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ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

(OP)
I'm getting tired of seeing this message:

"Solidworks cannot startup because the system desktop application resources have been exceeded."

... which is presented in a standard Windows dialog box, apparently by the Solidworks launcher, which then declines to actually launch Solidworks, and closes itself when you press 'OK', the only choice of responses presented.

I'm guessing that "system desktop application resources" refers to _something_ that SW requests from Windows... but I'm not sure what that something is, because I don't have a translator between "Solidworks programmer mumbo-jumbo" and "Windows programmer mumbo-jumbo".  Google didn't help.

Care to guess what I can do to provide more "system desktop application resources"?

Thanks

Mike
SW 2008SP3/WinXP
 

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

I used to get that on one of my old systems.  Didn't seem to be of any consequence.

 

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

It sounds like your system just doesn't have the resources (RAM, VM, ???) available.

What are your system specs?

Is your RAM still good?

What else do you have running?

cheers

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

(OP)
Dell Precision PWS690, 2 Xeons @ 2GHz, 3Gb ram, 1xDell 2007FP, 1xDell 2007WFP, Nvidia Quadro FX4500. (one widescreen monitor, one 4:3)

And _lots_ of other stuff running, usually including Outlook, MSIE with at least 10 tabs open, Excel with at least 4 files open, coupla text files, and often AutoCAD 2008.  

But no ACAD today; just the 'other stuff' had apparently consumed too much of whatever the hell there's not enough of for SW to start.

I asked for a second computer just to run the 'other stuff', and got shot down by IT.  You know how that goes.

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

MSIE is a hog, a bigger hog with 10 tabs open.  You don't happen to have Desktop Search enabled do you?  Keep your Task Manager open and you'll see whats drawing the most resources.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

Oops.  I misread that.  Mine was of no consequence because after dismissing the error message SW opened just fine.  Yours isn't opening.

How is your RAM split?  Some types really need you to have equal-size/type sticks of RAM.

Also, IE can be a big memory loss, depending on what's running.  Ever try Firefox (might not be much better)?

 

Jeff Mowry
www.industrialdesignhaus.com
A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

Do you have an x64 OS?

If yes, throw some more RAM in there. I believe the max for a 690 is 32GB which should keep you going for a while. lol

cheers

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

(OP)
OS is XP Pro.  No x64 mentioned.

Maybe I'll try Opera; I like that better than FF anyway.

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

Actually I should have said;

If it's a x32 system, activate the /3GB switch (it's free and takes less than a minute), and if that helps, then max out the RAM.

Also, do you have any add-ins selected in SW?

Do you have a problem running SW when nothing else is running?

cheers

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

(OP)
My IT guy says it's really got 4Mb and the /3G switch has been set, but XP sometimes doesn't report it correctly.

Uh, "add-ins"?  As in, what?  We have 'toolboxes' for standard parts and such.

No problems to report running SW alone.  AND, today, with Acad also open, half a dozen files open in both, dozens of tabs in MSIE, half a dozen files open in Excel, and assorted other crap going on (two rows on the taskbar, both full) ... SW ran all day with no problems of any kind.  Perhaps it fears retribution..

The SW guy emailed to ask what version and SP number; 2008, SP3.1 I think.  He might call tomorrow.

I hope he can suggest something more palatable than an update.  That wastes at least a day, to get everyone updated, and to run the magical update wizard on our collection of SW files, which is rapidly approaching 36,000.

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

Was the /3GB switch set before you started this thread?

Go to Tools > Add-ins to see which (if any) are active. Only activate the ones ones you need for the current SW session, and de-activate them at the end of the session.

Sounds like you need a multi-CPU/core, x64 system with oodles of RAM ... or you could just close down a few programs. wink

cheers

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

(OP)
My IT guy was mistaken.  The /3GB switch was _not_ set.  Fixed that this morning.  So far no call from the SW guy, and SW is working okay.. or as well as it ever does.



 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

I thought the /3GB switch could only be activate in the following OS's.

Windows 2000 Advanced Server

Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition

Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition

Per Microsoft
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124810.aspx
 

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

(OP)
It works in XP Pro, too.  At least, XP accepts the command without complaint, and setting or not setting the switch changes the system's behavior, so it's not being ignored.

...

Some time after all that, the company installed a resident program (for synchronizing Outlook with some CRM webapp) that is really a pig about resources and cycles and such.  That caused so many SW crashes that I was able to make a business case for getting a second computer just for Outlook and all the other administrivia.  

So now the CAD computer runs _only_ (well, mostly) CAD.  

It runs >>>much<<< better that way.

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

The /3GB switch works fine in XP, but some systems may also need the /USERVA switch to fine tune the system allocation.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328269
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

Quote:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINNT="????" /3GB

Note: "????" in the previous example can be the programmatic name of any of the following operating system versions:

Windows XP Professional
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
Windows 2000 Advanced Server
Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
Windows NT Server 4.0, Enterprise Edition

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

I reduced my virtual paging allocated size to see if that would solve the issue, because I am experiencing the same problem as you were having. I have pushed the system with applications that I would typically not open while sw was running. Currently i have not experienced any issues. Hopefully that solves my problem.

I am running win xp pro on a Precision workstation 670.
3.6 GHz processor
3 GB Ram
32 bit OS.

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

(OP)
Yeah, I forgot to mention that I also have the /USERVA= switch set to ... something ... an odd number that my VAR suggested.  I have no idea what it means.

I've also changed video drivers several times, including:
- one that came on the machine
- one suggested by and provided by SW
- one suggested by and provided by nVidia

They _all_ misbehaved similarly, expressing one or both of two behaviors:
- Feature area in the drawing editor updated with only new information, shown over an outdated image of some other operation.
- Feature tree area in the model editor updated with new information over the old information, or over an image of the Windows desktop, without the remainder of the feature tree being shown.
- Graphics area showing the Windows desktop instead of the SW graphics.

It all clearly had to do with SW writing to some page/pane/buffer, and the nVidia driver reading from a different page/pane/buffer, or merging stuff from the wrong pair of pages/panes/buffers as the system ran low on ... something.

It's probably a single line of errant code, somewhere in a huge pile of source, that works perfectly on a maxed-out system running only trivial test problems... and it's clearly in a part of the code that nVidia thinks is tried and true and keeps re-using.

I'm sure it's still there, but the bug doesn't bite so often with all the junk running somewhere else.

Business case:
- Count the number of SW crashes and restarts per week.
- Measure the typical recovery time.
- Multiply by your hourly rate.
- How many extra computers would that buy in a week?
My boss had the IT guys working on it in two days.
( Okay, I have a great boss. )

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: ôsystem desktop application resourcesö?

ditching Autocad may make you and your computer happier. (heh heh)

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