GSX constantly crashing

[Morten]

Umberto, for crying out loud....I've done every possible thing now!

Disabled ALL FSX addons (as you know)
Unistalled ALL FSX addons (nevertheless)
Reinstalled GSX (a thousand times..)
Uninstalled ALL non-fsx programs around the time the error occurred out of nowhere..!
Uninstalled ALL Windows updates around the time the error occurred
Updated ALL graphic, sound and chip drivers
Deep scanned my harddisks for any possible virus, mallware, bad programs, everything! 
Manually removed ALL known bad uninstalled program entries in my registry   
Uninstalled/reinstalled ALL VS2005 packages according to your instructions.

FSX with each and EVERY OTHER addon is working perfectly here!

Not that I'm accusing you or anything, but what is possibly left anymore to check..?!

The only thing I possible can think of, if anything, is a new Logitech mouse I installed around the error-time and a silly FSX Booster application-tryout which I immediately uninstalled again - and bringing my old FSX.CFG back in place!

(Also I haven't yet tried a FSX SP2 repair - which I'm NOT prepared to do just because of a Couatl.exe not working for me for the time being - It took me 3 years to build up my present 10 monitor cockpit setup, so with a repair for the only sake of a non working Couatl I would be back to zero!)         




 

[virtuali]

Umberto, for crying out loud....I've done every possible thing now!

Then some of those products Uninstallers don't probably everything, so what's causing this, is still there.

Uninstalled ALL non-fsx programs around the time the error occurred out of nowhere..!

This sentence SEEMS to indicate that GSX USED to work on your system, at one time. If this is the case, maybe you can try to remember what changes you made to your system about that time.

It took me 3 years to build up my present 10 monitor cockpit setup, so with a repair for the only sake of a non working Couatl I would be back to zero!)

         

Are you using 10 monitors on a SINGLE PC ? If yes, that might be an issue, since nobody of us ever tested GSX in such configuration and, as you might say, chance we'll ever do this, is even less than zero...

If, instead, you are not running 10 monitors on the same system and you are using a network, then why mentioning them in the first place ? GSX is not network-aware, it always run on a single system so, the only work you'll have to do, would be on the one that runs GSX, not the others in the network.

[Morten]

Then some of those products Uninstallers don't probably everything, so what's causing this, is still there.

Good point - just don't no where to look for any further left overs

This sentence SEEMS to indicate that GSX USED to work on your system, at one time. If this is the case, maybe you can try to remember what changes you made to your system about that time.

Yes indeed, Umberto! I've had GSX all the way from the time you introduced it!!
"Try to remember what changes you made.." But what do you think I was doing..?! that is exactly what I've already done and described to you in details above and via mail!

Are you using 10 monitors on a SINGLE PC ? If yes, that might be an issue, since nobody of us ever tested GSX in such configuration and, as you might say, chance we'll ever do this, is even less than zero...

Arhh okay how silly of me, should never have mentioned that, bringing things out of focus - it was just meant to emphasize how much I take flying seriously and how important GSX is in that context. No problems with the monitor setup, whatsoever! FSX with GSX is only installed on the server PC with 8 of the monitors hooked up through 2 x Tripleheads2go and 2 x graphic boards. The other client PC in network has 2 monitors and ONLY deals with FSCommander and a moving map through Google maps. In other words, GSX is ONLY on the main PC with its dedicated monitors and everything has worked flawlessly until now!

If, instead, you are not running 10 monitors on the same system and you are using a network, then why mentioning them in the first place ? GSX is not network-aware, it always run on a single system so, the only work you'll have to do, would be on the one that runs GSX, not the others in the network.

As mentioned above GSX is NOT running in network. Please forget all about the setup - not an issue in this context!

[Morten]

Are you really sure you're fully compatible with newish REX update and so forth?!! This is really a drag, that you don't have any idea what the heck is going on!
If it just was GSX suffering - but all of my addons, Zürich and Geneva are totally dead because of this malfunctioning Couatl.exe...!
until you invent some kind of patch for this error, overruling obvious things - it seems that my only alternative is Aerosoft and their blackmail bullshit point AES system!
Come on now!!!   

[virtuali]

Are you really sure you're fully compatible with newish REX update and so forth?!!

We don't have the slightest idea about REX compatibility. REX is known to have caused issues with many products in the past. One of their installers, by mistake, completely wiped out the DLL.XML files for example.

But that's not the point. The point is that we can't never, ever, test our products with anything that's out there. There are too many FSX products that can cause problems, that if we really had to test all of them, we would have to stop developing products, and transform us into a full time testing company.

Assuming the latest REX update IS the cause, how do you expect US to fix something that has started by THEIR update, after you said yourself that Couatl and all our products USED to work without any problems BEFORE ?

If it just was GSX suffering - but all of my addons, Zürich and Geneva are totally dead because of this malfunctioning Couatl.exe...!

Not exactly. All your FSDT Add-ons are totally dead because some OTHER (still unknown) product has CAUSED Couatl to stop working.

until you invent some kind of patch for this error

It's not easy to patch something without being able to replicate the error in any way. As I've said, until today, out of the several THOUSANDS of GSX customers, there are only TWO reported cases.

So, it's obvious that, you two guys, are being unlucky enough to have installed the same troublesome combination of software, which doesn't seem to be very common.

[Morten]

Yesterday, after backing up my harddisk, I tried to unistall each and every program, FSapp, MS update, EVERYTHING from around the time when the error started - NO difference. GSX still crashes!

In order to help me sort this out I would like you to please consider these aspects:

In this my MS error log, why the heck are there 2 identical instances of <Data>B:\FSX\fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Data> right after each other?! As if the problem not directly comes from another app interference, but simply because the Couatl.exe for some reason is being executed twice at the same time, which in my simple eyes could be the actual reason for the crash?:

<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
  <System>
    <Provider Name="Application Error" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>100</Task>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2013-08-24T22:52:50.000000000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>134670</EventRecordID>
    <Channel>Application</Channel>
    <Computer>Morten-pc</Computer>
    <Security />
  </System>
  <EventData>
    <Data>couatl.exe</Data>
    <Data>2.0.0.2348</Data>
    <Data>511a6b6c</Data>
    <Data>couatl.exe</Data>
    <Data>2.0.0.2348</Data>
    <Data>511a6b6c</Data>
    <Data>c0000005</Data>
    <Data>00002916</Data>
    <Data>1578</Data>
    <Data>01cea11c6a107578</Data>
    <Data>B:\FSX\fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Data>
    <Data>B:\FSX\fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Data>
    <Data>e66b3516-0d0f-11e3-8891-6cf04952d000</Data>
  </EventData>
</Event>

So if the double execution of the Couatl.exe is the actual reason for the crash (Please confirm about agreeing or not), could it then be because of:

1. a somehow corrupted user account?

2. perhaps two user accounts in conflict?

3. the fact that I sometimes have been reinstalling GSX as an administrator and sometimes not?   
 

[virtuali]

Yesterday, after backing up my harddisk, I tried to unistall each and every program, FSapp, MS update, EVERYTHING from around the time when the error started - NO difference. GSX still crashes!

As I've said in my previous message:

Then some of those products Uninstallers don't probably everything, so what's causing this, is still there.

What's the point of taking the time to backup your harddisk, and just uninstalling ? Uninstalling won't fix a problem in your Windows setup. Since you already took the step of doing a backup, just reinstall Windows, and the problem will surely go away.

In this my MS error log, why the heck are there 2 identical instances of <Data>B:\FSX\fsdreamteam\couatl\couatl.exe</Data> right after each other?! As if the problem not directly comes from another app interference, but simply because the Couatl.exe for some reason is being executed twice at the same time, which in my simple eyes could be the actual reason for the crash?:

Couatl.exe surely doesn't start twice by itself. So, the most likely issue is, there's something in your system that is causing it to start twice. But, do you SEE two instances of it in the Task Manager ?

[Morten]

Just to recall, we already been through checking the process list and you don't see 2 Couatl.exe processes inside there - perhaps because the Couatl process crash immediately when any command is executed within GSX.

Reinstalling Windows is no option! - as I wrote you before it took me years to build up this setup which is quite complex but never has suffered from something so stupid as this.

When you're not answering me on the possibility of an user account conflict - is that because you don't agree or is it because you don't know?!

Another thing, when I run through your GSX update history I notice Jun 15th 2013: "Added support for Flightbeam KIAD and initial support for Majestic Q400 and cargo loading from left side" This is in fact about this time when my problem started. Do you by any chance still have some "install ingredients" before this update, so I could test it?     

[Morten]

Hmmm...never seem to get any qualified answer from here!

Anyway, as from reading through this forum and from what I learned elsewhere this Couatl app is simply too unstable to do the job!
As if this wasn't enough you've also chosen to tie up all of your airport products to this wobbling app, which means that whenever the app is out of order all your airports turns dead in the same instance with crippled and missing buildings all over the place - in my case, both Zürich and Geneva airports which I bought from you in good faith are now totally useless!
So instead of one product from you not working I now have 3 products that I paid you for - all crippled with errors.
Now how can you possibly justify such a bad arrangement?!
As things turns out I'll obviously expect a refund from you, at least for the airports!       

[virtuali]

Anyway, as from reading through this forum and from what I learned elsewhere this Couatl app is simply too unstable to do the job!

It obviously isn't, and reasons for this have been clearly explained and proved, here and on other places too.. And YOU said yourself that it USED to work before so, how could possibly be a "Couatl problem" ? As usual, Couatl is AFFECTED (=is the victim) of something else in your Windows install.

As things turns out I'll obviously expect a refund from you, at least for the airports!

You should ask a refund to the software that you installed at a certain point, which caused this. You can't just but the blame on our software, which has proven to work on YOUR system already, just because you can't remember what you installed, and you are not prepared to reinstall Windows, which you should do only because you can't find or remember what the problem was.

As I've said, doing a backup and uninstalling was a complete waste  time. Uninstalling a software will NOT fix a problem in your Windows installation. And why taking the time to do a backup in the first place, if you are not prepared to do a restore, which means reinstalling Windows and restoring from that backup ? You could have saved your time doing a backup, if you never intended to restore. Uninstalling and reinstalling can be done by the installers, a backup is made when reinstalling Windows.

[Morten]

I took the (harddisk image) backup in order not needing to reinstall all the suspected applications and updates I would later uninstall in a test analyze session.
But never mind if you don't agree or understand the purpose of that!

And why taking the time to do a backup in the first place, if you are not prepared to do a restore, which means reinstalling Windows and restoring from that backup?

Don't get that...or perhaps we're not talking about backup to the same extend here?
As I see it, If I took a full 1:1 image backup now, including the Couatl conflict, system files and everything as it is - then reinstalled Windows - and THEN on top of that did a complete 1:1 image restore from the image backup, then in my eyes everything would be completely overwritten  back to the old status including the Couatl conflict and everything.
     

[virtuali]

As I see it, If I took a full 1:1 image backup now, including the Couatl conflict, system files and everything as it is - then reinstalled Windows - and THEN on top of that did a complete 1:1 image restore from the image backup, then in my eyes everything would be completely overwritten  back to the old status including the Couatl conflict and everything.

Of course. A 1:1 image backup is not what you should do in preparation for a Windows reinstall, it's only useful if you want to test something you think it might be dangerous, and want to be sure you can go back to a working system.

But that's the point. Right now, you don't have a "working" system that you want to go back to, you are trying to get rid of an issue which will surely be fixed by a Windows reinstall so, you shouldn't do a disk image, but rather a backup of your files and documents that you don't have an installer and that can't be downloaded.

But before doing that, what about trying a remote assistance session over Teamviewer ? Your problem is so unusual, that I would like to have a look at it. PM/email me if this is ok for you.

[Morten]

Of course. A 1:1 image backup is not what you should do in preparation for a Windows reinstall, it's only useful if you want to test something you think it might be dangerous, and want to be sure you can go back to a working system.

EXACTLY! That's the procedure I have been doing all a long and been trying to tell you! - TESTING by uninstalling all sorts of suspicious things from the period when problems started (with no luck) - and then back again restoring the 1:1 image. But perhaps I haven't explained myself well enough...

Yesterday, sort of against my principles, I tried to use ASE which worked fine - except for some occasionally g3d.dll error (again as the Couatl an 05 memory exception error) but after unplugging/plugging in my yoke the problem disappeared and everything worked fine again.
GSX was still not working, so uninstalled it but leaved on the Couatl.exe for your Geneva and Zürich addons. Then went to check these airports and saw that buildings still where missing only jetways where present..       

But before doing that, what about trying a remote assistance session over Teamviewer ? Your problem is so unusual, that I would like to have a look at it. PM/email me if this is ok for you.

Hi hi, yes so unusual that it almost has become interesting! I appreciate your teamviewer offer and will send you an email soon so we can schedule a suitable time for it.