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Disappearing Standby Gauges

(Original thread started on 07-13-12 by Alan Norris)

Dave, I set up my standby gauges and after a reboot they are still there but I cannot resize them. Also if I open a window to do some maintenance they disappear. Task Manager shows them as active and I can cursor over the areas where they should be. Later as I closed a window one reappeared. Any idea what's going on?

 

(Posted by Dave Ault on 07-13-12)

That's strange. I've not seen anything like that before. Sounds like a Graphics card driver problem. Have you got the latest graphics card drivers installed? If yes to above, then what version are you running?

 

Do you still have a problem if you are only running the standbys? How are you starting them. i.e. manually, from a dos batch file or from startup directory? What program are you running when they disappear?

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 07-13-12)

Answers as follows:

  1. I run an nVidia GTX570 card with latest driver (8.17.13.142 5-15-2012).

  2. Running WIN7 64 bit.

  3. I'm running the gauges along with JET45 across two monitors.

  4. I dropped shortcuts into the Windows StartUp folder so they start automatically (the resizing problem didn't start until the EXE files started in that manner).

  5. I opened a Windows folder to get to the JET45 folder to make some changes to the PFD INI file when one or all disappeared.

 

Today after reinstalling JET45 and rebooting, I could resize the gauges. However when opening Task Manager they disappeared. As I stopped each gauge program from task manager they appeared briefly before closing. I should add that I'm not connected to FSX yet so I get the NOT CONNECTED message across the gauge face.

 

(Posted by Will Sasse on 07-13-12)

Are the standby gauge programs installed in "c:/program Files (x86)/"?  I found they caused me all sorts of unusual grief when they weren't.

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 07-14-12)

Yes they are. However I read this today:

If programs are installed in Program Files" or "Program Files x86", then Windows will be protecting the folders against normal user access. This applies even if you are the PC's administrator.”

 

Not sure if this is the problem or not. I should add (and I'm not sure this has any relevance) but my setup is different to 99% of other members. Whereas they run three separate monitors I run only two and I extend my display across both.

 

(Posted by Dave Ault on 07-14-12)

I run mine on a desktop extended over two monitors with no problem but I'm using windows XP. I've got a Windows7 64 bit PC too so will have a play around tonight to see if I can duplicate this problem.

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 07-14-12)

Thanks Dave. If I look down behind Ron's bezel can sort of see the white border at the bottom of the ASI gauge but no face.

 

Since getting WideClient working and connecting to FSX the issue with the gauges seems (for the moment anyway) have gone away.

 

(Posted by Dave Ault on 07-14-12)

Great that it seems to be working okay now Alan but I can't see why it should not work without the FSX connection. I have tried it on my Win7 PC with and without Wideclient connected and also with and without UAC (User access control). So far I cannot duplicate your problem.

 

I installed the gauges into c:\ProgramFiles(86) also.  Let me know if it happens again and I'll try to set the PC up with the same programs running as you and try it again.

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 03-15-13)

For some reason I have lost another gauge, this time it's my ADI gauge. It was working fine up until a week ago and then it started crashing. I downloaded a new one and replaced the old one. When it opened up it was nowhere to be seen. I even tried the ALT "f" to try and locate it but that didn't work. I tried putting a location in the .ini file but it wouldn't let me save it as it said I needed administrator privileges.

 

The strange thing is I was able to save the .ini file to the documents folder, move the existing one to my desktop and move the changed one to the gauge folder on the C: drive. However when I opened it the new values had been replace with the old ones.

 

Here's the .ini file contents:

-3200

-3200

204

1

0

0

0

0

 

As a comparison, the gauge next to it has this .ini file:

2942

-64

1

0

0

0

16208

 

Can anyone help me here?  Thanks

 

(Posted by Dave Ault on 03-15-13)

That's strange. Did you uninstall the old one as just installing the new one won't overwrite the .ini file as the .ini file is not part of the installation as it creates it when the gauge is first run then quit. So I suspect it is still using the old .ini file.

 

Close the gauge and delete the .ini file then it should appear and rewrite the file when you exit the gauge.

 

Maybe its not actually using the .ini file that you moved as when UAC is turned on I think it may store it in the virtualStore folder.

 

i.e. If I turn UAC on then my .ini file for the ADI is stored here:

C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\lj45_ADI

 

You may have to go to control panel - Folder Options - View Tab and select "Show Hidden files folders and drives" in order to see the hidden AppData folder. This assumes you are running Windows7.

 

I run with UAC turned off which lowers the security but avoids some of the strange things Microsoft have done.

 

So to recap, exit the gauge, delete the .ini from the ADI folder and the VirtualStore location and then run it again. Hope this fixes it.

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 03-15-13)

Dave, I deleted the whole ADI folder as well as the shortcut in Startup. I'm not sure what UAC is (I run Macs when I'm not using the sim). I did right click on all the gauge EXE files and clicked on "Run as Administrator".

 

Yes, I'm running WIN7 64 SP1. For some reason the gauge seems to be acting normal at the moment and the .ini file shows a good X/Y location. Also when I was having all the issue and I closed the program and restarted, ALT "f" worked as it put the gauge on the top left of my screen. I also noticed that I seem to be getting two versions of the gauge, one that shows the hash marks at the top and seems to be more three dimensional and one that doesn't have those marks (as I'm using Ron's bezel) and it seems more "flat".

 

(Posted by Dave Ault on 03-15-13)

Alan, UAC is "User Account Control". It can be turned off in Control Panel - User Accounts.

 

With it turned on, programs trying to store things within the program files folders i.e. fbx.ini are prevented from doing so and they get stored in the VirtualStore folder that Microsoft decided should be hidden. As this really irritates me I turn it off.

 

I use a Mac also nowadays and just use the PC for the Sim but I'm starting to forget a lot of Windows stuff. Anyway, glad it seems to be working again. Let me know if you get anymore problems with it.

 

(Posted by Will Sasse on 03-15-13)

Alan, I had all sorts of issues with the standby gauges, also with them affecting other things on my Jet45 PC. It was all solved when I re-installed them to their default windows folder of "c:\Program Files (x86)\...".

 

Prior to that I had them in a folder where I could easily find them, silly me! I should've known Windows doesn't like that!

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 03-15-13)

Dave, I will turn UAC off tomorrow and see what that does. Is setting the .exe file to run as Administrator okay?

 

Wills, the install is in the default folder under C:ProgramFiles(x86)\Standbygauges\

 

(Posted by Mark L. on 03-15-13)

When in doubt, 'Run as Administrator'