FSX hangs on start up

[Tregarth]

Can someone please tell me how to make FSX start?

I click on my FSX shortcut, the original FSX splash screen appears and hangs.  If I go to Task Manager I see a line "FSX is not responding", clicking on End Task has no effect.  The only way to remove the splash screen is to close down the PC.

It don't think it is caused by my add-ons, once the add-on has been installed I close the PC down, restart it and launch FSX and again it hangs.  Until recently it has re-started without a problem.

I have recently been trying to programme my Saitek joystick with FSUIPC but I have tried renaming the .INI file to OldFSUIPC to stop it lauching on start up but the problem remains.

The problem seems to have been building up over time, a while ago I occasionally had to re-start the PC to make FSX work but now it will not work at all.

Any ideas please?

[Orion]

Have you installed any addon programs or planes recently?  Specifically any that launch via the dll.xml file or have C++ gauges?

I'm guessing your problem most likely lies in a faulty third party addon running in-process (using a .dll file).  You can check the faulting module of your FSX crash, by going to the Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Application, then looking for an error generated by FSX.  This should tell you the name of the file (DLL or gauge) in question.

Anyways, try clearing out the [Trusted] section of your fsx.cfg, located in %appdata%\Microsoft\FSX.  Next time you open FSX, you'll have to allow all the gauges and addons that launch alongside FSX again, so make sure not to allow the faulty module to run again.

[Tregarth]

Thank you all for your replies.

I had already tried the "Change FSX.cfg trick" but without suceess.

I then suddenly remembered System Restore.  I un-installed the recently installed Saitek programming software and went back to before my most recent Add-on install.

After a long wait the PC restarted and FSX now works.

I now have a large notice near the PC - Use System Restore.

Now it is back to learning how to use FSUIPC.

Thank you again,

Tregarth

[Mickey_Techy]

If one is using a 64bit OS, one needs a 64bit version of Saitek driver as well.
But, I am sure you already know that.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Tregarth]

Thanks, but I have only progressed as far as 32 bits.

Tregarth

[micro]

Just another shot in the dark but I recently had a similar problem. Anytime I would start fraps with FSX running the screen would just freeze. I swore up and down that it had to be a software issue. Finally I took it in. My power supply was going bad and FSX+FRAPS was the straw that broke its back. They threw in a new power supply and everything seems to be running great. Anyway, just keep in mind that hardware does go south as well (not that that makes you feel any better).

[Tregarth]

Thanks, I must admit I had not considered hardware.

To round this out. Having removed the C-130 FSX Upgrade using System Restore I re-installed it and all went well.  Then I closed FSX and turned the PC off.

I restarted the PC and started FSX - it hung.  I turned the PC off and went for a refreshment to recover. I then restarted and tried FSX again.

It now works perfectly.  Starting FSX now is a little stressing, will it start or won't it?  The FSX start music is a really welcome sound.

Thanks for the suggestion,

Tregarth