computer crashing

[peter]

i run FSX on XP- in the last month just about every time i fly in central europe air space my computer crashes. Big crash, the computer shuts compleatly down. I do not have this when flying in other parts of the world; add ons include

ultimiate terrain europe
London Heathrow X
Horizon VFR photographic secnery UK
FS global

Any thoughts here? i need to beable to fly in europe and really dont want to reinstall FSX

[nwadc10]

Two things...

Check your error log that windows generates. I'll have to get you instructions on how to do that, I don't recall off the top of my head. The error log will most likely point you to the exact file that's causing the problem.

Otherwise, uninstall all the addons you mentioned, run a flight thru the area it consistantly crashes (save your flight a few minutes before for easier testing, also I'd use a default plane so you don't have to setup the panel in air). Make sure it works then reinstall each addon one at a time, testing the trouble area after each install. The first time it fails will tell you that the latest installed addon is the problem.

Finally, I had a similar situation when trying to do a flight to YSSY where FS would crash at about the same spot. Looking thru the error log I found it was actually weather.dll in FS that was causing the problem. Put in a new weather.dll file and it was fixed.

[Ken S]

Good info there Justin.

[nwadc10]

Alright, to check the error log, properly called Event Viewer, start by going to the Control Panel. Then go to Event Viewer. Once there you will see a few different logs you can view. I'm creating these instructions from Vista so this next step I have to go from memory of whe I did it in XP (so far XP and Vista instructions are the same). Check the logs for Application and System. There will be many entries and most entries are normal but you will find a few spotted errors. Check the data/time of the errors to match when your system crashed, it should also give you some hint to the program that caused the error. When you find an error that has potential, click on it to open more details. Sometimes the actual file will be presented and sometimes it's not.

If you can't make sense of it, the Event Viewer has an export function where you can save the log to a file and send it to someone who can read it. I don't see that option in Vista so I'd have to look on my XP system to get those instructions.