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Duckie
October 31st, 2014, 17:52
Ran into this today for the first time. Start FSX normally in full screen mode, select aircraft and location, start up is normal. Before I get light on the struts the sim minimizes to the tool bar. This is NOT a crash. The FSX icon is visible and task manager shows it running. Takes forever to get the sim up again using alt tab. Reboot works every but what's the point? Once I get back in sim if I switch to windowed mode it does minimize but instead the game pauses about every 10 to 20 sec. Hit P and back in sim but 10 to 20 sec later blah, blah, blah!

After hours of research it seems this happens to a lot of folks. Tried a dozen or so fixes but none have worked.

Malware and Bit Defender say I have no viruses or malware and I've killed all running presses before going into the sim. This happens with the other 2 FPS games I play also.

Any silver bullets out there. As always, any help is appreciated. My PC specs are in my sig.

WarHorse47
October 31st, 2014, 18:56
I've encountered this recently as well. Just started happening after I updated to Windows 8.1 from Windows 8.0.

Duckie, what's your OS?

Duckie
October 31st, 2014, 19:14
Win 7 Home Prem.

gradyhappyg
October 31st, 2014, 19:17
Looks like he is running W7. I had that a while back but only with FSX not other games. Fixed mine by deleting the FSX CFG. file in C:\Users\your name here\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX and letting it rebuild. If it's happening with other games sounds more like a hardware issue/setting of some kind. You can also right click on the games icons on your desktop and make sure they are set to run in a normal window and not minimized.

racartron
October 31st, 2014, 19:24
I just encountered a similar problem with SIMLauncherX. FSX launches normally but when done it immediately minimizes to the icon on the toolbar. I resolve the problem by hitting the shift key while right clicking on the tool bar icon, selecting maximize and every thing is fine after that. I use Windows 7 Ultimate and it is claimed to be an issue with this OS.

It doesn't answer the why question but it is a very easy fix.

FlameOut
November 1st, 2014, 03:43
I too have experienced this!

My situation kept degrading... FSX just stopped booting up, then I began to loose the ability to browse the internet : all of my passwords used to look at various Forums for help were no longer "saved". Then my passwords that I use for work were also gone.

I got a warning that my "Overclock" had failed !

After about 2-3 days of this I started getting BSOD's. :pop4:

I pulled the HDD and replaced it with an SDD. MoBo, power supply, I-7 3960X Chipset, Video card, Memory and the other stuff all seem to be O.K. for now.

I just reinstalled FSX Gold 2 days ago and will use this weekend to start all over. :dizzy: :banghead:

WarHorse47
November 1st, 2014, 06:45
The minimizing of FSX for me is fairly random.

Typically I'm in and out of FSX throughout the day. When it does minimize, it takes me awhile to get it to maximize. When it does come back, the screen in black so I have to switch from full screen to windowed screen to get the view back.

When it first happened I had thought that maybe some other program like an update or something was trying to run in the background. Then I wondered if there was a gauge or module at play, but since it was happening to different aircraft I really wasn't sure. Since it started after migrating to Windows 8.1 I thought the update might be the cause, but I see that others are experiencing the same thing with different OS.

I haven't had the experiences as FlameOut and hope not as I had to replace my hard drive a few months back. Still, I wonder what's going on. Weird, just weird. :dizzy:

Duckie
November 1st, 2014, 07:24
Yeah, doesn't seem to be an one solution. But So far nothing has worked for me. I have none of the suspect files or exe's as mentioned in other threads on line and since my situation occurs with FSX and the 2 other games I play it is not an FSX problem. I've checked for software update schedulers and the one' I have found I have shut down. Did another complete system virus scan over night and again zip, zero, nada.

All my hardware seems to be functioning normally. HDDs - no bad sectors (my 2 First person shooters are on a separate drive from FSX), PS voltages are steady, memory checks OK.

All I know right now is that neither FSX nor the other 2 games are playable with this situation. And since it doesn't appear to be FSX related so reinstalling X won't fix the problem.

Very frustrating.

Terry
November 1st, 2014, 07:37
Has anyone tried locking down the firewall so that no program can go out to the net on its own? Seems like it must be something taking priority which will minimize whats running.

Duckie
November 1st, 2014, 08:01
Has anyone tried locking down the firewall so that no program can go out to the net on its own? Seems like it must be something taking priority which will minimize whats running.


At this point I'm willing to try just about anything. How does one go about locking down the firewall?

Duckie
November 1st, 2014, 09:29
Well...it's fixed (for now?)! Don't have a clue what it was but thanks to WH I remembered to clean my registry. Using CCleaner I got 3 1/2 pages of suspect registry entries. Deleted them (after creating a new restore point) and that did the trick.

Whew! Thanks to all who replied and for your suggestions. This forum (and its folks) is one of the most helpful places on the planet. Salute!

Butcherbird17
November 1st, 2014, 09:41
Hey Duckie, have you recently updated your vid card drivers? If so try reverting back to your previous driver and see if the problem persists.
Another thing I would try is setting your overclock back to stock and try your games again. If it persists at least you'll know its not the overclock. If none of these work maybe try a restore to just before the last winders update.

Joe

Edit, I was posting at the same time and see you got it fixed.:applause:

glennc
November 1st, 2014, 09:54
I've been getting the same thing for a while. If I fly windowed, I can see the pop up come up and go away very quickly. The force feed back on the G940 locks up and FSX CTDs a few seconds later. It took a while to figure it out. It was one of two things: Flash or the update stuff Asus installs. If you check scheduled tasks, you find they run at startup and every hour after that. Uninstall them, no more pop-ups. So far, the absence of Flash has caused no problems and flying is fun again.

Glenn

ejoiner
November 1st, 2014, 10:35
Ran into this today for the first time. Start FSX normally in full screen mode, select aircraft and location, start up is normal. Before I get light on the struts the sim minimizes to the tool bar. This is NOT a crash. The FSX icon is visible and task manager shows it running. Takes forever to get the sim up again using alt tab. Reboot works every but what's the point? Once I get back in sim if I switch to windowed mode it does minimize but instead the game pauses about every 10 to 20 sec. Hit P and back in sim but 10 to 20 sec later blah, blah, blah!

After hours of research it seems this happens to a lot of folks. Tried a dozen or so fixes but none have worked.

Malware and Bit Defender say I have no viruses or malware and I've killed all running presses before going into the sim. This happens with the other 2 FPS games I play also.

Any silver bullets out there. As always, any help is appreciated. My PC specs are in my sig.

This could be an issue with a couple of things.

1. A plane like the Virtavia A-4, which if you switch to it in flight, will pause the sim with an error message around licensing violation. Win8 may minimize the sim when that happens.

2. OS losing focus of FSX as priority application. Do you use FSX Accelerator? If you switch back and forth to that application, sometimes you will get this error.

Duckie
November 1st, 2014, 13:56
Hey Joe---thanks for the tip re vid drivers. I'm one of those folks who if it's not broke I don't try to fix it! Loaded latest vid drivers upon initial install of the card and it's worked fine ever since. So, it ain't broke! Re the OC, that was on the list of things to try but way down.

Eric---interesting you should mention the Virtavia Skyhawk because a full 3 pages out of the total 3 1/2 were all from the A-4. I'm aware of the license error problem but for every license error, every weapons jettison, every weapons change a registry entry was made that CCleaner said was either partial, not used, or corrupt! Now that concerns me that the A-4 is hitting the registry with that stuff!

I don't have/use accelerator.

Thanks again for all your responses and suggestions.

dvj
November 1st, 2014, 19:31
I began encountering this problem Thursday. FSX jumps into windowed mode. My PC underwent some kind of virus scan update from Norton Wednesday night, which is now continually catching Trojan attacks on the PC. I also had recently updated to the latest Nvidia driver which killed several game programs. Going to look at going back 1 driver version as a potential fix.

Duckie
November 1st, 2014, 20:17
Well, hate to say, but like poltergeist, IT'S BACK!

This is really starting to get to me. Task Manager Performance History graphs show all 4 CPUs spiking every 8 to 12 seconds with no programs running on a fresh boot. With mouse curser idle in center screen, when the spikes occur the little hourglass icon flickers a few times during the spike and then goes away.

Flying FSX in windowed mode with TaskMan running CPU 0 is at 100% with CPUs 1-3 varying from 0% to about 25%, like "grass" on an oscilloscope. When the spike comes that cause the game to minimize (full screen mode) or pause (Windowed mode) all 4 processors go to 100% until I un-pause the game. The CPUs 1-3 go back to growing grass and CPU 0 remains at 100%. This cycle endlessly repeats itself as long as the game is running.

Again, this also goes on with the FPS games I play (COD MW3 mainly). They do not have windowed modes so they do minimize to the icon on the tool bar but return immediately upon clicking on the icon.

Checked temps max is 54 degrees C during the games.

Man, if I cant figure this out pretty soon I looking for another hobby! Hello Mustang project car, here I come!

WarHorse47
November 1st, 2014, 20:26
Microsoft has a neat little app called Process Explorer which lets you see what's running at any time. Specifically, it should point to what is causing those spikes.

I used it when trying to work out some OOM issues with the Milviz 407. I ran it in tandem with FSX and could see when FSX started to run out of memory.

Jafo
November 1st, 2014, 21:47
Modern MS OSs [post XP] have been known to interrupt full-screen games on occasion. There's nothing actually WRONG with your system....other than telling [many] processes to simply butt-out while you are gaming.
One famous one is your AV [though some actually have a gaming-state/mode]... but just about anything can trip out FSX ... Skype's another 'good' one.....some settings/options in Windows Update....and just about any Proggy updating service....
Don't panic [famous subtitle to HHGTTG] .... if your system is actually going to self-destruct you'll smell it soon enough...;)

dvj
November 2nd, 2014, 08:49
It might be prudent to run a full anti-virus system scan. Because Norton recently ran a software update, after the scan I'm going to uninstall and re-install the this latest version because it too has come up with an error.

d

WarHorse47
November 2nd, 2014, 14:05
Dang. Happened to me twice this morning.... again. :pop4:

Terry
November 5th, 2014, 03:35
I wonder if this would do any good? Found it at Flightsim under must have files.



uiautomationcore.dll (http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?274224-FSX-CTD-problem&p=1826231#post1826231): Prevent random crashes on 64 bit operating systems later than Vista

Jafo
November 5th, 2014, 04:09
I don't believe the Op is experiencing an actual 'crash' but in fact a loss of focus that causes FSX to minimize from Full Screen.
That's not a crash but simply a RUDE interuption by another process.

To get back into the game full screen you can alt-tab to hilight FSX and then hit 'enter' ...it'll be back to normal.

Unfortunately too many program makers think THEIR program is more important than anything you might be doing and they WILL steal focus from you and minimize whatever you only 'thought' was more important - in our case ....that's FSX.

If it all becomes too much to bear the solution is to hunt down EVERY program/process that thinks it's superior/important and shut it down...disable it....uninstall it....or at the very least tell it NOT to be always checking for updates, etc [goes for Windows Update too] ...;)

Duckie
November 5th, 2014, 05:29
...

If it all becomes too much to bear the solution is to hunt down EVERY program/process that thinks it's superior/important and shut it down...disable it....uninstall it....or at the very least tell it NOT to be always checking for updates, etc [goes for Windows Update too] ...;)

This is where I am. I have narrowed it down to windows system 32 file "rundll32.exe" which opens a sub app by the same name. That file then calls an executable called " suragateCom.exe". I have scanned these file for malware and virus and found none. I have one more thing to try when I return home. If that doesn't work I will uninstall 7, format the disk and reinstall. As it is, FSX is unflyable with this happinging.

When this file runs, it hits the CPU for up to 53% which causes any, that's ANY, currently running app to pause. If you're typing when this occurs the curser will pause and you skip letters until the event is over and if you are not paying attention you can end up with jibberish laced throughout your doc! If you are in a game in full screen mode it will minimize the game to the task bar and for some games the only way to get them back is the old 3 finger salute.

WarHorse47
November 5th, 2014, 06:16
Duckie, did you do a search for " suragateCom.exe"? Might help to identify what program installed it or its origin.

If its part of your OS and created by MS, you can research its purpose on their tech site. If it was installed by another program, sometimes there are options to prevent it from running.

I did a search for it on my machine (Win8.1) and found nothing.

BTW - do you use CCCleaner? It has a tab that identifies all the programs that run on startup. In doing some research on this subject, I came across some threads that pointed to programs that update HP Printer software. Anyways, I'm looking at these as possible culprits for my experience since some programs tend to run at random and can minimize FSX if they are runningat the same time.

Jafo
November 5th, 2014, 16:47
One possibility is it's an issue with IE10.
Ages ago when 10 came out I updated and subsequently FSX failed to load at all ...so I went back to 9.
Likewise when IE11 came out.
Needless to say I'm still on 9.

Searching suragatecom.exe got me to here...
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/why-does-dllhostexe-com-surrogate-consumes-memory/bd7e42bb-802d-4eb9-95b2-2bb6b566996d

...which mentioned issues with 10 and other updates.
There's a distinct possibility good old MS Update is the culprit...;)

BendyFlyer
November 5th, 2014, 18:34
Duckie, I can sympathise with this issue as it has affected me for some time. Not sure if your running FSX Acceleration or not but I used to only have FSX Deluxe and the startup and menu manager became like sludge (with no real demands on CPU typically @ 53% on my dual core), I installed Accelaration and find that the start up is still slow but the menu manager and selection is fine.

I have no magic answers and I think the primary problem is the fact that it is a 32 bit program running on a 64 bit system (Win7 et al). When you go back to basics a key problem and one which I cannot fix, is there are issues with the window display and boxing, the data contained with the borders of the program box within the screen, how the window is drawn and what is displayed is contingent on a huge number of low level script dialogues and the OS prioritisation of that sequence plus or minus what is kept in memory for display or for the program that is running and hence actively displayed not just held open. The trouble with FSX is that is now such a patchwork of stuff it is very hard to know where to go and what add on or other area is choking or forgetting the data calls and priorities.

The best I can offer is the following that worked for me:

1. I run a little program called FlusiFix06 this resets a lot of data definitions but more importantly cleans up the thousands of xml gauge files that are on a system, many not used etc.

2. I move all the aircraft I do not use regularly into a separate folder I call Hangar and keep them there until I feel the need to use them or go flying in something different.

3. I have all my addon scenery parked in external directories on my main drive but not within the main FSX scenery drive, FSX has no problems accessing these files and the file manager lets you work this way as well.

4. I have deleted the automation.dll file from my system all together, it only helped with screen switches or view changes in VC mode and I have had no problems what so ever operating FSX without it.

5. I shutdown every automated update program but not the virus scanner which is not an issue for me with Norton as it is just the firewall manager and causes me no grief.

6. The two big automated update culprits are: - Adobe and Microsoft. Adobe will just push itself in over any priority and run unless you kill it and it will kill your performance. As for MS updates I am snookered no matter how many times I have shut if off etc., it will run randomly and without permission and kill FSX completely by once again taking over CPU time and file priorities. There is also buried within that process a data transfer out of what you have on your system and its license authenticity which is going back to MS. I effectively now realise that MS has designed into Win7 etc a controlled license environment whereby they were hoping to make the OS an annual billed working system, not one they sold to you and you owned and controlled, the vestiges of that design are buried within WIN and I am sure generate random calls and file activity. And last not least the security and MS program updates play havoc with my system and I am constantly having to go into the OS and select fix problems and fix problems with MS updates. I guess that is because each new update takes you away from the basic design to another fix or change and sometimes like a pile of dominoes they just fall over each other.

7. If I want a quiet time I do not connect to the internet at all and have the modem internet connection shut off when I sim, If I want hangs and delays and real time weather via REX then I will connect. The observable performance difference is notable and trouble free when FSX is running sans internet connection.

8. With all the above FSX is ok but not perfect and never will be but at least I have no more OOM messages or hangs or window draw problems.

9. Finally check your video drivers, hiccups in the way the video card is processing information can also produce this behaviour.

Hope some of the above is helpful.

Duckie
November 5th, 2014, 19:29
Thanks for all the comments, tips and suggestions. Finally got something going. It is not an FSX problem or a MS or OS problem. My Problem was...WAS...a stealthy registry virus, relatively new, contracted by any of a number of deliver systems, most of the usual ones but some not so usual. Mine most likely came from a java update! It is known as "Poweliks". Nasty bug that is not recognized (yet) by Malwarebytes or most AVs because it is not a file or executable. Norton is on to it and others are catching up but not there yet.

I've been working with the guys at http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ and they're just about done. Still got some cleaning up to do but I'm getting there. Hope to be back at full speed soon.

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for all your support.

Daube
November 6th, 2014, 01:26
Just to share my experience: that problem is not always because of a virus.
Some background programs might also have the same effect.
In my case, the minimizing of my games is caused by a program called "Citrix Receiver", which is a kind of remote desktop service I use for my work. When I deactivate this program, the minimizing does not happen anymore.

dougbr2005
November 6th, 2014, 01:56
I had the same thing happen a few days ago and tagged it to the latest NVIDIA update. After deleting the NVIDIA experience install and the 3D drivers which I don't personally use all went back to normality. If you have updated the Nvidia drivers perhaps its causing the same issue for you as it did for me.

WarHorse47
February 21st, 2015, 14:23
Thought I might :bump: this topic and ask if anyone continues to encounter this issue or found a common cause.

Duckie
February 21st, 2015, 14:36
Thought I might :bump: this topic and ask if anyone continues to encounter this issue or found a common cause.

WH, as I said above re my situation, mine was a registry virus that neither my Bitdefender nor Malwarebytes recognized. The bleepingcomputer.com guys were on it and suggested that I most likely contracted it from and non-updated version of JAVA. Since their repair and me keeping Java updated it hasn't reappeared.

clmooring
February 21st, 2015, 18:26
I don't know if this will help, but my pc recently started pausing fsx every couple of minutes or so. I mean the game was actually paused with the paused message at the bottom left of the screen I finally ran task manager while running fsx in windowed mode. I saw fsx was pausing when the system was reporting an error.

I realized that I had recently started cancelling all of the programs that are in the tray when my laptop starts ( I use it for work ) including one drive, Dropbox, ACT!, GoToMyPC, gotomeeting, etc. I figured stopping all of these would free up the processor and memory. As time went on, I became more and more aggressive with stopping running tasks and services

On a lark, I started fsx and didn't shut anything down, and FSX ran fine. So although I don't know exactly what I was shutting down that cased the problem, something was. And when my system was reporting the problem, fsx was being paused.

I still need to go back and see what the culprit was.

But your problem seems similar.

WarHorse47
February 21st, 2015, 19:08
I don't think what I'm experiencing is caused by anything external to FSX. My system has 16 Gb of ram which is more than enough memory for a things to run in the background while I'm running FSX. On one or two occasions there might be something that runs an update, but that just seems to affect the FSX framerates and doesn't minimize the sim.

When FSX minimizes on my machine, its typically within a few minutes of loading and starting a flight. It seems to occur more with some of the latest payware aircraft.

When FSX minimizes it pauses the sim. After I maximize it, the screen is black and I have to shift between window mode and full screen mode to get the view back. Once the view is back, I can un-pause it and resume my flight where it was interrupted.

I'm still trying to figure the cause. I suspect it is something within FSX like a specific gauge or sound file or something that is common to one or more recent payware aircraft. It happened earlier today with my A2A WoP3 Mustang.

Some of the possible culprits might be FSUIPC, simconnect, CH Control Manager or maybe some other module running in the background. No way to tell since there is no error message.

Hdguy
February 22nd, 2015, 02:31
Just to say:

I don't like nor trust Norton.. I have seen it do many weird and bad things to computers. The least of which is to get infected then NOT have the ability to see or clean any recent infections, be it malware, fake trojans, or just a virus. And I mean I see it over and over on computers that come to me sick to be repaired.

My advice.. uninstall Norton, and get a free trail of Kaspersky on their sight. Its a full version for 30 days.. Install it, update it then run a full system scan and see whats really going on. If you like Norton, then put it back on... Norton is a resorse HOG to say the least.

tintype
November 13th, 2016, 13:03
This is where I am. I have narrowed it down to windows system 32 file "rundll32.exe" which opens a sub app by the same name. That file then calls an executable called " suragateCom.exe". I have scanned these file for malware and virus and found none. I have one more thing to try when I return home. If that doesn't work I will uninstall 7, format the disk and reinstall. As it is, FSX is unflyable with this happinging.

When this file runs, it hits the CPU for up to 53% which causes any, that's ANY, currently running app to pause. If you're typing when this occurs the curser will pause and you skip letters until the event is over and if you are not paying attention you can end up with jibberish laced throughout your doc! If you are in a game in full screen mode it will minimize the game to the task bar and for some games the only way to get them back is the old 3 finger salute.

I have been following this thread, and similar ones, for about a week. I've been having the same problem for about a week. I've run FSX in full screen for years and have never had any problems. Sorry to say that I've tried all sorts of things and have not yet come up with a solution. This post by Duckie seems most similar to my experience, especially with regard to typing and having the keyboard input "cut out" momentarily (without FSX running). Anyhow, just saying that I'm on board with y'all in trying to fix this thing. By the way, when flying with screen reduced, flying is not interrupted but the sound cuts out for about half a second. I've timed the interruptions and they occur at a fairly regular rate of 62 to 69 seconds. Seems like it shouldn't be too hard to find the culprit, but so far no cigar.

tintype
November 14th, 2016, 12:59
I think this was mentioned but I haven't found the post. In Windows 7 I went to Action Center in Control Panel (or type Action Center in the start menu). In Action Center select Maintenance > Check for solutions to problem reports > Settings > if "Automatically check for solutions" is checked, change it to " Each time a problem occurs, ask me. . . ."

My full screen was minimizing and pausing at about 1 minute intervals. After making this change I used FSX for about 30 minutes in full screen without problems. I then changed back to the original setting and FSX started minimizing again, as before. I changed the setting once again and was again able to "fly" in full screen without interruptions.

This technique may be more of a workaround than a solution to the basic problem, but I have not yet found the program/s app/s that are causing the problem. I have always used FSX in full screen for several years. This minimizing problem started happening about a week ago. Something changed and I haven't found it yet.