FSX keeps crashing!

[CAY253- Guy]

It seems that whenever I fly in the 2D cockpit for more than a minute, use GPS or autopilot at all or go into 'Nearest Tower' view, my version of FSX starts flickering, making scary noises and eventually the computer crashes giving me a blue screen saying BAD_POOL_HEADER.:@ Then it restarts itself and has to do a disk check. This means that I cannot fly very far from the airport (due to the tower view changing) and I cannot use autopilot if I could fly longer distances. I have 11.9 GB of free disk space so it cannot be a memory problem so what is causing this and how can I fix it? Does this happen to any of you?

[CAY799- Gray]

Technically, a "memory problem" has nothing to do with hard drive space. How much RAM do you have?

[CAY408- Ralph]

I have 3 letters for you ... FS9 (although 9 is a number) o.O
I too was once a die-hard FSX faithful with the low frame rates, compatibility issues with aircraft and scenery, and the sweet eye candy graphics. I always had FSX crash a few miles before I landed when flying on VATSIM with FSInn. I finally caved in and went back to FS9. My advice to you my friend is simple ...
Ditch FSX before it drags you down or at least until Microsoft makes it bearable enough to use without issues. thumbdown

I know I did not answer your question but at least I shared with you my frustrations with FSX and maybe you too will see the light.

Aside from that, the following is a list of things I think might help you ...
1. Re-install FSX and the SP1.
2. If you are running XP, have you installed SP2? Try That.
3. Add-on software could be causing the issue. Try removing it if you have some installed and restart. Remove them one by one, restart and retest.
4. A big cause of a bad sector has a lot to do with the files on your pc and how windows catogorizes them. Try shutting off windowns indexing service. START - RUN -MSCONFIG - (Services Tab) - scroll to INDEXING SERVICE and switch it off.

If all that does not work ... Have a copy of FS9 ready, pickup FSX and throw against wall at a high rate of speed, install FS9 ... ROFL

[CAY133- Iain]

Give MemTest86 a run. Alternatively you can boot into Linux and run it as it's default on most Linux distributions. If MemTest is throwing errors at you try all the possible combinations of your RAM in different slots. If you've tried all the possible combinations try testing one stick at a time. If the memtest only fails with a certain stick inserted, RMA your memory.

[CAY408- Ralph]

Gentlemen - Contrary to popular belief, a bad sector has little or nothing to do with memory. That is usually the misconception. A bad sector has much to do with a file that is either corrupt or does not like to play nice with other files or a defective device driver. File Corruption is usually the issue. The way that this error effects memory is only that the problem itself can only be diagnosed by it's memory address otherwise memory has nothing to do with this. Whether you have 11gb or 2gb's this message can appear along with the dreaded blue screen of death.

First you need to identify where the corrupt file or driver lies in the hard drive.
After windows tells you that error message, it gives you error codes which you then have to decipher to find the bad file.

Unfortunatley, isolating a problem like this takes a lot of information and testing. Most of this is done by trial and error.

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_an d_support&tid=ac42c585-14aa-4de7-8894-a7993b15958e&cat=en_US_4fae9fed-da91-4a2a-9d2b-5dc71973d43c&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=en-us&m=1&p=1

[CAY253- Guy]

Hi,

Thanks for all the helpful replies, unfortunately I am at boarding school in the UK right now so I am 4,550 NM away from my FSX disks so I can't re-install yet, or switch back to FS9!

In response to Iain what is MemTest86 and what is Linux and also what exactly do I do with them? Also, where do I find out how much RAM I have? At least I know it is nothing to do with memory or lack of it.
Thanks.

Guy

[CAY253- Guy]

Technically, a "memory problem" has nothing to do with hard drive space. How much RAM do you have?
Just found out how much RAM I have: 1.00GB of RAM. What does this mean?

[CAY133- Iain]

Hi,

Thanks for all the helpful replies, unfortunately I am at boarding school in the UK right now so I am 4,550 NM away from my FSX disks so I can't re-install yet, or switch back to FS9!

In response to Iain what is MemTest86 and what is Linux and also what exactly do I do with them? Also, where do I find out how much RAM I have? At least I know it is nothing to do with memory or lack of it.
Thanks.

Guy
Can I just ask if your system blue screens in general use or just in FSX? Can you try downloading Orthos from here: http://www.overclock.net/downloads/138142-orthos.html
Then click the drop down menu next to "Test" and choose "Blend - stress CPU and RAM". Click start and leave it 5-10 minutes. If it fails then it's definitely a memory problem (Orthos will turn red if it fails). Try not to use your system in this time as this puts 100% stress on both your CPU and your memory meaning your system will be slow and you want to draw all other possibilities out of the equation.

[CAY253- Guy]

It only gives me a BSOD in FSX, it has NEVER happened otherwise.

I ran Orthos for 10 minutes and the only thing that went red was the thing that said Round 0/0, occasionally it would flash up red saying PAGING but the report thing said 0 errors, 0 warnings so it is not a memory problem.

[CAY133- Iain]

It only gives me a BSOD in FSX, it has NEVER happened otherwise.

I ran Orthos for 10 minutes and the only thing that went red was the thing that said Round 0/0, occasionally it would flash up red saying PAGING but the report thing said 0 errors, 0 warnings so it is not a memory problem.
The only other suggestion I have is reinstalling FSX. Did this occur when you installed it? Your installed disks may be 4000 miles away although you are allowed to obtain a backup of games you legally own. I'm not going to discuss piracy issues over here however if you throw me over a PM I may be able to offer some assistance.

[CAY799- Gray]

The only other suggestion I have is reinstalling FSX. Did this occur when you installed it? Your installed disks may be 4000 miles away although you are allowed to obtain a backup of games you legally own. I'm not going to discuss piracy issues over here however if you throw me over a PM I may be able to offer some assistance.

Iain is correct. You bought the game, and there are legal ways for you to back it up.

[CAY253- Guy]

I think I have found a solution! All of the aircraft with default panels seemed to work fine and the others i.e. overland didn't. I have aliased all of these with default panels now and it all seems to be working OK! I've just finished flying GCM-MIA in an AA 727. Now all I need to do is download VAFS etc. and I should be flying with you! One problem, the school network doesn't allow us to download anything above 3MB so I guess I will have to wait until the school holidays when I return to GCM.

Thank you all very much for helping out!