOS or GPU settings? This sounds like a hardware fault to me, try the recommended settings in BIOS and/or GPU (no overclocking etc.) as a test and see if MSFS launches for you.

[g7rta]

Hi Tim, I’ll do that.

I have been into the bios a few times today but mainly to change bootup sequence (dvd drive for Windows isn’t) plus I turned off XMP, then back on at a lower speed) but I’ll givr the default settings a try.

I also ran the memory diagnostic program (first time ever!) it took a couple of hours & found nothing wrong.

Right.. time to go into the bios. I’ll keep you posted.

 

Regards

Steve

[g7rta]

I’ve reset the bios by pressing the jumper on the motherboard & it confirmed it’s been reset. This was after going into the bios to load optimised settings.

Unfortunately neither has helped. MSFS is still crashing as soon as I launch it.

 

 

Regards

Steve

[tiger1962]

Well that's one possibility eliminated anyway... Here's a thought - remember how you could delete the FSX.cfg and relaunch the sim to create a new one? I wonder if that works with MSFS? Try moving your FlightSimulator.CFG and the UserCfg.opt files onto your desktop and relaunch the sim.

[g7rta]

Well that's one possibility eliminated anyway... Here's a thought - remember how you could delete the FSX.cfg and relaunch the sim to create a new one? I wonder if that works with MSFS? Try moving your FlightSimulator.CFG and the UserCfg.opt files onto your desktop and relaunch the sim.

 

Thanks Tim, but unfortunately I can’t find them. Maybe they only get installed when you install the other 90gb?

One thing I’ve spotted though.. not sure if it’s relevant but if I attempt to open the WindowsApps fold & it says I need permission.. if I continue & then select Users (& my desktop name) to give myself full control, it says “This access control entry is corrupt. Delete it and create a new one”

The same error isn’t under administrators though.. beside I don’t know how to change it anyway.

Any ideas?

 

Regards

Steve

Edited November 5, 2020 by g7rta

[tiger1962]

The permissions error could be due to a missing Windows update - have you got all the Windows updates and Microsoft Store updates installed?

 

Sent from my KFDOWI using Tapatalk

[g7rta]

Oh yes, or rather I’ve got the latest (20H2)

I kept refreshing Windows Updates so that it installed 1903..onward. I eventually downloaded the update assistant so that it put 20H2 in.

Do you have to install every update in between? Maybe it missed some out.

 

Regards

Steve

[tiger1962]

Yes it's worth another check, also the MS Store updates and do you have the U.S. English language pack installed?

 

Sent from my KFDOWI using Tapatalk

[g7rta]

US English Language Pack? no I guess I don’t! I presume you install this as part of Windows? I’ve just gone into the settings etc and I’ve added it as a language. It’s now asked me to refresh the MS store. Maybe you’re onto something :)

Rebooting now (whether I need to or not)

Now reinstalling the first bit of MSFS followed by digital ownership

 

Launching MSFS... and it’s crashed :(

 

I’m going to have to give up for today. I’ll try more things tomorrow.

Thanks for your help Tim.

 

Regards

Steve

[g7rta]

Tim.. despite what I said I kept trying one or two things. The last one being a program I had never heard of called Restoro.

I let it do a scan, which took a couple of minutes. Said it had found several problems but then asked for payment when I clicked “repair”. Obviously this wasn’t going to happen, being a Yorkshireman LOL

 

Anyway, guess what? MSFS has launched!!! It’s just started the 103.35Gib download! :)

I’m so happy!

 

Thanks again for all your suggestions. I just hope it doesn’t crash now LOL

 

73 Steve

[plainsman]

Steve, is there any chance some component is overheating on those long sessions?

Have you tried running it on one screen for the long period, to see if that might lower processing demand, and thus heat. It might be worth a test??

[g7rta]

Steve, is there any chance some component is overheating on those long sessions?

Have you tried running it on one screen for the long period, to see if that might lower processing demand, and thus heat. It might be worth a test??

 

That thought had gone through my mind.. the fact that it always works for a few hours. My RAM usage usually starts at around 28% but slowly creeps up. Last night it went up to 43% but then dropped slightly to 40, before going back up a bit. It’s not much though & I can easily cope with that.

MY GPU on the other hand is always around 100% or a little below if I’m parked up.

I certainly get better FPS if I just use one screen.

Once I’ve got it all installed I shall do as you suggest & keep it running as long as poss using just the one screen. Well, I’ll do it tomorrow now.

I’ll let you know how I get on. Cheers.

 

Regards

Steve.

[g7rta]

I woke up at 3AM & checked on flight sim. All installed as expected so I thought I’d have a go..

The main menu loaded (as did my previous settings & previous airport - the info must be stored online?)

Anyway I selected London City.. it was loading.. & then it crashed with the usual error message.

I’m back to square one again. Can’t get MSFS to load at all. It crashes within seconds of trying to launch :(

 

Any more suggestions would be welcome

 

Regards

Steve

[dogdish]

...I was up last night until 2am, reinstalling Windows 10.. updating..reinstalling MSFS.

 

Feel for you. I gave up that back in Windows 98 days, I NEVER assume the O/S and software "needs to be refreshed" and go through all that unnecessary work.

 

Have you tried removing individual memory sticks and see if it will load?

[stinger2k2]

Gutted for you Steve. I am sure that you would have tried this as you seem to have tried most things, but have you tried booting up MSFS without any controllers, just keyboard and mouse?

 

Just a thought

Stinger

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-T813 using Tapatalk

[g7rta]

Hi Dogdish & Stinger for your kind words and suggestions.

I have tried it with my controllers unplugged, although I haven’t started taking out ram sticks yet. I did do a memory diagnostic test yesterday. It took 2-3 hours and couldn’t find any faults. I’ve reduced the speed & disabled XMP a couple of times too.

What I would like to try is a clean installation of MSFS. When I finally managed to reinstall the sim l last night, it still had my previous settings. This was after reinstalling Windows (several times) and even deleting all the partitions on my C drive!

Somehow MSFS still had my settings stored, presumably in the cloud. I’m reinstalling Windows as we speak. I’m then going to create a new account. I might pay £1 for the Xbox pass and see if MSFS will install/launch.

One thing I don’t have (or can’t find) is the “UserCfg.cfg file. There’s no sign of it, so I think the problem is possibly down to an account or login error.

I’ll keep you all posted.

 

Regards

Steve

[tiger1962]

Steve, your MSFS settings are stored in the cloud, maybe in your Microsoft Store account or your Xbox Games account. The only way to ensure the online settings aren't corrupted is to check that all your Microsoft Store apps are updated before installing MSFS again.

The FlightSimulator.CFG and UserCfg.opt files probably won't be created until you've run the sim for the first time, and they'll probably be copied onto your PC from the cloud come to think of it. I could email mine over to you if all else fails.

[g7rta]

Steve, your MSFS settings are stored in the cloud, maybe in your Microsoft Store account or your Xbox Games account. The only way to ensure the online settings aren't corrupted is to check that all your Microsoft Store apps are updated before installing MSFS again.

The FlightSimulator.CFG and UserCfg.opt files probably won't be created until you've run the sim for the first time, and they'll probably be copied onto your PC from the cloud come to think of it. I could email mine over to you if all else fails.

 

Hi Tim, yes you’re probably right. In fact they’re probably not created unless you quit your flight too, without MSFS crashing.

After managing to install it last night, it let me go into the main menu. Leeds/Bradford was showing as my last airport (when in fact the last one was London City) also it was showing a Carenado plane which I bought last week. Of course the plane wouldn’t have actually been installed at the time, but that didn’t occur to me. Anyway I pressed start flight & it crashed. Crashed everytime I tried to launch the sim again.

I made sure all the MS Store apps were up to date yesterday.

 

Today.. I have reinstalled Windows.. & created a new account. I have paid £1 for the Xbox subscription. I installed the initial part of flight sim.. but as before, it crashed. My heart sunk. I’m guessing this is a hardware problem. Yesterday I even ran a hardware benchmark program (called Benchmark) which gave some very good results.

Not sure if it’d make any difference but a few minutes ago I decided to install MSI Afterburner again. Haven’t done anything with it, just installed it.

I clicked on MSFS.. it launched! It’s now downloading the core content.

This is a strange one isn’t it? My hardware is all pretty new & appears to run very well.. sometimes.

 

“IF” I can manage to launch a flight once it’s installed, then I shall quit it and see if the config file has appeared. I then might try logging in under my usual account and try again.

 

Regards

Steve

Edited November 6, 2020 by g7rta

[Jim Robinson]

Years ago I was plagued with an unexplained glitch where the PC (relatively new hi-spec self built) would run fine immediately after booting but then it would lock up. I pulled my hair out for 3 weeks, reinstalled Windows, removed the RAM sticks one at a time and did the mem test, reset the BIOS, basically all the stuff you're doing right now. I needed to use the PC so I started setting an alarm on my watch for one hour to remind me to save my stuff so I wouldn't lose anything when the PC locked up, then I'd just work up until it quit, reboot, reset the alarm and go back to work. Eventually it became apparent that the PC was locking up precisely one hour after bootup. With that I googled around a bit and found out that this was a common problem with my Crucial M4 SSDs where they have a built in timer that logs the power-on time and after a certain number of hours of use that timer was causing them to become unresponsive after one hour, a firmware upgrade was available that fixed the problem in about 15 min time. (They're still going strong to this day over 9 years later).

 

Backstory aside, I'll simply suggest that you add checking for firmware updates on all your hardware to your list of troubleshooting steps.

 

Best of luck to you, I know what it feels like to be in your position right now. Hope you get it sorted out soon.

 

Jim

[g7rta]

Years ago I was plagued with an unexplained glitch where the PC (relatively new hi-spec self built) would run fine immediately after booting but then it would lock up. I pulled my hair out for 3 weeks, reinstalled Windows, removed the RAM sticks one at a time and did the mem test, reset the BIOS, basically all the stuff you're doing right now. I needed to use the PC so I started setting an alarm on my watch for one hour to remind me to save my stuff so I wouldn't lose anything when the PC locked up, then I'd just work up until it quit, reboot, reset the alarm and go back to work. Eventually it became apparent that the PC was locking up precisely one hour after bootup. With that I googled around a bit and found out that this was a common problem with my Crucial M4 SSDs where they have a built in timer that logs the power-on time and after a certain number of hours of use that timer was causing them to become unresponsive after one hour, a firmware upgrade was available that fixed the problem in about 15 min time. (They're still going strong to this day over 9 years later).

 

Backstory aside, I'll simply suggest that you add checking for firmware updates on all your hardware to your list of troubleshooting steps.

 

Best of luck to you, I know what it feels like to be in your position right now. Hope you get it sorted out soon.

 

Jim

 

Hi Jim, thanks for that. That’s certainly an interesting one. I can only imagine how frustrating it would have been. I shall check for firmware updates next.

I’m currently installing MSFS (using the Xbox game pass) which suddenly worked after installing MSI Afterburner.

My real problems started when I installed this the other day. It didn’t occur to me that modern graphics cards have their own bios (or so I’m led to believe) Maybe this was somehow changed/corrupted the other day. Reinstalling Afterburner May have corrected this? We shall soon see.

I’m halfway through installing MSFS now.

 

Regards

Steve

[mattn]

CTD immediately on launch (black window pops up, then disappears) has been common this week.

 

Disable Windows Defender real-time protection and it should launch. You can also add MSFS .exe to the Defender exception list, but I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. Hopefully MS (not asobo) will fix this.

[g7rta]

CTD immediately on launch (black window pops up, then disappears) has been common this week.

 

Disable Windows Defender real-time protection and it should launch. You can also add MSFS .exe to the Defender exception list, but I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. Hopefully MS (not asobo) will fix this.

 

Hi Matt, so I’m not the only one? That’s good to know. Thanks :)

I had thought of messing with defender but hadn’t got around to trying that yet. It’s almost done installing so I’ll see how it goes.

 

Regards

Steve

[mattn]

Yes, I wish I had tried it BEFORE I re-downloaded 120gig to reinstall the sim :)

 

From the official forums, quite a few people have had the issue and shutting down Defender seems to help most of them.

 

Also, if you're on the MS Store version, once the install is done, you'll have to go into content manager and update a whole bunch of individual packages to get the latest content updates.

Edited November 6, 2020 by mattn

[g7rta]

Hello again everyone, thank you all ever so much for your help. You wouldn’t believe how much stress I’ve been under for the last couple of days LOL

I’ve been uninstalling, formatting, reinstalling.. I even removed bed two memory modules earlier.. but it appears the solution is quite simple?

 

Matt... it appears you are absolutely correct! The problem is Windows Defender.

I have just been flying :)

 

I shall now reinstall Windows and MSFS yet again, except I’ll sign in with my usual account & add an exception to Windows Defender. Hopefully problem solved :)

Maybe defender was also causing the original crashes? We shall see.

 

Thanks again everyone.

 

Regards

Steve