software crashes in ProE, Solidworks 1

[willcambridge]

Hi, I have a question for CAD users - I use ProE daily and am frustrated by its tendency to crash in the middle of a session. This is a hassle because of the time it takes to load the software again, and even more importantly, losing unsaved work. I'm like to know if Solidworks has this tendency as well. I've heard a lot of debating of the two tools (as well as others) but I've rarely heard this point mentioned, which in my mind is one of the most important liabilities of ProE.

I experienced similar issues in ProE 2001 and Wildfire v2.0, which I'm currently using.

My question is specific: does Solidworks (latest rev, or other) have a tendency to crash, or not? Any feedback from folks who've used both is especially appreciated. I only ask about these two packages because I'm not really considering any others as something my company might use.

Thanks,
Will Hafer
Waltham, MA
Mechanical engineer

 

[Heckler]

I will assume that you're using Pro/e on a windows based machine? If you're machine is configured IAW PTC's suggested processor/OS service pack/video card & drivers your machine should very seldomly crash. I've had very few crashes in the last year in both SolidWorks and Pro/e 2001....I've even ran them at the same time along with MasterCAM. In the past I've used Pro/e 2001 on a UNIX based machine and found that to be rock solid. The crashes I've experienced in SolidWorks has usually been when I've got embedded Micro$oft files (word & Excel) and one of those two running outside of SolidWorks. So even though SolidWorks crashed it was most likely a Micro$oft problem.

Best Regards,

Heckler
Sr. Mechanical Engineer
SW2005 SP 4.0 & 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

 

[SBaugh]

Most Crashing that I have seen in SW is due to OE Error or just plain laziness of the user to clean and keep his system clean. Example TEMP files are a prime example of when SW crashes. However this is not a SW issue, this is M$ issue, because M$ does not clean it out the TEMP files and all programs that are opened in Windows puts TEMP files in that location. and M$ does not ever get rid of them. You must manually remove the files in that folder.

In case you are wondering what I'm talking about or where it is located check out this FAQ I made for the SW users.

faq559-884

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[Hora]

Will,

I saw ProE 2001, same datecode running on similar computers but not identical. One was OK the other a lot of problems. What was wrong? For sure, not ProE. There was 2 different OS on the machines. And different video cards.

I suggest you to dowload the latest drivers for your cards and also check the virtual memory.

-Hora

 

[DeSimulacra]

I have used both SW and Pro extensively and both are stable within their limits. I agree that either CAD package is more stable with the right platform. I have run Pro/E on the same system (doing incontext-imported parts ) for 3 years with a crash only ever month or so. However, SW is stable to a much lower limit when you are doing incontext parts or large assemblies. It loses face id's much easier, I reference my experience and the SW forum.