Problem Orbiter randomly hangs, and breaking video drivers.

[bananaft]

Hello. I'm a newbie. Today I successfully intercepted and docked DG to ISS, and was really proud and happy.

But there is one nasty and frustrating problem. Sometimes game hangs. And didn't start again after that. As well as all other 3d games. Also, a I can't reboot with "Start -> Shut Down", or even Power button on сomputer case. The only way to reboot after that is reset button. The system itself works ok, but with some visual artifacts (transparent window headers).

I can't figure out what exactly actions cause hang, but it often happens while rotating around external camera.

My computer:
Intel Core2Duo 2.33GHz
2 Gb RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 465 Palit
SoundMax Integrated Digital HD Audio

Windows XP sp3
Orbiter 2010 without any addons.

fps is huge, over 300, and seems like everything works fine.

cfg:

; === ORBITER Master Configuration File ===
EchoAllParams = FALSE
LPadRect = 623 279 1165 841

; === Logical parameters ===
GenericMFDSize = 5
InstrumentUpdateInterval = 0.03

; === Visual parameters ===
StarPrm = 0 6 0.1 0
CSphereBgIntensity = 0.2

; === Visual helper parameters ===
Planetarium = 6122

; === Device settings ===
DeviceIndex = 2
ModeIndex = 10
StencilBuffer = TRUE

; === Joystick parameters ===
JoystickIndex = 1
JoystickThrottleAxis = 2

; === Active plugin list ===
ACTIVE_MODULES
  ExtMFD
END_MODULES

 

[dbeachy1]

But there is one nasty and frustrating problem. Sometimes game hangs. And didn't start again after that. As well as all other 3d games. Also, a I can't reboot with "Start -> Shut Down", or even Power button on сomputer case. The only way to reboot after that is reset button. The system itself works ok, but with some visual artifacts (transparent window headers).

Hello, and welcome to the forum! Given that you're seeing the problem with all other 3D games as well, the problem is not Orbiter-related: it sounds like either a hardware problem or a video driver problem. The very first thing I would do is download the latest video driver for your card from nvidia.com here.

However, since you're getting hard lockups (everything freezes), it sounds very much like a hardware problem to me. Here are some things to try:

1. Double-check your power supply and see if it supplies at least 38 amps on the 12-volt rail. Nvidia recommends a 550-watt power supply at a minimum for the 465 card.
2. If you are overclocking your computer, reset it back to stock speeds. Double-check that your CPU vcore & other voltage settings settings are set to "Auto".
3. Double-check your RAM timing settings in the BIOS (or set it to "Use SPD" or "Auto").
4. If you are running your RAM at DDR-800 (or higher), set it to DDR-667 as a test.
5. Download and burn Memtest86 to a CD. Then boot the CD and run the RAM test for at least several hours (preferably overnight). If the RAM test finds errors, remove one stick of RAM (i.e., run with only 1 GB temporarily) and re-run the memory test. If it fails with one RAM stick and not the other, it points to a defective RAM stick.
6. If none of the above fix the problem, it could be a defective video card. As a test, see if you can pick up a cheap video card (or borrow a friend's) to swap out the one in your system.

EDIT:
One more thing I forgot to mention: grab can of compressed air and blow out any dust in your CPU heatsink, power supply and video card. If dust builds up enough it can cause a system to overheat. Make sure your CPU and power supply fans still work as well.

 

[garyw]

I think DBeachy1 has nicely covered all of the hardware issues. I've seen similar problems from an under performing power supply and a dying graphics card.

To touch on one orbiter possibility: does the game hang when using UMMU's? I.e. when transferring a UMMU from one ship to another?

 

[bananaft]

dbeachy1, thank you for such detailed answer.

First of all. All 3d games works perfect before Orbiter hangs. That's why I blaming Orbiter foremost. Seems like it crashes Video drivers.

Driver's date 28.04.2010. Ok, i really should to update them.

1. GIGABYTE Odin 720W
2. No
3-7. That's mostly "Nothing work" scenario.

GPU temperature 68°C - idle, and 84°C hauled (Crysis 2)

garyw: I'll check Ummu addon.

Also I will try to watch, what exactly cause a hang.

And yeah! Happy 50's Cosmonautics Day!