Dome Light and APU Fault - Problem Fixed!

[Paul Deemer 13]

The following problems were noticed and resolved. I installed the NGX the day it came out, then installed Hot Fix 1 when that was available. I was able to get 10 full flights in without any issues except the 2 second freeze but it would only happen a few times during a flight and would resume flight after a 2 second delay if I stopped what i was doing and did not click anything. Today I log on to the forum and see their is a new Hot Fix 2. Uninstalled my Liveries and Installed HotFix 2. Then Reinstalled my liveries. Went to do a flight and did everything I normally do to setup from a Cold and Dark Cockpit. When I get to the part where you start the APU I got a Fault and APU refused to start no matter what I tried. NO failures were on and no matter what I tried the APU would not start and would always fail. I also noticed a lock up when fiddling around with the APU where only the windows arrow key was showing but I was not able to select anything at all. When this happened I was dead in the water and had no choice but to exit FSX and try again. After reproducing this same exact problem 3 times in a row I was ready to uninstall everything and start anew. The following conditions were noticed. NGX Install + Hot Fix 1 + Hot Fix 2 = APU Faul Fail, Lock Ups, 900NGXWL Dome light not working and only the 800NG and 900NG Aircraft.cfg files get updated. I then Uninstalled the NGX with the uninstaller but that was all, no manual removal of anything the uninstaller left behind. Reinstalled the NGX went into FSX exited FSX. Skipped Hot Fix 1 and went straight to Hot Fix 2. Loaded FSX and did a complete startup from Cold and Dark and took off. No APU Fault no issues at all! I checked all 4 aircraft.cfg files and they were all updated this time. I saw another thread earlier where a guy had the same APU Fault problem I did so I know it is not just me. Seems there must be an incompatibility somewhere when updating from Hot Fix 1 to Hot Fix 2 that causes that APU fault. There is only one little clincher that has to be fixed manually. Yep the Dome Light! I know PMDG is already aware that the oringal installer messed up the Dome Light on the NGX900WL version but what they may not know is When you do NGX install + Hot Fix 2, the 800WL Dome Light gets messed up as well. Why? For some reason it appears that the entries for the 900 series Cockpit lights get installed into the NGX800WL model and because they are not compatible the Dome Light stops working. So at this point the following happens. The 800NGX and 900NGX Dome lights work normally but the 800NGXWL and 900NGXWL do not. To fix this is easy. Copy the Lights section from the 800NGX into the 800NGX Winglets replacing what is in there now. Copy the Lights section from the 900NGX into the 900NGX Winglets replacing what is in there now. Do not replace or remove anything else in the aircraft.cfg file except for the LIGHTS Section. When you are done the Entries for the Lights Section of the 800NGXWL and 900NGXWL Aircraft.cfg file should look exactly like this. 800 Series [LIGHTS]//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing, 6=taxi, 7=recognition, 8=wing, 9=logo, 10=cabinlight.0 = 4, 47.000, 0.0, 5.500, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclightlight.1 = 4, 45.500, 0.0, 4.500, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclight [sMOKESYSTEM]smoke.0 = 46.000, 00.000, 5.000, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclightsmoke.1 = 47.000, -1.000, 5.000, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclightsmoke.2 = 47.000, 1.000, 5.000, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclight 900 Series [LIGHTS]//Types: 1=beacon, 2=strobe, 3=navigation, 4=cockpit, 5=landing, 6=taxi, 7=recognition, 8=wing, 9=logo, 10=cabinlight.0 = 4, 51.500, 0.0, 5.500, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclightlight.1 = 4, 50.000, 0.0, 4.500, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclight [sMOKESYSTEM]smoke.0 = 50.500, 00.000, 5.000, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclightsmoke.1 = 51.500, -1.000, 5.000, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclightsmoke.2 = 51.500, 1.000, 5.000, fx_PMDG_NGX_vclight If you are not sure where your aircraft.cfg files are they can be found by going to the following folders. Go to your Main FSX Folder, Sim Objects Folder, Airplanes Folder, and you will find 4 Folders named. PMDG 737-800NGX / PMDG 737-800NGX WL / PMDG 737-900NGX / PMDG 737-900NGX WL My Suggestion is if your not having any problems at all disregard this post. If you are having problems then try uninstalling and reinstalling in the following order as it has cleared up all my issues and everything is running fine now. 1) Uninstall 737-NGX 2) Reinstall 737-NGX and load FSX, say Yes to any prompts if your asked 3) Install Hot Fix 2 http://downloads.pre...2916_Hotfix.Zip 4) Fix the Aircraft.cfg files as Stated above. 5) Install your liveries 6) Report your findings

[derianc 0]

I haven't installed any of the hot-fixes because what's the point in fixing what's not broken, right? But nice find and great job! Hope it works for others as well.

[B747tebs 80]

i installed the pmdg, flew some time, then patch 1 came out, i installed it and flew some time again, then patch 2 came out, i installed it and again, i flew for some time. never had any problems with the lights nor with the APU

[Paul Deemer 13]

Oh almost forgot. If you are flying in 2d-Panel view but are not able to see the runway or papi lights on approach due to the low eye level setting, the following lines will fix that. [VIEWS]VIEW_FORWARD_WINDOWS=MAIN_PANEL,MINIPANELVIEW_FORWARD_DIR=3.3, 0.0, 0.0VIEW_FORWARD_ZOOM=0.8 What you need to do is go to FSX Folder / Sim Objects Folder / Airplanes Folder / PMDG 737-800NGX Folder / Panel Folder and edit the panel.cfg file. Replace the View section with what is in there now with the lines above. Do not remove or change anything else. The only thing that actually changes is the 2nd Line and the number 3.3 but it definately helped me. I got that line from the MD-11. You only have to do this for the panel.cfg in the 800NGX folder as the other 3 models are aliased and get all their info from this file.

[Paul Deemer 13]

i installed the pmdg, flew some time, then patch 1 came out, i installed it and flew some time again, then patch 2 came out, i installed it and again, i flew for some time. never had any problems with the lights nor with the APU

Not sure why its happening for some and not others but the Dome light issue was already Confirmed by the PMDG Staff because the original installer does not install all the proper lines for the 900 Winglets model. When going from 737-NGX Install direct to Hot Fix 2 the Aircraft.cfg files all get updated and the entries for the 800 Winglets model get the wrong values (The 900 series values get copied in there) causing the Dome light in that model to stop working as well. (The Dome Light will light up the Overhead Panel, but it will not light up the MCP or Radio Stack like it is supposed to). There were many posts on here yesterday about the dome light not working in the NGX800WL so obviously its affecting others as well and not just me. Same applys to the APU Fault. But like I said earlier if your not having any problems good for you and disregard this post. If you are having the problems, try the fix? I am sure PMDG can reproduce and confirm everything I have said as I have gone through it all in great detail.

[Tabs 2,790]

Paul, I was actually just about to post a sticky about this right now - Vin figured it out a bit ago too, it was a mistake in building the CFGs for the hotfix. I'm going to put up my own post so it's official, standby.

[Paul Deemer 13]

Paul, I was actually just about to post a sticky about this right now - Vin figured it out a bit ago too, it was a mistake in building the CFGs for the hotfix. I'm going to put up my own post so it's official, standby.

Cool Ryan! Only thing that sucks is I spent 2 hours tracking it down and Vin already knew all about it. Can you confirm the part about the APU Fault as well? There are at least 2 of us that had that issue.

[ukflight 11]

Thanks for the lights and the views Paul.

[Paul Deemer 13]

Thanks for the lights and the views Paul.

Your welcome. Just glad my sim running good again. Time to do a Flight to Madeira from Manchester.

[PilotoVirtual 0]

Perhaps is the fact the aircraft.cfg was initially set a READ ONLY and the hot fixes is not actually replacing them???

[henkie 0]

Am I the only one who doesn't see any difference between the dim and the bright modes of the dome light? This was working on the original installation! It would be great if there will be a fix for this as I like these kinds of details! Kind regards

[Gerardius 20]

Cool Ryan! Only thing that sucks is I spent 2 hours tracking it down and Vin already knew all about it. Can you confirm the part about the APU Fault as well? There are at least 2 of us that had that issue.

Anyway, great work, Paul!!! Thanks for sharing, keep the great work. Kind regards,

[iFlyPMDGNGX 0]

Any one had a FMC Freez problem when setting up a route?