Hi All:

Was going to piddle around in MSTS tonight. Thought I'd start by running an Ozark Northern activity. A few minutes into the default activity: Bam... black screen and the computer shuts down.

Click the power button... normal start up diagnostics, OS boots/runs, desktop back. All seems okay. Run a train in explore on the Ozark Northern: Few minutes in: Bam. Black screen, computer shuts down.

Thought maybe something had gone amiss with my main MSTS installation. Tried a simplistic route in one of my mini-installs... ran end to end without problems.

Loaded another mini that included a much more complex route project. Few minutes in: Bam. Same junk.

Sooo... loaded another game: Nascar 2003. Ran for perhaps 10 minutes then: Bam. Ditto.

Does this sound like a graphics card heating up and crashing to you? (Nvidia FX 5700)

Or, instead could it be the CPU heating/crashing? (AMD Barton)

System is about 3-4 years old.

Any input appreciated.

Fixed it.

Opened my computer box and used low pressure compressed air to clean all fans/heat sinks/etc. In so doing many dust bunnies scurried off into the bushes.

Have just run MSTS for over an hour with no problems.

Apparently I was correct: Graphics card was overheating.

I had a problem that was doing the same thing, turned out the motherboard was going. The computer is in the shop now.

Hi Larry:

Thanks for the heads-up. I decided this week that I need to contact my computer guy about upgrading the mother board, CPU and video card.

Good idea! My computer would shut off more and more as months past by. The more demanding the program, the more often it would shut off. On some less demanding programs it would not shut off at all. It was only one and a half years old. A built computer. So you never know! When testing they found that certain parts in the board were putting out wrong voltages. Mother boards are fairly cheep though, so I am lucky I guess.

Larry

Had the same thing happen twice to me today. Only happened when running MSTS. Got a can of compressed air. Will try it when I get home from work. Never had this problem before. I hope it can be fixed easily...

Al

Well, it ended up being the motherboard. Good thing I bought a 2 year extended warranty! Dell replaced the motherboard and power supply and all is well. I purchased the O&N right after all this started to happen and wasn't able to run much of it due to all the shutdowns. Now I am just discovering what a true gem this route is!

Some may find the following amusing. My wife's desk top shut down for no reason and before I let the repair vultures look at it I pulled it apart. It was full of dust bunnies and in the process of removing them I found a loose cooling fan. It connected to a heat sink with two plastic tabs and one had broken. I ran around to a couple of repair shops looking for a replacement but all I would hear is " It'll cost you over a hundred dollars for us to order the parts". I went back home and looked around my work shop and found two important computer repair parts, a small nylon wire tie and a bamboo squier. I reconnected the fan to the heat sink on one side with the good tab and on the other I pulled the nylon wire tie as tight as I could and then forced the squier under it the make it even tighter. I put the cover back on and it is still working after 5 months. I think there is a lesson here somewhere......... JFleming