AutoCAD '00 File Size Limitations?

[RivieraCadMan]

Ok Ladies and Gents I have a man under me that uses AutoCAD 2000i on a Win2000 machine with a 1GHZ Pentium CPU, 512MB of RAM, and 32MB Viper770 Video. He usually handles service and other small drawings that take up a lot of my time, but do not deal with operations other then the archives. Recently I wanted to show him how to work on my GIS datasets, but when we opened a drawing above 50MB on his machine AutoCAD says that there is not enough memory to open this file. (I cut down one of the sets to 48MB and got it to work.) Ignoring the box only gets you a locked machine after you close the file. Is there any private patches for this or is this problem with the standard version of AutoCAD that I was unaware of? (I always work Map and have never had a problem) We have installed all of Autodesks patches, but have not been able to correct the problem. I work with 7 datassets and all of them are well over 50MB, some are 100 to 150MB and I need this problem resolved before we can more him into my department full time. Thanks

 

[Striker]

My first guess would be not enough memory. Autodesk recommends 64 megs for A2k when you read the system requirements, BUT.....
When confronted with the file size issue, Autodesk has said that "you should have a minimum of 10 times the file size of free ram memory". This would mean that a system running Win2000 and A2k with a few other standard background housekeeping programs such as virus scan and task scheduler, not to mention IE or other windows you may have open, would effectively use around 160Megs of ram plus or minus a few megs. On a system with 512 megs, this would mean that you could effectively open a file that is around 45 megs, larger than that and you risk a system crash. So... According to their own suggestions, to open that 150 meg file, you would need a whopping 1.5 gigs of free ram. This is of course is not unheard of in todays computer systems. I can remember a few years ago that if you had 64 megs you really had a LOT of memory..haha

 

[RivieraCadMan]

I still have a 386 with 2MB of RAM and AutoCAD r3 on 5 1/4" floppies ...
I just can't understand why release 14 and 2002 can both open the files with 512MB, but his lean 2000i machine can't. I tried diving into configuration files, but have not been able to find anything of use. My plates full at the moment so I'll have to put it off. I wish my machines had 1.5GB of memory sometimes, but I had to pull strings to get 512MB just a few months ago. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Striker]

Geez.... get with the program man..... r3 on a 386?

Well, look at the free hard drive space. Windows will page out unneeded data to the swap file if it needs more memory, but if the HD is nearly full then the OS won't be able to page it out, and therefore cause a crash, OR ....
You could have a defective ram chip. I have seen an increase recently of defective chips sometimes the system can't access the memory right or Windows doesn't report the error, and the system just locks up.

 

[RivieraCadMan]

It's worth a look, Thanks.

 

[MOTMAN]

I thought that it really only required 10 times the available swap space on the hard drive if you did not have the RAM. I have been working with 15 to 20 MB files with only 128MB RAM for my laptop and while its been slow writing the paging file I have had no problem.

Check the virtual memory settings on your PC, if you are runing some version of NT (NT 4, 2000, XP), and bump up the memory settings to like a gig or a gig and a half. Also check on your hard drive to ensure that it has enough space.

 

[RivieraCadMan]

This is going to sound like an extremely dumb question, but where are the memory settings on Win 2000. Neither my cheif tech or I know where the settings are, and can't seem to find any documentation on them. I gave up a short time ago and figured that MS hide them so that no one could manipulate them like in 9* and ME. I use AutoCAD Map 2002, but I have always prefered Win 98 for stability.

 

[diamondjim]

Try Clicking on Start
then Programs
then Accessories
the System Information

 

[diamondjim]

Try Clicking on Start
then Programs
then Accessories
then System Information

 

[RivieraCadMan]

Thanks, but I found them located in the advanced tab of the system properties dialog. I must have looked over them the first time I went there. I'll keep you posted if it works.

 

[RivieraCadMan]

Nope, still won't except files over 50MB. I can't figure out if it has anything to do with Windows or AutoCAD. I would bet it windows though.