TS2010 powers down computer

H

HiBaller

19 Years of Trainz
Prior to about two weeks ago, my Windows 7 machine [32-bit] (all updates applied) could run TS2010 all day long. Now, every session, whether it be Surveyor or operation will end at almost precisely 19 minutes and a few seconds.

No amount of messing with settings affects this time limit. I've been roaming very complex routes and not experienced any stuttering or halting until now. I seem to remember a thread a while back that touched on this problem, although I cannot find it with any search.

The symptoms are this: no indication of trouble until the screen suddenly goes black and the monitor shows loss of video from the computer. The power light on the computer remains lit, but it has effectively powered down. When I re-power, I am told that Windows has recovered from a BSOD of 116. Google turns up very skimpy results for that error. Even though I run TS2010 in a window (lately) I will still not see the the actual BSOD. I have made sure the system is set to NOT restart on error so I should see one - but I don't.

No other program will exhibit this behavior - I can fly FSX for hours with no ill effects. Even TS2006 (on the same computer) will run past the 19 minute mark without failing. It seems to be JUST 2010 for some reason.

Any ideas out there?

Bill
 
HiBaller said:
Prior to about two weeks ago, my Windows 7 machine [32-bit] (all updates applied) could run TS2010 all day long. Now, every session, whether it be Surveyor or operation will end at almost precisely 19 minutes and a few seconds.

No amount of messing with settings affects this time limit. I've been roaming very complex routes and not experienced any stuttering or halting until now. I seem to remember a thread a while back that touched on this problem, although I cannot find it with any search.

The symptoms are this: no indication of trouble until the screen suddenly goes black and the monitor shows loss of video from the computer. The power light on the computer remains lit, but it has effectively powered down. When I re-power, I am told that Windows has recovered from a BSOD of 116. Google turns up very skimpy results for that error. Even though I run TS2010 in a window (lately) I will still not see the the actual BSOD. I have made sure the system is set to NOT restart on error so I should see one - but I don't.

No other program will exhibit this behavior - I can fly FSX for hours with no ill effects. Even TS2006 (on the same computer) will run past the 19 minute mark without failing. It seems to be JUST 2010 for some reason.

Any ideas out there?

Bill
Click to expand...

Sounds to me like video card overheating
 
Hi all,

I've had similar problems in the past. One cause is overheating, another is the PSU.

Download a utility - I use speedfan - which will show temperatures and voltages.

Trainz uses the CPU and GPU much harder than most program's and this means that they draw more power thereby showing up weaknesses in the PSU.

HTH

Colin
 
I tend to go with MrSCSI. It could very well be overheating but what makes me wonder a little is that I can start 2010 and just let it sit; not doing a thing at all. 19 minutes later, the computer shuts down.

Bughceck 0x116 indicates that the video card is not responding to a reset command to change a mode. TrainzDiag tells me that my video drivers are only two months old. This could have been when the problem started - which makes it a driver problem. I have the previous driver pack (NVIDIA GT220 w/1G RAM) and think I might just uninstall the current drivers and re-install the older ones. If that works, problem solved. If not, then I will check for heat.

I've tried several times to get 2010 to run in a window. So far, my efforts have been unsuccessful. If I can finally get it into a window, I will let it run side-by-side with Aida64 Pro. That software has sensors for all kids of MOBO points (including CPU/Video temps). I've unchecked the 'Run Fullscreen' box and put '-windowed' into TrainzOptions, but it still runs fullscreen.

Bill
 
HiBaller said:
I've tried several times to get 2010 to run in a window. So far, my efforts have been unsuccessful. If I can finally get it into a window, I will let it run side-by-side with Aida64 Pro. That software has sensors for all kids of MOBO points (including CPU/Video temps). I've unchecked the 'Run Fullscreen' box and put '-windowed' into TrainzOptions, but it still runs fullscreen.

Bill
Click to expand...

Have you unchecked your "Full screen" box in options, display settings?
 
It most likely won't be heat as you say you can run Trainz06 without a problem. I have been having a few problems between Trainz and Nvidia drivers stopping lately, even today a site on Firefox caused the new drivers to stop responding for a quick second. That little pause in Nvidias drivers causes things to shut down, though I have not had my system shut down yet.
I'm not 100% sure but I have been testing a theory of sound related issues between THX, VIA HD audio, Nvidia HD audio and the Trainz sims 10 & 12.
Any more thoughts anyone?
 
@Deano5: I've also noticed (now that you mention it) that 2010 has gone back to that annoying 2 to 3 second pause after saving a route while I'm working on it. This, I remember, started about the time of the new drivers last August. There could very well be some fault in the current set of drivers. Let me drop back one driver update and see what happens.

Bill
 
Apparently not for my card however. Version 280.26 is still the latest one for a GT220. The release date is 08/09/2011, which is what TrainzDiag is reporting.

Bill
 
HiBaller said:
I tend to go with MrSCSI. It could very well be overheating but what makes me wonder a little is that I can start 2010 and just let it sit; not doing a thing at all. 19 minutes later, the computer shuts down.
Click to expand...

it doesnt matter if you are moving about or doing nothing, the game still puts load on the gpu, which could be overheating it, and in that case the card will usually shut down. when windows cant make it come back up, thats when you get a crashdump. you did mention however that you play FSX for "hours" or you can play other games. that wouldnt seem like you are having heat issues.
 
Aye, there's the rub. Microsoft Flight Simulators used to be the standard of performance to judge video cards by. But lately I have begun to doubt that. They've updated their video engines quite a bit and FSX doesn't demand nearly as much of a video card as Trainz. That old Jet engine really keeps a GPU hopping.

I've been distracted from further analysis of my problem by outside events, but I now have the side of the case open and am blowing room-temperature air into it using an external fan. Aida reports the GPU temperature (which started at 138F) is now just 129F with the system virtually at rest (only Firefox and Thunderbird) operational.

I have NOT run Trainz since the drop in temperature though. Prior to the Trainz failures, my computer had been operating 24/7 for 28 days - including a flight across the US from DCA to SFO.

Bill
 
thats still kinda high though isnt it? it's probably comparing apples and oranges, but both of mine sit around 42°C (108°F) when im just here reading forums and stuff. around 57°C (136°F) on the active card in trainz.

it looks like the GT220 can safely operate at temps to 190° so it must not be that. also, no offense, but the GT220 is not exactly the best card around, it might just be crapped out. (yes i know mine aren't exactly cutting edge either but my computer is around 2 years old)
 
Last edited:
Options in the launch screen, not ingame, display settings for windowed look like this;

78075638.jpg


Note that my desktop is 1280x1024, if I have it set to run fullscreen at 1280x1024 and merely untick the fullscreen box without changing the resolution I won't get a window because 1280x1024 takes up the whole screen. To actually run in a window I need to set the display resolution in this menu to something lower than my desktop.

Nvidia also has a GPU monitor which can be set to run on top. I often get pauses in surveyor which sometimes (all too often it seems) turn into freezes - when it freezes the GPU and CPU both unload instantly, it's not a hardware problem because task manager shows two copies of trainz.exe in the applications tab, both with "not responding", trainz.exe in processes shows zero CPU usage and the system still runs normally while trainz.exe is frozen. I've even run madonion.com benchmark torture tests while trainz.exe was frozen just to make sure. Can't remember ever getting a freeze in driver, it's always in surveyor. And before anyone spouts the usual, shutting the autosave off was the first thing I tried a year ago, yesterday I turned it back on and set to 15 minutes since if it's gonna pause and freeze anyway what the hell.
 
Another report:

I've taken the sides completely off the case. I found that despite my case cleaning six or seven months ago, I had quite a bit of dust forming on the blades of all the fans (CPU, GPU, & case). I cleaned them off, then blew air from an aerosol can through everything including the PSU. I took the little metal cover off the GPU heatsink and found that several of the channels were still blocked and cleaned them.

When powered back up, I was able to run 2010 for over an hour with no re-boot. I also managed to get it into windowed mode (misspelled 'windowed' in TrainzOptions :o ). When I ran Aida side-by-side with Trainz, the GPU started at 119F and rose to 170F when I was driving through some very complicated scenery. No stutters and no momentary freezes. The second I got out of Trainz, the GPU temps dropped to 125F in just 20 seconds. This tells me the fan and heatsink are now cooling much better.

I am still running the latest (2 months old) drivers so that was probably a non-issue. I also have all my computers on a shorter maintenance cycle.

My thanks to all who responded.

@Sniper: I misspelled 'windowed' in TrainzOptions. My screen resolution is always 1600x900 (native to the monitor).

Bill
 
Last edited:
I'm highly dubious of Speedfan. As I mentioned in my SSD's thread it thinks my SSD is running at 128 degrees C and it said my CPU was running at 60 degrees but when I checked in BIOS it said 31 degrees.
 
I am very much a fan of Aida64 Pro. There is a lesser, free, version also. Both will give you PSU rail voltages as well as temperatures inside you box. Despite the name, it runs on 32-bit systems as well as 64-bit.

Bill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
New Computer Incoming
2
Replies
27
Views
1K
lewisner
L
R
Install '19 on a remote computer
Replies
17
Views
734
rwk
R
C
TMR17 is dead for good. For all.
Replies
13
Views
957
ajrf
A
1
Unable to open output file
Replies
19
Views
1K
JCitron
J
J
TS 2022 changes graphics lighting effects with screen mode changes on my Windows 11 Home PC.
Replies
0
Views
429
JonMyrlennBailey
J
Back
Top