I really like SW, but what's with all the crashes?

[acciardi]

I'm running SW2009 SP3 on a Dell 690 with Win64 and 8 Gig of ram. I get crashes 3-4 times per day, and in each case I have to power down the box to get SW to open my assembly again. If I do not power down, SW will just hang there forever trying to reopen the assembly.

In one case, I lost a few hours of work because SW could not re-open the assembly I was working on and I had to recreate it from scratch. (We're not using any kind of PDM system, so there's only one copy in existence, so I've taken to making a backup folder every few hours).

I know that all CAD software crashes from time to time but this seems to be excessive. The hardware, video card and driver are all certified (this was the first thing I checked).

I know there's a later service pack, but our IT department discourages users from making their own updates.

I hope this isn't typical of the robustness of this software. I really like it a lot and have done some fairly amazing things with it after just a few weeks of usage. We only have a small handful of users, so it's not easy to get a good sampling, but in general, the people who are working on the largest assemblies see the most crashes, and they all say it will crash if you try to do things 'too fast', whatever that means.

I know this is a SW forum, and I won't engage in bashing of what I think is a wonderful product, but I can't help but wonder it there is something wrong with my setup to see so many crashes.

Any opinions?

Ed

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Is your "Win64", XP Pro or Vista Business/Ultimate?
Where SW is concerned, Vista x64 is supposedly more stable than XP x64.

There are so many (too many) things which can affect performance and crashes with SW (or any 3D CAD system.

Virtual Memory settings.
Mismatched or bad RAM.
Poor model/assy creation methods. Sometimes circular references or one bad or corrupted feature can crash or lock-up an assy.
Getting too far ahead of SW when clicking the mouse.
Working across a network with poor access.
A bad installation of SW. (Was anti-virus disabled? Was it a clean install or upgrade?)
A piece of hardware or software conflict with SW.
... and many more.

Are there any common parts or sub-assys in the problem assys?

How much memory is being used when the crashes occur?

 

[MikeHalloran]

My SW's stability improved a lot after transferring all of the company- required administrivial software off of the SW computer to a generic POS computer.

Much research has been expended on sharing one problem among all the cores on a given computer. I personally would like to be able to run one of the cores completely separate from the others, e.g. to boot and run a separate OS and all the corporate crapware.


SW2009.4.1
XP Pro
4G ram
models mostly > 1500 parts



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[acciardi]

The OS is XP64, not Vista. This machine was a WinXP32 box with 4 GB, but I couldn't load the assemblies into session (it would take 5-10 minutes to switch to a different model), so the IT guy did a clean install of XP64 and added an additional 4 GB at the same time. There's just Office XP and IE and not much else on this machine.

I'm working with models that were mostly created by another user, who is a very experienced modeler. I randomly checked a few parts and all sketches are 100% constrained, and all components are 100% constrained within their respective assemblies. I did a Pack'n'Go to a newly created network folder where I am deriving a new product from the old one.

The models themselves are fairly simple (solar cell arrays), but they get assembled into many many higer levels until they become a finished panel. We also have many configurations at every level to show ribbon conductors and insulators in the flat and installed states. Also, the beginning, middle and end cells in a string of cells are all wired differently, so there are multiple configurations at every level.

When building the configurations, I was very careful to make sure I have no constraint conflicts for the different configs. I went as fas as to name the constraints to associate them with a configuration, which made them easier to track. I can switch my configurations very quickly and easily. I'm getting most of the problems when I retrieve an assy that was previously filed away with no apparent problems.

I'm using around 3 GB of memory for the SW session, and I have plenty of RAM to avoid paging to disk.

Someone did say that working directly to a network share could be a problem, but the other guys there are doing the same thing.

My IT guy tells me that the Dell 690 is a POS and is not a good choice for any CAD work, but I'm just there for a 3 month contract, and there's no way they're going to get me a new box. Other users are on different Dells.

Maybe I'll try working off my local drive and then moving everything onto the network when I'm finished.

Ed

 

[ctopher]

There has been issues with the 690 in the past. I think it has to do with one of the main boards (processor).

Chris
SolidWorks 09, CATIA V5
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[acciardi]

> There has been issues with the 690 in the past. I think it has to do with one of the main boards (processor).

Crap - well, this is what I'm stuck with. Thanks for the info, I'll start digging into whether there is some kind of driver update or other fix for the Dell chipset.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Working locally should show a definite improvement.

Have you run a "Where used" to ensure the Pack and Go did its job properly, and that no old refs still exist.

The Dell 690 offers a wide range of CPUs. Which is yours using?

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

The following links to a hotfix for a SW/MS Office conflict. Maybe it will help.

https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/25516;jsessionid=19FAF6FE4F98E6345ACC2D904E55059B.node0

 

[acciardi]

I haven't run a 'where used' report. Is there a way to do that without any PDM being used?

I have checked the references when I open my assemblies to see where it is looking, and everything looks up to snuff.

My CPU is a quad-core Xeon, not sure of the clock rate as today is a holiday here. Is there a certain vintage that is to be avoided?

What cracks me up is that I ran the SW 2009 Stimulus Package on my $1000 no-name Core2Duo laptop with ATI X1600 graphics for months and it ran like a champ. Sure, I only did the tutorials and a few small assemblies, but it still makes you scratch your head.

Ed

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

My apologies, I meant "Find References", not "Where Used".

 

[ctopher]

Maybe some help here?

http://www.fixya.com/support/t262865-nvidia_quardo_fx_3500_dell_precision_690

Chris
SolidWorks 09, CATIA V5
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion