Corrupt Registry re-installation advice needed regarding FTX/FSX

[Ja50n01]

Hi guys, this is a long one so bear with me,

My keyboard keys and joystick button's randomly stop's or lock's out the computer with beeping as if a key is stuck down, it's annoying during working during flights and whilst working in windows(normally the D button is the main culprit). Also my keyboard or joystick will just loose power, I have check my Saitek SST software and unlplug all sorts of stuff to eliminate potential causes. Then i tried to update the bios and my ASUS updater wont open or uninstall, cant even re-install, Then BSOD and windows is taking ages to load, so i cant find the problem so i'm doing a fresh re-install.

My Question is re-instalation of FTX:

Firstly I start with FS global 2008

1-blue - sp1 then hotfixes

2-Gold - hotfixes

3-Green - hotfixes (last time I had to do some backup file thing due to UTX etc)

4- YMML

Aerosoft Lord Howe - I did this as a hybrid previously but when is a good time to install this airfield?

I also have UTX Canada/USA/Europe and Victoria/VancouverX will these conflict with future release of FTX or will they work together, If they do the same task then i wont bother with them and stay with the FTX mode ON.

Also i'm fed up of gig's of photo scenery, so how far away is USA/Europe(roughly, Years, Months, Light years lol ) and will it be compatible with add-on Airfields from other developers or will FTX be taking over the world with it's own Airports?

Also I have Active skyX and Graphicx and am so tempted by REX, so i may just re-install minimums for now.

Sorry about all the questions but most of the time i buy all these cool add-ons and dont always understand what they do behind the scenes.

I am in full support of FTX and want and FTX world that runs smoothly.

I am off on holiday to Spain for a week, so i may not reply for a week or two but thanks in advance to anyone taking the time to help.

Cheers

Jason

P.s any helpful re-instalation tips for a relitavely newish newbie to Flight simming will also be appreciated

[Geoffman]

Don't ever use the ASUS updater to update your BIOS! The ASUS forums are full of tales of woe on corrupted BIOS's and bricked mobo's because of the tool.

You are far better off updating BIOS from a boot disk or from within BIOS itself using the EZIFLASH tool.

[Wolter van der Spoel]

Hi Jason,

As Geoffman said on the Asus updater, stay away from it !!

Also get yourself Acronis true image saves a lot of hassle in the future and is worth every penny you spend on it.

If you have the option install FSGlobal 2008 on another partition or better drive, this will speed things up a little

As for the re-install order:

Blue

Gold

Green

YMML

FTX freeware Airports

hotfixes and patches

Switch FTX mode to OFF

install your UTX and other addons

[Ja50n01]

Don't ever use the ASUS updater to update your BIOS! The ASUS forums are full of tales of woe on corrupted BIOS's and bricked mobo's because of the tool.

You are far better off updating BIOS from a boot disk or from within BIOS itself using the EZIFLASH tool.

Great Advice, Thanks but unfortunately I got inpatient, just re-installed vista 64 bit, and used the Asus Update tool to update the Bios, It worked and went well. I have bricked a Asus board with a Bios problem before and it was changed by the supplier.

Any advice regarding perhaps removing the updater now? Is there anyway of telling that the bios installed well, Seems pretty stable at the moment, but I will read up on Making a floppy disk in the future(I dont have floppy installed but have a temporary one i could use)

Thanks for the advice

[Ja50n01]

Hi Jason,

As Geoffman said on the Asus updater, stay away from it !!

Also get yourself Acronis true image saves a lot of hassle in the future and is worth every penny you spend on it.

If you have the option install FSGlobal 2008 on another partition or better drive, this will speed things up a little

As for the re-install order:

Blue

Gold

Green

YMML

FTX freeware Airports

hotfixes and patches

Switch FTX mode to OFF

install your UTX and other addons

Hi

yeah thanks for the advice, does Acronis Actually work, I am a bit of a sceptic as all others I have tried tend to fail(it has been some years since trying, last attempt was Norton Ghost), I also have never sucessfully used Windows Restore. So if you or anyone reading this has experienced Acronis with great sucess then I am keen to find out more?

I have 2x WD Raptors 150gb in Raid 0 (performance) and a spare 750gb samsung f1, I have tried FSX on the Raid and also tried it on 750gb. Even though Windows is on the Raid setup shall I install FSX there and FSglobal on 750gb.

Also your order of instalation looks good, Hotfixes and SP1 for blue after all other areas and leaving FTX on, then off for all other non FTX products ?

Thanks for all your help guys, UHU you have helped me before (when my corrupt registry started) special thanks once again.

This community is the most helpful I know

Cheers

Jas

[Wolter van der Spoel]

Hi Jason,

I run two RAID 0 arrays and also have two external HD's, I have made a recovery disc from Acronis and I have had my little woes I have my images backed up on my external HD and toss in the DVD in, load the image, and I'm back up and running within the hour, without the hassle of reinstalling all the updates, validating etc etc

[Geoffman]

Any advice regarding perhaps removing the updater now? Is there anyway of telling that the bios installed well, Seems pretty stable at the moment, but I will read up on Making a floppy disk in the future(I dont have floppy installed but have a temporary one i could use)

Thanks for the advice

I've never installed the updater myself, but I image it's got an uninstall entry in the windoze uninstall program area. The easiest way of knowing a BIOS install went well is your computer working ok, normally if the update screwed up you will have a brick on your hands!

How old is your mobo? Most ASUS mobo's built in the last few years have an "EZIFLASH" system in your BIOS tools, that is much easier to use than mucking around with floppys. Simply copy your new BIOS onto a USB drive, reboot your computer, enter BIOS (using the DEL key on reboot) and going into the tool area in BIOS, select Eziflash, select your USB drive then the BIOS on it and flash. It's really easy.

I've updating BIOS on ASUS mobo's this way for over two years now with 0 problems.

[Ja50n01]

I run two RAID 0 arrays and also have two external HD's, I have made a recovery disc from Acronis and I have had my little woes I have my images backed up on my external HD and toss in the DVD in, load the image, and I'm back up and running within the hour, without the hassle of reinstalling all the updates, validating etc etc

So FSX on Raid and Fsglobal on my spare hard drive?

Also Acronis sounds great, but my full FSX setup is approx 500gb will Acronis still cope with it. May need to get a spare HD.

Thanks again

Jas

[Ja50n01]

Any advice regarding perhaps removing the updater now? Is there anyway of telling that the bios installed well, Seems pretty stable at the moment, but I will read up on Making a floppy disk in the future(I dont have floppy installed but have a temporary one i could use)

Thanks for the advice

I've never installed the updater myself, but I image it's got an uninstall entry in the windoze uninstall program area. The easiest way of knowing a BIOS install went well is your computer working ok, normally if the update screwed up you will have a brick on your hands!

How old is your mobo? Most ASUS mobo's built in the last few years have an "EZIFLASH" system in your BIOS tools, that is much easier to use than mucking around with floppys. Simply copy your new BIOS onto a USB drive, reboot your computer, enter BIOS (using the DEL key on reboot) and going into the tool area in BIOS, select Eziflash, select your USB drive then the BIOS on it and flash. It's really easy.

I've updating BIOS on ASUS mobo's this way for over two years now with 0 problems.

Well good news! No Brick Phew!!!

It's an Asus X38 Maximus Formula DDR2 LGA775, I am going to uninstall the Asus updater tonight and look up the EZIFLASH.

Do you happen to have an opinion on all the other tools from asus, PC Probe and some direct link utility, I believe i can set up an overclock profile and run it via windows and be able to adjust the bios???  I have them all installed but never use them.

Thanks again for the great advice

Jas

[Ja50n01]

OOOPPPPSSS Sorry ADMIN for posting in the wrong area

Apologies

Jason

[Geoffman]

Jas, I have used PC probe and other utilities that have come with ASUS mobo's in the past, but don't any more. In general I find them a little buggy and some have been a bit of a resource hog with operation being a little spotty depending on the mobo in question.

Your mobo should have EZIFLASH in the BIOS as it's a pretty recent board

cheers 

[Maurice_King]

Have you fellas considered the possibility of a keyboard buffer virus.

I kid you not I have seen at least 3 PC's this year that have been infected with a Keyboard buffer virus, which will randomly power down either 1 or both of the USB and Keyboard buffer's so the keyboard has both random and scrambled operation.

Just thinking out loud but it is a real possibility.

[Ja50n01]

Hi Maurice & Geoffman

Thanks for the advice, I will strip down the ASUS tools, I just dont use them to be honest and I prefer the extra Grunt.

VIRUS - I was thinking a possible Virus, I have full AVG (64bit compatible) and all the checks stated no virus.

I found the Fault unfortunately after re-installing, My Saitek Throttle Quadrant has a stuck down button(Does'nt look Stuck, but is) I use the SST software that allows me to assign keys outside of FSX as a set profile and had one button assigned to CTRL+Shift+D (Assigned to Fuel Dump in fsx)

So as i was flying and pressing Shift and control they were non responsive and The D would cause the Keyboard to lock out. The worse bit was my Heavy rapidly dumping fuel and leaving me bewilderd(Glad I'm not a real pilot lol). But even though I checked my Profile for a D function I didn't click that the Shift and Ctrl button were also causing the problem. It was only after re-installing the driver for the Throttle quad that i noticed the button permanently on. Also my Registry was a bit screwed up also so the re-install was worth it.

TIP: Anyone with a similar instance obviously check for Virus, Also check in the Control Panel under joystick's/Controllers and in my case the button was showing permanently on.

Thanks all for your help

Jas

[Geoffman]

Thanks for letting us know what the problem was Jas, most appreciated. I'll have to remember it if my system plays up as I have a Saitek quadrant (even though I don't use SST).

@Maurice, a keyboard buffer virus? Never heard of one before! How he heck does that work, wouldn't the buffer be cleared on power down? That one is gonna bend my brain for a bit!

[Ja50n01]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks again,

The Saitek Pro flight range is covered by a 2 year warranty if you ever get any grief. I hated the SST as i used to get constant BSOD and it never seemed to work. But these last 2 months it's been superb, very stable these days and once it's setup and to your liking you have it for life, no more setting up controls inside FSX.  I started by downloading someons profile from Saitek forum had a quick read up of the manual and never looked back(Although the Quad has no mode switcher).

I hated the SST but have been converted, I also understand why people stay away from these things

Thanks guys for all your help, I'm flying again

Happy Dayz

Cheers

Jas

[Maurice_King]

The buffer virus basically infects the software Keyboard buffer and does erratic things like give you a g when you press D for instance, random letter's and number's that sort of thing, there isn't any cure that I am aware of as it isn't a virus in the true sense of the work but some nasty code that infects the software keyboard interperater within Windows , system restore much and all as I don't like it if a restore point has been saved before infection cures it.