XL pack FA-18 MFDs & HUD not working...again!!!

[brettt777]

So I had to reinstall XP on my system again which means I had to reinstall FSX again and again, the MFDs and HUD don't work in the Hornet. I have a set of instructions that I got from somewhere a while back that have helped me out in the past getting these things to work but this time nothing seems to work. I have uninstalled and reinstalled FSX/Accel pack at least half a dozen times over the last four days, following these instructions to the letter and it still won't work!!! I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out why!!! I don't understand why the very first time I installed FSX/Accel, the Hornet worked great right away. I never had to do anything to it. Now, it seems to take Divine intervention to get it to work. Can someone PLEASE tell me what I am doing wrong?!?! If this is an issue with simconnect, what do I need to do to fix it? I saw someone commented about AVG antivirus. I don't have that but I have some Avast! free demo antivirus thing on there. Could that be an issue?
I have a 2.13 ghz duo core CPU, 2 gb RAM, SB X-fi, nVidia 8600GTS, all with the latest updates running in XP media center edition.

[Dangerous Beans]

Try this little tool from A2A to see if Simmconect is working OK
http://www.a2asimulations.com/wingsofsilver/downloads/fsx_simconnect_test.zip

[brettt777]

Okay so I downloaded it and it's a .dll file and an executable that shows an error every time I try to run it. What should I do with it?

[Dangerous Beans]

First off I should say that I've never had any problems with Simconnect so have never had to try any of this myself.
Just trying to help out a fellow simmer.

You can run it from anywhere, even from inside the zip file.
Have FSX running first then start the simconnect test and click Connect to FSX, then click Request User Aircraft Data.
If you just get an error then Simconnect isn't working. If it is working you should see some details about the plane in the test.

OK first try this also of the A2A site, its the Simconnect client from Microsoft.
Hopefully this will get it working.
http://www.a2asimulations.com/wingsofsilver/downloads/SimConnect.msi

If that doesn't work then theres this from the A2A faq
http://www.a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=19370
Look at the last section about I Cannot See Heidi or some 2D Panels
I know this faq is about there Cub but it is relevant for a Simconnect problem as the Cub relies on Simconnect for some of its advanced features.

[frankwi]

"If that doesn't work then theres this from the A2A faq"

That is the exact procedure I used for the same problem (no mfd's, etc) and it worked for me.