Microsoft KB Archive/314254

= Flight Simulator 2002: Game Starts Only in Safe Mode =

Article ID: 314254

Article Last Modified on 1/31/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 Professional Edition
 * Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q314254



SYMPTOMS
When you try to start Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002, it may start only in Safe mode. You may receive the following error message:

Safe mode has been enabled because your system is currently unable to use hardware acceleration.

While in Safe mode, you will be able to run Flight Simulator and troubleshoot hardware issues, but performance and display quality will be affected.

Product Support Services does not support Safe mode. For more information, see the Readme file, which is available from the Flight Simulator link on your Windows Start menu.



RESOLUTION
To troubleshoot this issue, use the following methods in the order they appear.

Method 1: Verify Video Adapter Memory
Flight Simulator 2002 requires a DirectX 8.0a-compatible 3-D accelerator display adapter with at least 8 megabytes (MB) of RAM. Use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to determine how much video memory is installed on your video adapter. To do so, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, and then click Run.
 * 2) In the Open box, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
 * 3) Click the Display or Display 1 tab.
 * 4) Note how much video memory is on the Approx. Total Memory line under Device.
 * 5) Click the DirectX Drivers tab. Note the DirectX driver version and date information.
 * 6) Click Exit.

If less than 8 MB of video memory is installed on your video adapter, install additional video memory on your video adapter, or install a video adapter with more video memory. For additional information about Flight Simulator 2002 system requirements, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

309673 Flight Simulator 2002: Minimum System Requirements

Method 2: Set DirectX Acceleration to Full
Use the DirectX Diagnostic Tool to make sure that Microsoft DirectX acceleration features are enabled. To do this, follow these steps:  Quit all programs that are running. Click Start, and then click Run. In the Open box, type dxdiag, and then click OK. Click the Display tab. If the following DirectX features are not enabled, click the corresponding Enable button, and then click OK on the confirmation message that appears:

DirectDraw Acceleration

Direct3D Acceleration

AGP Texture Acceleration

 Click the Sound tab. Drag the Hardware Sound Acceleration Level slider to the Full acceleration position, if it is not already there.</li> Click Exit.</li></ol>

Method 3: Disable NetMeeting If Running
If you are running NetMeeting on your system, quit NetMeeting before you try to start Flight Simulator 2002.

Method 4: Update Display Drivers
Contact the manufacturer of your video adapter to obtain and install the latest version of the driver for your video adapter. For information about how to contact the manufacturer of your video adapter, see the &quot;More Information&quot; section of this article. You may also visit the following Microsoft Windows Update Web site to see if applicable driver updates are available:

http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

To identify the name and manufacturer of your video adapter:
 * 1) Click Start, and then click Run.
 * 2) In the Open box, type dxdiag, and then click OK.
 * 3) Click the Display tab.
 * 4) Under Device, look for Name and Manufacturer.
 * 5) Click Exit.

Method 5: Update Via 4-in-1 Driver
If your computer's motherboard is based on the VIA Technologies chip set, install the VIA 4-in-1 driver from the following VIA Technologies Web site:

http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/download-center/chipsets/

Important Contact your hardware manufacturer before you install the latest VIA 4-in-1 driver on your computer or make any modifications to your computer's BIOS settings. For contact information, see the &quot;More Information&quot; section of this article.

Method 6: Disable the Enable Write Combining Feature in Windows XP

 * 1) Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
 * 2) On the Settings tab, click Advanced, and then click the Troubleshoot tab.
 * 3) Click to clear the Enable Write Combining check box.
 * 4) Click OK, and then click OK again.

Method 7: Configure Flight Simulator 2002 to use Hardware Acceleration
Verify that hardware acceleration is enabled in Flight Simulator 2002. To do this, follow these steps:
 * 1) Start Flight Simulator 2002, and then click OK on the Safe mode message that appears.
 * 2) In the left pane, click SETTINGS.
 * 3) Under System, click Display.
 * 4) Click the HARDWARE tab.
 * 5) Click to select the Enable hardware acceleration check box, and then click OK.

If the problem continues to occur, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

191660 Games: The DirectDraw option or the Direct3D option is unavailable when you start games for Windows

<div class="moreinformation_section">

MORE INFORMATION
For information about how to contact the manufacturer of your video adapter, click the appropriate article number in the following list to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K

60781 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, L-P

60782 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, Q-Z

For additional information about issues related to display adapters, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

309638 Flight Simulator 2002: Known Video-Related Issues

309673 Flight Simulator 2002: Minimum System Requirements

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Additional query words: msgame FS2002, flight sim safemode fltsim startup vidio disabled performance

Keywords: kbhardware kbconfig kbprb KB314254

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