Is SW 09 the most unstable version yet, or is it me?

[smcadman]

First off, 4 computer specs:

Dell Precision 390
Intel Core 2 2.66 Ghz
3.25 GB RAM
Quadro FX 3500
SW certified driver:

http://www.solidworks.com/sw/videocardtesting.html

Windows XP Professional SP 2.0

No antivirus running during install

In the past we waited until at least SP 1.0 before installing, but we jumped the gun and installed 09 SP 0.0 this time. We have had several issues, such as frequent SW crashes (minimum 3x/day), models being opened lightweight automatically, drawings not updating as parts are modified, appearances on models at assembly level not being able to be removed, new Custom Properties tool not working on assemblies, and a few other quirks.

Some of these problems are just visual, such as the appearances problem or the preview on drawing tabs not matching drawing sheets. Other problems are serious such as the lock-ups and crashes.

Anybody else experiencing these problems?

Flores

 

[Theophilus]

We've not jumped from v2007 yet, but our plans were to go to v2009 as soon as it seemed a rational thing to do. Watching threads like these to survey stability, bug issues, etc.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.

 

[ctopher]

It seems that if you want each version to be stable, you need to upgrade your hardware also.
I don't know if I ever will get past 2008.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 3.1
AutoCAD 08
ctopher's home (updated Aug 5, 2008)
ctopher's blog
SolidWorks Legion

 

[Theophilus]

Software initial costs + continual maintenance costs + continual hardware upgrades = expensive.

When SW first came out, I remember the marvel was that there were well-shaded models running on a simple Windows box. Nobody could touch that.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

A people who value security over freedom will soon find they have neither.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

I haven't received SW09 yet so cannot speak from personal experience, but from what I read at the SolidWorks forum, 2009 is one of the better versions so far ... but it's still early days yet.

http://forum.solidworks.com/forum/m...15635&highlight_key=y&keyword1=2009 stability

Check out the "Blog Squad" comments also. In general, they all seem to approve so far.

 

[Eltron]

Just out of curiosity, did you install from the discs or a download? My VAR said that I should get my discs by the middle of this month, but I haven't seen them yet. I'm not exactly champing at the bit, but my system has been way too stable lately, so I thought that I'd try to screw it up...

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Flores,

You state 3.25GB RAM. How is that divided between the RAM slots? Are the slots coloured?

 

[smcadman]

CBL
From what I had read in the forums, this sounded like the most stable release yet, which is why we went ahead and jumped in with both feet on SP0.

Eltron,
We used discs. We actually have 5 seats but 1 of them is for the PDMworks admin and I know his system is not up to specs. These SW forums are usually the first place to go to for help or recommendations with SW problems, but we may have to contact our VAR and use some of that money we pay extra for

CBL again
I right-clicked "My Computer" > properties, and read what was on there. I will have to wait until Monday at work to see how the RAM/slots are split up.

Flores

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

I'm really not sure, but I thought I read somewhere that the RAM sticks should be spread evenly across the slots so that each core had access to equal amounts of RAM, I can't find anything on that though. Maybe it was for multiple CPUs not multi-cores.

 

[AnnaWood]

CBL,

He has 4 gigs of memory on an x32 bit system. It will only show as 3.25 gigs installed under Computer > Properties

Cheers,

Anna Wood
SW2008 SP4.0, Windows Vista SP1
IBM ThinkPad T61p, T7800, FX570M, 4 gigs of RAM

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/solidmuse

http://www.phxswug.com

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Doh ... of course. That makes sense.

 

[EEnd]

The address space for the other 0.75Gb is pobably used for the video card RAM.

Eric

 

[Decca]

I have had some major problems with the software similar to thoes discussed above. I'm still waiting on a resolution of these matters. Many though not all of the issues occur when using Simulation/Cosmo.

I also read the others comments claiming (hoping) that the software is more stable than past releases. Personally I have not found this to be the case.

 

[gwubs]

I've got SW2009 sp 0.0 online install at home, and has not crashed yet. There are bugs - sure, but it is stable. We'll wait for a service pack or two, then decide.

 

[Eltron]

Just curious again, Flores. Did you try out the beta version first? Wondering if the same problems were there as well.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[macduff]

All,
Make sure folks are testing PDM Enterprise and Workgroup....! This might pose another set of problems if folks are not testing this side of the software, especially Workgroup. SW mention nothing about Workgroup in SW2009.

I asked/mention this in my thread marked:
thread559-228734

See ya,

Colin Fitzpatrick (aka Macduff)
Mechanical Designer
Solidworks 2008 SP 4.0
Dell 490 XP Pro SP 2
Xeon CPU 3.00 GHz 3.00 GB of RAM
nVida Quadro FX 3450 512 MB
3D Connexion-SpaceExplorer

 

[smcadman]

Eltron, no we did not try out the SW 09 Beta. We were using SW08 SP4.0 and IT/IS uninstalled it and installed SW09 SP 0.0.

Thanks for mentioning that though because me and a cellmate noticed that our macro toolbar still had our custom macros on it. Our SW templates are not kept in the SW install location. The are kept separately so they will not be deleted in case SW has to be uninstalled and reinstalled.

Maybe they uninstalled SW but didn't clean the registry because if they cleaned the registry the macros and file locations wouldn't have been kept.

I will uninstall it and use Scott's "clean uninstall and reinstall" tip:

http://www.scottjbaugh.com/Tips_Tricks/Reinstall_Tip.htm

Flores