Processor? Video card? Acelerator?

[Slasher]

Guys Im in a bit of poo. Up until recently my MSFlightsim graphics was fine. Frame rate etc was good and graphics all smooth. I operate in full screen mode.
Recently for no apparent reason the graphics are now jerky. It "hesitates" on a regular cycle about every 1 second. Frame rate goes from 30-50 per sec down to about 5-7 during the "hesitation".
The problem is that everything was fine before so I suspect a hardware problem. I drag my laptop around a bit. Ive tried every trick re graphic/quality tradeoff but have had no success.
Im not all that educated when it comes to graphics. Is it possible the Pentium is overheating? Is it the video card has become faulty? Is this "graphics acceleration" thing a hardware item?
Any advice greatfuly received and thanks a heap in anticipation.

Slash.

[spannersatcx]

It may be worth defragmenting your hard drive and maybe running scan disk. Also if your drive is getting full there may be insufficient space available for Windows to use the swap file. Also if you have added anything recently this may have overwritten some shared files etc.

[clownfish]

It's a funny thing, exactly the same thing happens on my computer with CombatFS any time I change the resolution settings. Only way to get it back to normal is a reinstall. Never had this prob with FS2000 however.

[InFinRetirement]

Slasher, never quite thought of you as doing things with graphics and MS Simulator! More used to seeing your articulation elsewhere, competing with other well known buffs!

However, I think you will find that your puter is a bit short of a couple of little known patches. Do I assume that you have FS2K? If so you will need to download a 8.8mb patch from MS to correct the stuttering. Go to MS/Games/FS200 and download your particular one PRO or Standard. One does NOT work with the other (if you will pardon the expression).
You can download a programme called Cacheman that will adjust your Vcache files and this helps a lot. Got too much for you? E-mail me and I'll help you out. Might be your graphics card if it's FS2K so a few possibilities. All solveable is the best news.