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Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?
10

Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

(OP)
SW2005-SP1.1 crashes 2 to 3 times per day on my computer and on my coworker's computer.  Every time it crashes it gives the "unhandled error" message.  We have the exact same setup, which is:

Athlon 64 3400+
1.5 GB RAM
Quadro FX700 with the latest SW-certified driver
WinXP Pro with all updates

I've used Solidworks every work day for the last 3.5 years, and though it has crashed many times I've never experienced a crash frequency quite this high.

Chris Montgomery
Mechanical Engineer

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

SP1.1 doesn't crash nearly as much for me as SP0.1 did.  I'd say I'm down to about 2-3 times a day like you, as opposed to 5-6 (which was ridiculous).

All I can recommend is CTRL-S (quick save shortcut), and do it often.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

2
So far, I seem to crash whenever I insert a datum symbol to a edge of a part on a dwg.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

SW2005 Sp 1.1

I might crash once a week.  I find it very stable.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I'd say 1-2 times a week at most with sp1.1  Early 2005 service packs were 3-5 times a week, but sp1.1 has made things a LOT better.  Still not perfect, but honestly no complaints from me.  

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I've been using SW since 1997.  After a while, you get an idea of what might make it crash--hunches that tend to be right--which are often based on hardware limits or flaws (and sometimes on software limits or flaws).

I get about one crash every two weeks on my machine and about two crashes per day on a client's machine (graphics card problem).


Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

4
I hardly ever crash. The only thing that crashes me, is a customers file that is probably corrupted anyway.

Have you gone through the FAQ and have you tried to do the clean uninstall reinstall process since you move to SW05?

Did you do an upgrade versus a new install?

I agree there are bugs but SP1.1 but not near as many as there were with SP0.0. This happens with all SW versions though. IMO since SP0.0 of SW05 there has been plently of stability and SP1.1 has improved Stablity. If you are seeing issue then you need to full check all aspects of your system. Also are you opening your files over a network, etc..? Call your VAR and leave nothing untold and no stone unturned. If you made a change to your system, or you install Shareware crap programs then you need to mention that. Because everything you do (install or uninstall) on your system will or could make a difference.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I'm starting to serously use SW2005SP1.1. Today I've had one crash (the first one), but it was during the recovery of a messy assembly (which is "normaly" critical to SW stability).

I hope that I can attain the stability record: SW2004SP4.1 - less than one crash per week on continuous work.

Regrads

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I do not remember when my SolidWorks crashed last time.  Mine is very stable.  I am using SolidWorks 2004 sp4.0.  OS is WinXP sp1.0.

Alex

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

(OP)
I haven't been able to find a pattern in the crashes so far, except that it always happens when I give a command.  In other words, it doesn't crash while I'm idle.

Those of you who are satisfied with Solidworks' stability, what graphics cards are you using?  I've always had a suspicion that the relationship between Solidworks and the graphics card/driver is the source of most stability problems.  I went with the Quadro FX series because it seemed like Nvidia and Solidworks had a good relationship.

Chris Montgomery
Mechanical Engineer

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

My graphic card is

NVIDIA Quadro4 980 XGL
Driver Version: 6.14.01.4351

Alex

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

It may be purely coincidental, but since I enabled the 3GB switch(with only 1.5GB installed)SW stability has increased.


Mark

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

2
I am still using SW04  and if I crash once every three or four months I get upset.  I rarely have problems anymore at all.  One of my co-workers seems to manage to crash 3-4 times a day, the big difference, he clicks like a mad man,click click click click click.  I take it it a little more slow than that and I have a lot less problems.  Usually he can get himself into a position where the file crashes everytime he opens the Design Table, at that point, I open the file save it and close it and he is back up and running.  Sometimes I will freeze up or get slow but then I force the crash myself, dump the temp files, clean my temp directory out and I am all set.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I'm crashing 4-5x a day.  It's really quite brutal.  When I was using 2004 - it was much more stable.

Tim

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I see all the time people double-clicking on EVERYTHING. They double click on SolidWorks and two or more sessions open ... or double click on a menu icon, then it craaaashes.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Quadro 500 FX driver - 67.22 Latest certified drivers
Quadro 1100 FX Driver - Have used both 53.03 and 67.22 - Stability is not an issue for me.

The video card is help tight within SW. It's a crucial part of SW, but you can't forget the aspects of a computer and the software installed. Send your files to your VAR with an attached RX. The RX provides a wealth of information on your computer. If you Tech support person at your VAR can read the data (Which isn't that hard) then he will be able to provide you some possible solutions or things to try. I'm sure it's something that your not aware of that is causing the problem and not SW.

There are some good points made by aamoroso and ctopher about habits in SW that some people over look or take for granted. Watch evert thing  you do when trying to determine what is causing the issue.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

(OP)
Those of you who are satisfied with the stability of Solidworks, I assume you use the software all day, every day like I do.  Otherwise this is not a level playing field.  I don't at all mean to sound irritable, I am just confused as to why the crash demon haunts my coworker and I every day and not y'all.  I am proficient with computers and Solidworks, and I cannot figure it out.

Chris Montgomery
Mechanical Engineer

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

   SW2003 SP5.0
   Quadro4 580 XGL with 6.14.10.5218 driver
   Win XP
   P4 with 2GB RAM

   I crash two or three times a day on my current project, an assembly with over 1700 components, almost 300 unique, with over 100 sub-assemblies.  SolidWorks is much more stable on smaller assemblies.

   My stability improves if I shut down SmarTeam integration, and move my files to my local hard drive.

                           JHG

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I'm using SW everyday all day on a Dell M-60 laptop with an Nvidea go700 graphics card.  Our assemblies are 1000 parts or less and I also spend a fair amount of time rendering in PhotoWorks.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

My machine is part-time during most days, but gets hit with 15+ hour days at times as well.  Very stable.  Sometimes large assemblies with 900+ MB RAM in motion, sometimes few parts with very complex features and lots of them.

One easy-to-see pattern between 2004 and 2005 is that 2005 is more demanding--obviously--because it offers more.  But people rarely upgrade their hardware when they upgrade their software.  More load, same stuff to run it, I would expect hardware limitation problems to increase--and they do.

AMD Opteron 64
nVidia Quadro FX 500
1GB RAM
XP Pro, SP2, updated
(All from Xi Computer)
Lots of other programs running at the same time
Lots of SW windows open at the same time
Norton Internet Security 2005 (RAM Pig!)
Rare crashes


Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Do you have lots of add-ins turned on with SolidWorks, like
animator, utilities etc. I find SW to be more stable when I'm just running what I need

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Dell Workstation Xeon CPU 3.2GHz, 2.0GB of RAM, NVIDIA Quadro FX3000 with 256MB, video driver version 6.14.10.5303.

I use SolidWorks2005 SP1.1 8-10 hours a day every day.I hardly crash, maybe once a week or once every two weeks. I enjoyed the same level of stability with SW2004. What is strange is that people around me with identical machines, installation and setup crash 2-3 times a day.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Solidworks runs all the time and sometimes I have 2 sessions open (SW03, SW04 or SW05). I also have numerous Windows explorer's up, MS Outlook 2000, 1-2 Windows of Internet Explorer, Open Emails that I'm currrently writing.

That's a normal day for me, sometimes there is more then that running.

I run all this on my latest computer (Until I can get my other one back up and running) on 512RAM. I run the smae processes on another machine with 1Gig RAM.

My biggest issue has been hardware failure lately. I have had HDD fail Completely (unable to access it) and the video card fan went out. SW never caused any of this, just Hardware failure. This can happen to anyone and no one thinks about HW as being the problem. They immediately blame the software.



cmm,

Check your RAM to make sure you don't have a mixture of types and speeds. That will cause crashing.

http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6255-1058485.html#
http://blogs.msdn.com/carmencr/archive/2004/08/03/207161.aspx

Check out these sites on RAM.

List your Hardware and maybe that will help us.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

There are good policies that must be considered in order to SW run smoothly. I think the difference between SW stability for different users, even with identicall machines, as to do if these policies are followed or not.

Things like good modeling (avoiding the use of features and mates with errors), correct mouse clicking (avoiding the clicking on everything on the screen, specially when SW is busy), keepping TEMP and BACKUP folders clean, avoiding messy installations (not only for SW, but for all installed software), avoid instalation of software not needed to work (like games, funny themes, funny screensavers,...), run add-ins and other software, with SW running, on a "as needed" basis,...

REgards
 

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I manage to get a least one crash per week, but I have to admit it might be my hurry up attitude rather than software or hardware.

XP Pro SP2
SW 2005 SP1.1
512mb ram (I know I need more)
Matrox P650
Logitech Marble Mouse
Cadman

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I always have PhotoWorks, eDrawings, Utilities, and Toolbox added in.  If I use the others (rare), I don't keep them added in.

I think there is a lot to be said for good practices and methodology.  Sloppy models/assemblies really should give you problems since they're full of logic bugs.  My models are always clean--no exceptions.  I'm amazed how often I'm asked to work on dirty files by clients and I don't know how they can tolerate such sloppy work.  I've even found completely unmated parts within an assembly in which several parts are driven by the geometry of other floating parts in the assembly.  What happens if I accidentally click-on and move a part?  All geometry is updated and I cannot figure out what I had in the first place.  Worse, I might not even know I moved something.  This is foolish practice during development.  We reap what we sow (not that sloppiness is the sole root to everyone's problem).


Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I have almost all the Add-ins all the time and I"m using Solidworks Preimum which comes with Cosmosworks in it.

macPT and Theophilus are correct! Bad modelling practices can lead to crashing and in stablity. SW is always ahrping on Design intent. Well this is where DT comes into play also. Bad modeling can lead to instabilty.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Most of the crashes I have some from files that were created in SW2003, then opened in SW2005.
I also agree with bad modelling practices causing crashes.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I crash 2-3 times a day on average, but I am guaranteed 1 crash minimum. Clean install (not upgrade) via Scott's website:
http://www.scottjbaugh.com/Tips_Tricks/Reinstall_Tip.htm


Solidworks 2005 SP 1.1
Windows XP Pro SP. 2
Pentium 4 - 2.8 GHZ with hyperthreading
2 GB. RAM
3D Wildcat VP990 Pro

Don't even ask about the DWG Editor though (ahgggggggh)

Flores



RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

SW 2004 sp3.0 crashes on me about 3-4 a week, Averaging about 5 hours a day of work over the week. It seems to pick certain days to act up. it'll go good for a few days then one day it just does not feel like working.

pentium 4 2.6
QUATTRO vp960 WILDCAT
1 gig ram
xp pro sp1

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

swcadman,

Turn your Hyperthreading off. You will gain performance in your machine by turning it off.

112275,

If you are losing work then you need to save more often and don't put your faith into the computer of backing your file(s) up.

My .02 worth... Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Scott,
How does one turn Hyperthreading off?

Bradley

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Apparently 2004 was not optimized for hyper-threading, so it was recommended to turn it off, for example

http://www.eng-tips.com/faqs.cfm?fid=986

But a few fellow co-workers who went to the Solidworks World were told that 2005 takes advantage of hyperthreading, especially in rendering.  A speed increase is noticeable when it is on in 2005

Flores

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I have been told otherwise about Hyperthreading from SW. Hyperthreading is like Dual processors. SW doens't take advantage of Dual processors because it's a multi-thread ed application. However you can run SW and CosmosWorks and Then you see and advantage of Multi processors. This works the same for hyperthreading. Your Processors only works at half of what it would if hyperthreading was off.

To turn it off you must do it a the boot of your computer. Enter the Bios and you can disable in there.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

smcadman, your coworkers may have slightly (only slightly) been mistaken.

I was at the conference and was told that SWx (any version) only takes advantage of hyperthreading IF you are rendering or running FEA analysis (unless I'm mistaken?)

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

If it's like dual processors, it definitely applies to rendering--big time.  Photoworks uses both processors, so would also make use of hyperthreading, if that's some sort of similar process.

I'm on a single AMD Opteron 64-bit chip now, so that's moot.


Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

SW2005, SP1.1 crashes about 3-4 times a week but, there
 are some weeks when it didn't crash all.  Some of the
 Models I have to work on are very poorly modelled by
 other Designers.  When I clean them up everything is much
 better.  I find that in the late afternoon that SW gets
 very slow because I have to work off the Network here.
 I have the following computer.

 P4 2.53Ghz
 1.5Gb RIMM RAM
 ATI FIRE GL 8800
 5.12.2195.3056 DRIVER
 60Gb HARD DRIVE
 WINDOWS 2000

 Any suggestions on what I can get the I.T. guys to do to
 improve my computer would be welcomed.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

processor could stand some improvement but overall not a bad system.  What SP of Windows 2000? I think you should be at SP4

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

aamoroso, yes I got Version 5, SP4.  I wanted the I.T.
 guys to upgrade me to Windows XP Pro and change my ATI
 card to a Nvidia card (Quadro4 FX500) but they said there
 would not be any benefit for me.  I would really not work
 on the Network (too slow) but the Designers were told that
 we had to, sometimes we have to wait up to 15 minutes for
 an small Assembly to open in Lightweight.  Thanks for your
 advice.

Ralph Wright, C.E.T.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I know this is a Solidworks thread, but I am a Solid Edge user surprised at the stability issues reported here.

Although lacking in market share and awareness, Solid Edge is apparantly much stronger in stability.  I am used to 1-2 crashes a month.  This is from experience with versions 12 up to 16.

I guess this is what happens when you spend more money on marketing and less on development.  Works is a good product, but I am sorry to hear about the quality issues you have to deal with.  Hopefully they change there business model at some point and focus on existing customers and not future customers.

New computer viruses?  That could be nice.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Crashes about 1-2 times per week. More when I'm in hurry and about to miss a deadline.

SW2005 SP1.1
Graphics card: Intergraph Corporation
Card: wcgdrv 05.05.06.15
Driver: 05.05.06.15
Windows 2000 5.00.2195 SP 4
Xeon Dual Processors 2.2GHz
1 GB ram

Bill

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I'm more sorry to see you using Solidedge then I am to see SW users crashing.

So when is SolidEdge going to make a stand and be a big boy for a change and take over the market? I looked a SE and I thought sucked for all the things I needed it to do in past. I would admit that a few years ago the Sheet Metal was better then SW, but I think SW has improved in that area.

SW doesn't have stablity issues, at least not directly IMO. A lot of the problems stem from Hardware, design practices and just plain old OE (Operatore Error) problems. SW is more demanding on Hardware then SE will ever be most likely, and that is because SW has so much more to offer to it's users.

Quote:

I guess this is what happens when you spend more money on marketing and less on development.  Works is a good product, but I am sorry to hear about the quality issues you have to deal with.  Hopefully they change there business model at some point and focus on existing customers and not future customers.

If you have never worked with SW and dealt with the VAR's, good tech support or SW directly, then don't step into this steaming pile if you have nothing to show for it.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Cyro,

Quote:

Graphics card: Intergraph Corporation Card: wcgdrv 05.05.06.15

Your problems looks to be more of a graphics card issue.

I can't find that card at the SW website as a supported card?

Is that an on board graphics in relation to your Motherboard.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I can go weeks with out a crash then some day I can have 5 or 6
Most of my crashes are caused by me going to fast trying to get SolidWorks to perform a task before it has completed the previous operation

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Hi All,
1-2 times a week for me. SW2005 seems pretty stable.

Oh, by the way........What's the point of this thread?

LOL!

Macduff
Meggitt Airdynamics Inc.
Dell Precision 370
SW2005 Pro SP 1.1
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1300

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

My .02 worth: The load on your CPU math co-processor and system RAM is brutal. This is compounded when you have maxed out your RAM and are into Virtual Memory.(use CTL-ALT-DEL to pull up your task manager and look at the bottom for memory used. Even simple models get me above 1GB RAM with SW05).  This may be too geeky for this forum, but my most stable setups have been with recent performance oriented components like: motherboard ($125), 1 GB RAM ($275), Harddrive ($75), Power Supply ($100) and graphics card (Quaddro 980XGL $200 ebay).  Something else to consider is that heat is the enemy of your computer. CAD work ramps your CPU up to 100% and keeps it there for long periods. Proper CPU and case cooling are very important. Take the cover off and blow out all the dust with a compressed air can. Once your CPU and RAM get hot enough, they will crash your system if you just yell at them. (not really) Wireframes and geometry are very hard on non-CAD gaming video cards, which are optimized for displaying large, redundant textures. Stability can be improved further by installing SW on a separate drive or bootable partition free of any virus protection, games, or other needless software. Check with your IT dept. if you have internet access with SW to be sure you are safely behind a firewall. If you stick to legit work related CAD websites, you should be fine.
If you have tried “everything else” and still get frequent crashes, try cleaning out the dust first (pay extra attention to the cooling fins on your processor), maybe leave the side cover off for a day and see if that helps. Next I would isolate SW on a separate bootable partition or drive as discussed. Next I would make sure I had a Solidworks certified Graphics card with approved drivers. Next I would spend $400 on 3 sticks of 512MB of performance memory from Buffalo, Crucial, Mushkin, or Kingston. (Tell I.T. you want DDR400 @ 2-2-2-10-1T memory). After this point I can’t think of anything else that would affect stability short of bad drafting habits.

Anyone can be Captain in a calm sea.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

cadmaniac,

Yes you pointed out over heating! I forgot about that, it was pointed out to me while in SWW 2005. Overheating of the CPU, RAM, or Video Card will cause instabilty.

Honestly how many of you take the side off your computer and clean it out? Show hands required here, for all those you have stability issues!

Top 5 issues that I think will cause instabilties & Crashing!

1) Hardware
2) Proper Install of Software (No shareware or games installed)
3) Design Intent or Proper Design Methods.
4) Proper Computer Maintenance
5) Clean out the Computer (inside)


[quote macduff Oh, by the way........What's the point of this thread?[/quote]

The point started out as a Complaint post, but I think it's turned around for the better, because those of us with less of a stability issue has listed possible fixes or ways to help those that are having stability issues.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I use a vacuum cleaner (yeah--careful with the static discharge issues) and suck the dust out of my box once every couple of months.  I'm amazed how much gets in there.  My CPU stays cool (under 105F most of the time) and works hard.  Good point.

(If you own the computer, you're more likely to take good care of it.)


Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

As of yet SolidWorks 2005 has not crashed SP01.1.

At work im using:
AMD Sempron 2200+ (1.56gh)
640 ram DDR400
Vidio is nVidia Quadro FX 500.

At home im using:
AMD 64 3400+ (2.2gh)
512 ram DDR400
Vidio is nVidia Gforce fx5500 (not the best to use)

Talking about keeping things clean and cool.
I use a gamers case MID tower with case fans, one on the side two in the back and one on the bottom. The case has good venting in the front and also has a good sized vent grid on the top. The powersupply has 2 ball bearing fans in it. After I clean the inside of the case before I put the cover back on I start up the computer and make sure that ALL THE FANS WORK. I have had case fans and video card fans quit working and not even know it.

Another thing to lookout for is how the ribben cables and power cables for the hard drives and cd rom are routed. If not done neatly this can lead to interupted air flow and this will couse heat build up.

This is just my $0.025 worth.


Roger

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

My 2 cents: On the average I crash SW 2005  s.p. 0.1 about 4 to 6 times a day. Similarly in the past on SW 2004 and 2003. Working on local drive. Sometime I crash when SAVING the file !!!

MS-DOS did not crash that often when saving a file !!!

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Not many crashes here.  Been using SW since 97, and most issues were video drivers for me.  I always speced out decent machines, and stayed away from certain setups.  Windows NT, 2000, XP Pro...liked 2000 the best, but XP is real close.  And seconds to the modeling practice, patience is a virtue, and planning out your model helps.

John

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Clicking ahead is a problem for me as well.  When you know what you want to do next it can be hard to have patience to wait for the program to catch up.  I've just learned to save, and save often.  The biggest problem may just be the platform SolidWorks is running on.  I REALLY wish SolidWorks would create a version for the Unix/Mac platform.  I've read about some rumblings of this, or at least of a movement being started to force this issue, but I'm afraid it's not going to happen any time soon.

Mark

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Scott,

The post was a cut and paste from the SW 2005 Rx program. In layman's terms the card is a 3D labs Wildcat II 5000 32MB card.

Yes, there are stability issues with SW. IMHO, computer users have put up too long with these issues in general. I understand the complexity of the code and hardware. But we have to get our jobs done and meet deadlines, not re-boot or redo lost work.

SW has improved a lot with stability and is getting better. If it wasn't for the bugs (some which I have submitted) I would be 110% satisified with SW. I don't need new whiz bang features. I need stable tools to get my job done.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

You specified theses Drivers 05.05.06.15 when SW recommends 05.05.05.16. Also the card is only a 32MB card...? I wouldn't use a card like that anymore. SW05 is so much more demanding that a 32MB video RAM isn't enough. Look into a new video card. I think that would help you out. Ask your VAR if they have one you can test drive, then see if that helps your stability.

Also try those drivers to see if that helps, but a new card would be the better choice.


This is my personal opinion

If SW was having serious Stability issues, I think I would be hearing more of it, like I did with SW03 and some of 04. But SW05 is way more stable IMO and with the addition of new features is a plus. Everyone always complains about "I need is stablity and that's all". SW does work on that, but we as the users are what drives the new enhancements, not SW. How can you blame SW for not working on stabilty because they add new features and tools? It's us the users that asked for the new tools, but we also asked for Stability and they have provided that for us too. They also provide the proper drivers for all users to know what works and what doesn't. Those that don't use what SW recommends, shouldn't Complain.

I could go on but I will stop there for now.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

www.3dvisiontech.com
www.scottjbaugh.com
FAQ731-376
FAQ559-716 - SW Fora Users

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Scott thank you for "stopping there".

Yes, SW 2005 is better than previous release with it comes to stability. We don't call our VAR every time SW crashes. We don't want to bother the poor boys too much.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

PS.

We were a few versions behind on the video drivers when we upgraded. We couldn't get the older version SW approved from the OE. We had to skip ahead. to the next version. When we did, the specific problem on this computer was solved.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I would suggest getting a second hand me down computer for all SolidWorks users. Hook up the 2nd computer to the internet, e-mail, word and etc. Then keep your SolidWorks computer clean.

Bradley

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

...having ACAD on my hard-drive with SolidWorks would make me crash anytime.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

For me, Solidworks 2005 0.1 crashes minimum 2-3 times per day regardless of:

a. How fast I'm working.
b. How big/complex the part/assembly is I'm working on.
c. How many other apps are open at the same time.

I've tried several video cards and drivers, done clean installs, keep my temp clean and I just don't believe ANYONE who tells me that theirs doesn't go down if they are doing real work with it. This is bug-ridden software that is rushed to market EVERY time, with lame attempts to patch it afterwards. I would be happy with basic functionality, but they don't even give you the option of turning off all the unneeded "FEATURES" in the software.

Greed will eventually ruin this once-AWESOME piece of software.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

  I'll echo the reg/software settings and their impact on system stability.

Our new Dell workstations are running WinXP Pro SP2 with 2005, Office 2003, MS VISIO, MS Project, Adobe Acrobat, and Symantec AV in additional to the company bussiness modules, all are fully updated and were installed correctly. (not as simple as many seen to think !!!)

Since last October, only our newest, most inexperienced SW user out of 6 people who use it daily, has had a single, lone crash.

Kinda DOES make one wonder..



Remember...
       "If you don't use your head,
                       your going to have to use your feet."

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I've been testing SW05 sp1.1 and DWGeditor for a week now.  I'm running W2k sp4, dual 1.7ghz Xeons, 1gb memory, nVidia Quadro2 Pro 64mb.

I have to rewrite my registry files each time I switch between SW03 sp3.1 (production) and SW05 sp1.1 (testing).  I've opened and worked on assemblies with 982 parts (all prismatic), multiple configs, E-size drawings with 4 sheets, same work flow I've been doing for a long time.

Zero crashes to date.

About the only trouble I have is with a 42" long, double start, .50" pitch ballscrew.  When I rebuild this, I take a walk for coffee.  I'm sure if I had a better graphics card (128mb or 256mb) this would go away.

I read all these instability issues that other people have, things I never encounter, and I really start to question if my workflow is so different than everyone elses, or is it something else?

I had a friend complaining that he wasted money on PhotoShop CS because it wasn't doing what he needed (he was a PaintShop Pro guy).  I sat down with him one weekend and pointed a few things out for him, had him change his workflow.  Now I can't stop him praising CS.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Amazing, simply amazing.  I guess it is more complicated than it seems.  Most crashes that are not hardware related are related to one of the following things:

User input - Clicking away like a madman does not speed up the process of design and causes crashes.  The software is compiling an amazing amount of data everytime you rebuild and to not give it the few seconds it takes is greed.

Configurations - Configs are nice, but I have noticed it is more common to crash a file with 360 configs and hundreds of dimensions and mates in the design table.

Sloppy Directory Structure - Files scattered all about the servers, some on multiple servers or drives cause a headache, mostly when you do the routine save and all files are updated.  It is important to have a clean directory structure.

Temp Files - empty the darn things, get rid of them.  After every crash (as I said earlier a coworker of mine crashes several times a day) I make the guys run a search for the ~ and $ files on the server and delete them before opening the files again, this brings back the stability.

Add-ins - The more that are running the more likely your CPU will become your POOP?

These are basic computer tasks related to any intense software applications, I used to run gear analysis software and have problems when I didn't follow the basic rules.  Solidworks is intense software the amount of calculations that are happening each time you click are enormous but it seems that many people have no problems at all, so how could it be the software.  Try and do the same work you do now in Acad.  The other option is to spend more money on software and more money on hardware for a better option, I bet the boss and IT guys would jump right on board for that.


RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Scott, MM, Cor, aam & others are correct.
To use SolidWorks daily, all day, and still have several crashes a day ... those users are not following the advice of the users mentioned very well. Follow the top users advice in this forum exactly, you will not have those crashes.
I use SW everyday, almost every add-on, for approx 9 hrs/day. I do have crashes, but are mostly due to legacy dwgs. All new stuff I create I never have crashes. The more I follow the users advice mentioned above, the less problems & crashes I have.
If you still have a lot of crashes after their advice, then it is a non-SolidWorks issue. There are other forums for those issues. Just my .02.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP0.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Bravo, well said Ctopher.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

As a user of SolidWorks since 1996 the most common cause of crashing is getting too many mouse clicks ahead of what you are doing. Some years ago, we were using the first Dec Alpha running Windows NT in Washington State, on a large assembly. The system would crash if a certain group of key strokes were made too fast. After some testing, this crash, would happen in Excel and Word also. These key strokes, are not normally used in other programs so it would not show up. We documented the steps and sent them to SolidWorks, only to find out it was a Windows DLL file conflict. It took several month for a patch to become available.
As to machine type, it seems Athlon based systems are less stable running the same files.
The more older files in an assembly or drawing the less stability. The more configurations of parts, and, or assemblies in a large assembly, the less stability.

It does seem 2005 runs slower than 2004.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I have reduced my crashes to once a day when I am working on a large assembly.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

Alexsasdad, I would be very interested in seeing what you
 have done to increase the stability.

 I would like to apply some of your ideas to our SolidWorks
 setup.

 I have suggested what I have learned in this Forum.  I'm
 always looking at ways to help the Designers and myself to
 do our job better.

  

Regards,

Ralph Wright, C.E.T.

RE: Survey: How often does Solidworks crash on you?

I believe SBaugh, MadMango, aamoroso, Theophilus, and others have excellent suggestions for fixes. Funny how the post isn't read thru, only the last few entries, seems to me. I'm done here.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP1.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site

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