FumeFX crashing for no reason

#1

Hi,

I woke up that morning, and Fume FX said to me “Elpased : 01:32:06 - Estimated : 01:02:14”.

Only I launched it 10 hours earlier, for a 2 Gb and 50 frames simulation. On the task manager, CPU Usage was at 100%, which means that my CPU had worked all night without FumeFX doing anything. I have 12 Gb of RAM, and this problem happens a lot. Either the program is not responding, like this time, or 3dsmax crashes and asks me to send a report, like 10 minutes ago.

And the weirder is that I believe the simulations work on my other PC, which is less powerful. Both are on Windows 7, I have a Intel Core i7 720 on one and a Core 2 Duo on the other, and the same versions of FumeFX (1.2) and 3dsmax (2010). I tried disabling multi threading, but it didn’t change anything.

Have you got an idea where this could come from ? Let me know if my simulation parameters can explain something, and let me also know if this message is incomprehensible, I’m french so I’m always afraid of making mistakes.

Thank you !

#2

Sounds like a hardware problem. Could you tell me the specs of your PCs. Also clearly define which PC the simulations work on and which they don’t.

For a quick fix, try pulling some RAM out. 3ds Max doesn’t like me if all my RAM slots are full, so I use only two sticks, but still in dual-channel mode.

Is all your hardware up to date? including BIOS for your motherboard?

#3

Hi,

So here are my PCs’ specs :

The older one :
Motherboard : Intel DG33FB
CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
Graphic card : Geforce 8500 GT
RAM : 2 x 1 Go DDR2 + 2 x 2 Go DDR2

The new one :
Motherboard : Asus P6T-SE
CPU : Intel Core i7 920
Graphic Card : Geforce 9600 GT
RAM : 6 x 2 Go DDR3
Ventirad : Cooler Master V8
Alimentation : Antec 750W

And this is the older one which can do the simulations. Much slower of course, but it doesn’t crash.

I’m currently downloading the last drivers of my motherboard and graphic card, I don’t know if there are any other to install ; I couldn’t find a driver for my CPU for instance.

And I’m going to try to pull some RAM out for this night’s simulation, I’ll let you know if it works.

Thanks !

#4

looking at your specs I don’t think it is the RAM, didn’t think about you using triple channel, but try pulling the ram anyway.

With regards to your updated drivers for the motherboard, did you just update the chipset drivers or the BIOS as well? You might want to check the ‘others’ tab on the updates page as well. The BIOS is the real meat of the update, this updates for new hardware such as your RAM and other parts that were released after your motherboard was released. Sorry if any of that is not clear, I’m not the most technical of PC users, I know what bits of my PC do, but only at a basic level.

What you need to look for is BIOS updates on the asus website for your motherboard. I’ll have a look for you myself, not got anything else to do at the moment as my PC is simulating FumeFX too.

#5

Do you know what the ‘revision’ is for your CPU? It should be D0 or C0, if you don’t know you can find out with a small simple tool called cpu-z from www.cpuid.com. The image below shows what you see when you open it up, this is also an i7 920 which is being displayed, and as you can see this is a D0.

Looking at the BIOS history I would go for the latest which is 0805 as it comments that it improves system stability.

Also do you know the make and model of your RAM? Find this out and see if it is included in the ‘qualified vendor list’ which is also on the motherboard update page.

#6

Hi,

I tried pulling out the RAM, and it worked ! I’m not absolutely sure that it was the problem, since from time to time, my simulations worked, but I haven’t had any crash since I pulled out 6 Gb… It kinda disappoints me, cause I bought 12 Gb only for FumeFX, but well, if it works :slight_smile:

I already updated my BIOS in january, but CPU-Z tells me I have the 0608 version (11/11/2009), and not the 0805 one. I’m always afraid when I have to update a BIOS, even if now it takes like 20 seconds, I tell myself that if a meteor falls on my building, the current may switch off and my computer would die.

My CPU is a D0. I’ll try pulling the RAM back and launching the same simulation to be sure the problem comes from there, and maybe updating the BIOS again if I don’t see any meteor in the sky.

#7

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