Why won't my computer run Solidworks?? 1

[kcourtema]

I'm hoping that someone here can help. I have a customer that wants me to do a project in Solidworks 2003. I have installed it but I'm having an issue where once I render anything and try to dynamically rotate it, the entire system freezes. I can't even use ctrl-alt-del to get out of it. It usually only takes 10-15 seconds of continual rotation to cause this to happen. I have tried several part files as well as assy files with no difference.

I actually had 2004 installed several months ago and had the exact same problem. My hardware is more than up to the task: Athlon 64 939pin +3200 on an Abit AV8 with 1/2 gig of ram and an ATI Fire GL T2-128 video card. I have been current with all drivers and I have tried the ATI certified drivers as well as the most curren ones.

Has anyone else had this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Arlin]

Try setting the "Use Software OpenGL" option (Note: you must have all files closed in order to set this option).

Now try running SWX, if it works fine, the issue is somewhere with the video card (drivers, or even faulty card).

If this works, you can continue to run SWX this way, but graphics performance will suffer.

 

[ctopher]

SolidWorks site does not go back to 2003 to show supported graphics cards. I don't know if your card was supported for 2003. You may also want to upgrade your RAM to 1 or 2GB.

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 05 SP3.1 / PDMWorks 05
ctopher's home site (updated 06-21-05)

FAQ559-1100
FAQ559-716

 

[MadMango]

When you say "render", are you talking about PhotoWorks, or do you simple a simple shaded part/assembly?

What OS are you using?


[green]"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."[/green]
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[kcourtema]

Arlin, thanks I'll give this a shot. I don't know why I didn't think of this.

Chris, true about 2003 support for my card but I had the exact same issue in SW 2004 which is supported. I have also run MDT6.0 and Wildfire 1.0 without any similar issues. Also, I agree that upgrading the ram would be a good thing, but I would be surprised if this was the culprit. It happens with even very simple single body part files with no other windows open in the background.

MadMango, I'm running on XP SP2 and the rendering I speak of is just the simple shaded rendering, not photo real.

Thanks for the replies and please let me know if you have any other ideas.

 

[Theophilus]

Sounds like a graphics card problem to me as well. Can you borrow another just to check it out? I ran an Oxygen card on my old Win 2000 system and it worked just fine. Even then, I needed more RAM than you've got.

If you're running XP Pro, you'll use almost 512 MB of RAM just keeping the system going with background applications like anti-virus. I'm running low with 1 GB of RAM and will need to add some on my current machine.

Try Arlin's suggestion and swap with another card if available if that doesn't help. I've had cards go bad before (often because the on-board fan stopped and let the card heat up).


Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Your video card is the obvious choice for being the culprit, but what other processes/programs do you have running?
Are you sure you are spyware/virus/malware free?
Can you swap out the video card (and/or RAM) from a known good machine?


Making the best use of this Forum. faq559-716
How to get answers to your SW questions. faq559-1091
Helpful SW websites every user should be aware of. faq559-520

 

[Theophilus]

Good point. How much RAM are you consuming at the time this problem occurs? Several things may be contributing at once.


Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

Reality is no respecter of good intentions.

 

[Heckler]

I would check your video card, like Jeff said they can malfunction on applications that are video instensive but work fine using Explorer or MS products. I was doing some contracting work using the companies computer. When I loaded a large assembly using Pro/e 2001 and tried to rotate it get really choppy. Well I opened the case only to see a few years of dust bunnies inside....so the video card was caked with dust and overheated when taxed. We installed a new card and problem solved.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 3.1 & Pro/E 2001
Dell Precision 370
P4 3.6 GHz, 1GB RAM
XP Pro SP2.0
NIVIDA Quadro FX 1400
o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea" Bernard-Paul Heroux

 

[kcourtema]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I ended up getting rid of the Fire GL T2-128 and replacing it with an Nvidia Quadro 4 900XGL - problem solved. I don't think that the ATI card itself was faulty. The fact that I never had a problem with this ATI card on a 100+ part assembly in MDT6 but I could lock up SW2003 and 2004 instantaneously on a single simple part file leads me to believe that it is more of a driver issue or hardware incompatibility. I have always used Nvidia cards prior to buying this ATI card and have never had any significant issues. Against my better judgement, I decided to try the T2-128 because it offered better performance than Nvidia's entry level Quadro FX500. Had I known that the 900XGL was the same cost, I would have gone with it from the start.