FSX
I have been quietly smug that PC problems always seem to happen to other people, but I got my come-uppance when Vista recently ‘shut down to prevent damage to my computer’ and refused to boot. System diagnostics showed faulty RAM, a little trial and error (and some major dust removal) identified the faulty stick, but Vista still wouldn’t start. System Restore failed to work the one time I’ve ever needed it, and after a week of fiddling I decided that as I had backups of everything important I would risk a full system recovery.
I decided to replace the 4x1Gb sticks with 2x2Gb of faster RAM from Crucial, chosen with their site's memory tool to match my system. Two days later it's installed, checked out with system diagnostics, great. Reinstalling everything and restoring all the backups took two long evenings, followed by Vista's orgy of downloading all the updates it needed. Finally, nearly two weeks after it went down, I was ready to reinstall FSX with the help of Nick N and friends.
Another long evening, but finally it’s time for a test flight. Halfway round the circuit FSX crashes with a fatal error - crap! Windows offers to find a solution, I wait and wait but it’s an empty promise. Reboot, try again, different aeroplane, different flight, same error. I try another game, Half Life 2....stutter, freeze, BSOD. Well, that proves it's not just FSX.
I check that Crucial sent me the correct RAM, I check it’s properly seated, I run the diagnostics again – all green. I check that the GeForce is seated properly and the fan is running, and I check its core temperature, a homely 61 degrees. I update the video driver to the latest WQHL version and run the windows system file checker, 100% OK. There’s nothing obviously wrong, but FSX and Half Life 2 still fall over.
On a whim, I whip out the new RAM and put the three remaining 1Gb DIMMs back in......and it's been perfect ever since. Did the faster DIMMs generate more heat than my stock cooler could handle? Crucial say not, and suggest that I should experiment with virtual memory settings and (the last resort of the baffled) update my MoBo BIOS. Um.... no thanks. Anyway, a new 1GB stick the same speed & spec as the other three has produced the required happy ending. Learning points for me? All very obvious..
1. Don't be smug, it will nearly always come back to bite you on the arse.
2. Occasionally, blow the dust out of your PC's case - and remember to do this outdoors.
3. Remember to create those bootable system recovery discs, you never know when you might need them.
4. Only swap like-for-like unless you're really sure you know what you're doing.
5. Direct quote from Nick N, pretty much proved I think, "FSX runs fine... the problem is you or your system.." In my case, me AND my system.
Originally Posted by SpaceWeevil
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