Eng-Tips is the largest engineering community on the Internet

Intelligent Work Forums for Engineering Professionals

Register Log in

SpaceNavigator crashes? 3

Status
Not open for further replies.
Theophilus

Theophilus

Mechanical
Dec 4, 2002
3,407
0
0
US
I finally caved and purchased one of these 3D space widgets. Nice. Except for the two system crashes in as many hours of use (total crash with no warning, Windows restarted). Not cool, and not worth using at all if this continues without a fix. I'm quite quick and competent with keyboard navigation, so this won't work at all--besides, it cannot possibly pay for lost time at this rate.

So--after doing a quick search, I've not seen anyone else post about this specifically. So I'm wondering if I found something unusual. The Windows error page relates to a device driver:
Go figure--I think that would be the only new device driver on the system--which was the downloaded update version for the SpaceNavigator.

Although tech support at 3DConnexion is supposedly open until "8:00 PM", that doesn't appear to be AZ time.

Any ideas, or is it time to chuck this thing in the pool? (Or back to Amazon?)



Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.
 
Replies continue below

Recommended for you

Sort by date Sort by votes
Thanks for the quick reply. I've got the latest (couple days old) driver, since the installation manager checked during install (something like 57MB--I'd be lost at dial-up speeds). Maybe I can install it again and see what happens.

I've got so much USB crap now, that I'm using the cool USB ports on my monitor to run this thing. I have no idea whether that's a bad idea, but maybe so. Seems to function great with the exception of the crashing trash.



Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You may have to uninstall the software & driver to get the new driver to work correctly.

I've run quite a few peripherals thru the monitor ports (albeit temporarily) with no problems. Hope u have the same luck...

Regards,

H. Kurt Betton
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Speaking of USB ports. I've had issues with my thumb drive before. The solution was to climb on my desk & plug the drive into the USB ports on the back of my CPU... not the front. It turns out (I'm sure I read this somewhere) that the front USB's are some sort of USB extension & not 100% as "good" as the "real" ones in back.

So did you try using a "real" USB port?

Windows XP / Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000
SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 / SpaceBall 5000
Lava Lamp
"Right-click... It's friggin' magic!" ... Jack L. Tate

FAQ376
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
... but this is probably just some bad karma from all your past "3d space widget" comments. Maybe it'll wear off soon.

Windows XP / Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000
SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 / SpaceBall 5000
Lava Lamp
"Right-click... It's friggin' magic!" ... Jack L. Tate

FAQ376
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
HA! Yeah, could be Jack.

Today's test will be to test from a different USB port--but all the ones in the back are plugged with other stuff. So I will need to experiment with this (Windows will actually lose some devices if you switch their ports--I LOVE Windows--it's so smart).

I downloaded the driver again Friday afternoon and tinkered with the 3D space widget for a while with no crashes--so maybe it will work fine today.



Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The only other advise I have... probably the single most important pearl of wisdom... write this down...

Make good use of the SETS CENTER POINT function... should be button one of the 3D CONTROL toolbar... unless the NAVIGATOR interface is different than my obsolete SpaceBall. Without that feature... you will hate your new 3d widget. Map that feature to your widget... even if it only has one programmable button... use it for the center point feature. Yes... it's that important.

Windows XP / Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000
SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 / SpaceBall 5000
Lava Lamp
"Right-click... It's friggin' magic!" ... Jack L. Tate

FAQ376
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sounds like you guys need a powered USB hub. I have one (4 sockets) plugged into one of the rear USB sockets, with the hub sitting on the desk top. No more moving furniture just to plug in another device. Need extra sockets? ... just piggy-back another hub.

[cheers]
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Thanks! Yeah, I have an assembly whose origin isn't where most of the rotation takes place and saw that little setting. I like the idea about using one of my two buttons to map that function (didn't know I could map that particularly)--nice.

Also may get a powered USB hub. I bought one once, but it would intermittently shut off everything plugged into the port--so maybe I should purchase a functioning one this time.



Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Another "thing" to experiment with... before you get a habit established is the ORIENTATION.
It's on the 3DCONEXION CONTROL PANEL
START -> PROGRAMS -> 3DCONNEXION -> 3DXWARE -> SHOW 3DXWARE CONTROL PANEL
Click to expand...
...then...
MOTION SETTINGS -> ADVANCED -> ORIENTATION -> ZOOM ORIENTATION
Click to expand...
Try it both ways... just until you figure out which you prefer. The default "out of the box" setting just didn't "feel" right to me. It really shortened my acclimation curve after switching that one.

Windows XP / Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000
SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 / SpaceBall 5000
Lava Lamp
"Right-click... It's friggin' magic!" ... Jack L. Tate

FAQ376
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I second the usage of the set center point. I have that mapped to one of my two buttons, and zoom fit mapped to the other. It took a while to get used to the device, but I've become firmly attached to it. Not so firmly that I wouldn't mind an upgrade to a SpacePilot or SpaceExplorer, though.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Jeff,
I've been using my SpacePilot for well over a year and get lost when I don't have it. Your problem has got to be with your machine. I tested both the SpaceNavigator and SpaceExplorer a few months ago with no problem. Which version navigator (SE vs. PE...i think) did you get?

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
CAD Administrator
SW '07 SP2.0, Dell M90, Intel 2 Duo Core, 2GB RAM, nVidia 2500M
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I got the SE (standard, pro, whatever) edition, since I fully intend to earn money while using this thing. In fact, one of the weired things in the original installation was a pop-up that told me I could upgrade to the SE version for only $40. I called tech support and began whining about that, and they said that, yes, this is confusing to lots of people. (Confusing? Yeah, I guess telling me I don't own what I bought can be a bit confusing. ..)

So I re-downloaded the SE stuff, performed a "repair", and haven't had any trouble since then. But I've not yet used the Navigator much since then either (a little Google Earth over the weekend, a little in eDrawings, and a little today in SolidWorks--no crashes).



Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
It's under 3D CONTROL on the BUTTON MAPPING menu.
Don't look for it as a SolidWorks command.

Windows XP / Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 5000
SolidWorks 2007 SP2.2 / SpaceBall 5000
Lava Lamp
"Right-click... It's friggin' magic!" ... Jack L. Tate

FAQ376
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Yeah--I've got lots of options there, but nothing that says anything about setting center point. Also, my zoom options keep changing to the default, which is driving me nuts. ARGH! Am I missing something? I've checked the listed options for button setting several times now and I don't see what I need there.



Jeff Mowry
Reason trumps all. And awe transcends reason.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

peternoon
  • Locked
  • Question
Solidworks crashes when trying to modify part
Replies
7
Views
8
SBaugh
SBaugh
swforge1
  • Locked
  • Question
SWx 2013 crashes using sheetmetal tools
Replies
0
Views
1
swforge1
swforge1
RathodAsit
  • Locked
  • Question
Solidworks Virtual Memory Low and its Crashes
Replies
1
Views
2
CorBlimeyLimey
CorBlimeyLimey
rustynissan
  • Locked
  • Question
swp macro crashes SolidWorks 1
Replies
1
Views
2
tgrimley
tgrimley
TateJ
  • Locked
  • Question
SolidWorks 2014, 3dconnexion, Wireless SpaceNavigator, Zoom in/out Preference
Replies
5
Views
6
TateJ
TateJ
Back
Top