SPR's and Work Arounds What a JOKE!!!! 1

[Rocko]

I am finding that SW policy on bugs stinks. They tell you even if a command doesnt work right but the results is partially there live with it, because there is a work around. Or what is better you have to do 20 steps to get the software to do something versus a functions 2 steps if it worked right, but that is okay for you Mr. User because you can still do it. They do not care if it slows you down or the results are confusing or not exactly as they should be. Case in point I found a bug on outputting drawings in dxf mode with hatching, it would cause a unhandled error. The fix they told me is to save as a ACAD R13 version not a newer version. Hello maybe my client doesnt accept R13 versions. Oh and since it will work with R13 it is not that important.

 

[SBaugh]

Does anyone still get that annoying "solidworks has terminated unexpectedly due to an unhandled error" message that happens every now and again or some days three times a day.

Try checking out "trouble shooting acrash prone system" at either SW KBA or

http://www.frontiernet.net/~mlombard/

under rules of thumb.

Unhandled errors could be hardware but they could be software. Just calling your VAR and asking him why isn't going to be good enough because Unhandled are very random. Just like the error message says "Unexpectdly". There are things to check out and that article is the first step to trying to find the reason or reasons.

SOMETIMES IT SAVES A BACK UP OF 2 HRS WORK SOMETIMES IT DOESNT.

The reason it does save sometimes and not others is not because of the time you have put in but the amount of rebuilds you have made. The option in your tools\OPtions says "Save suto recovery info every XX changes." A Change is you clicking the rebuild button. If you have it set to 10 then you have to click your rebuild light 10 times before it will make a auto backup. I don't use auto backup unless I have to. I use Crtl-S all the time. Because you never know when it will crash due to an unhandled error. So your better off saving more often.

oh its a hardware problem ?
say the VAR s even though its the same equipment they and we both use and have the same problems.

I'm not defending your VAR in any way! I just wonder how close the machines are but yet how different they are being used and software being installed.

If you use the exact same hardware make sure they are running the exact drivers as you are. Are you working over a network vs. your VAR? Do you install lots of software off the web? You might need to refresh your registry. If that's the case look at my faq559-507.

Even though you maybe using the exact same hardware doesn't mean that it still couldn't be your hardware. You might have a fault board or memory chip that is causing errors.

THEY KNOW THE PROBLEMS THEY KNOW THE TRUTH

If they told us what the real problems would we be happier or would we all migrate from solidworks

I don't have many problems running SW, so i don't feel that there are alot of problems like you seem to think there are. Some people will agree with me and some won't, but I think your problem with crashing is in the system either hardware or software. Since I don't have any information there is no way to tell you the problem. Check out that article above and see if any of the information helps, but read all of it.

Scoobystu

I am still getting the unhandled error message with SW2003 and it is very annoying. It used to be if I opened a random part done with SW2001 (that I had previosuly been able to open with SW2003) it would hang, then crash giving the error. After that the part would never open again and I would have to do it again from scratch (fine for small parts, not for big parts). Lately though it has started doing it with newer models done with SW2003. I have reinstalled it several times but can't seem to shake it off.

You should also check out the article I asked G1DESIGN to check out. If you go through all of that and still are crashing then you need to check out these faq559-507, faq559-488. If you still have problems call your VAR explain what you did and see what they say then.

Best Regards,


Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[BBJT]

Then through drivers into the mix. Oh yeah, what about all the programs like Outlook, AutoCAD, Weather Bug, network software, anti-virus....running in the background. With all the different hardware configs, driver versions, software versions, and applications running on a computer, I think it is amazing that they function as well as they do.

One thing everyone may want to take a look at is the temp directory found under C:\Documents and Settings, Your Login, Local Settings, Temp. Clean it out, if not every day then every other day. By clean it out I mean wipe everything out but the SWxauto folder. The SWxauto folder is where your autosave is stored. 2003 does not seem to do good house keeping in this temp area. I have our users create a shortcut on their desktop.

Hope this helps someone.


BBJT CSWP

 

[SBaugh]

Shortcut good idea!! I didn't think about having my users make a shortcut to the Local settings folder. I will now though thanks that helped me. Only if they have admin rights though.

Cleaning out the Temp folder is in that article I mentioned above along with numerous other things to look at and try.

,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help

 

[BBJT]

Speaking of rights if anyone goes to their hardrive and can not find C:\Documents and Settings, Your Login, Local Settings, Temp, you can go under the Tools, Folder Options, then click on the veiw tab and select Show Hidden files and Folders.

BBJT CSWP

 

[Cheeseburger]

OK … I may be (age) dating myself but what the heck. I keep hearing the software doesn’t do this, or the software doesn’t do that, or the software isn’t fast enough, or it takes to long for me to create that … C’mon gang … it beats pushing a pencil !!!

I can remember way back when, when it would take me several weeks to draw some of the design’s & assemblies that now only takes me hours or at worst case a couple of days. And that’s not including FEMA, Tolerance Studies, etc.

Software glitches are inherent with any computer program, so we’ll just have to grin and bear with it. After all we’re only human and human’s make mistakes. Now repeat after me the prayer to the all powerful Software God’s …

O’ Great & Powerful Software God’s ….
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
The courage to change the things I can;
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Have a nice Day ...

 

[BBJT]

Cheeseburger,

How many post are you going to copy this into? So what if people vent every once in a while. I have in the past and most likely will in the future. If you read the whole post you will see a lot of good suggestions that came from the original vent.

"Have a nice Day... "

BBJT CSWP

 

[Cheeseburger]

BBJT ...

Relax Dude ... don't get yourself all worked up over nothing. Christ ... it's only a web-board, what do you care how many times I post something ??? How many times are you gonna post to this message ???

 

[TheTick]

Seems like the whole point of this thread was to get excessively worked up over a minor problem. I prefer to save such anxiety for real problems.

I may make you feel, but I can't make you think.

 

[BBJT]

I get paid to solve problems. I solve a lot of problems visting these help groups and try and return the favor.

I consider myself fairly relaxed with a great life and a great job. Actually your last post helped remind of that and I thank you for that.





BBJT CSWP

 

[Rocko]

I have found all comments entertaining and helpfull. I have used in my lifetime 8 cad packages so i know all about the problems inherit with them. My reason for the posting was to see if others felt as i did that the software companies should make sure that the features work like they are suppose to. It is too bad that SW could not give you feedback on your SPR as to how many other people have reported the issue and where it ranks on their to do list. Then as users we could see the progress they are making trying to fix our issue. Well since i started the thread i would like to pronounce it dead.

 

[JNR]

Listen to TheTick and several other posts. It is mathematically impossible to test (ANY) software code this complex (and hardware combinations anyone?) and catch every possible bug. In fact all the CAD companies do an amazing job when you really look at the shear size of the task. They are (all) doing their best. Maybe not ideal for any individual user, but.... In software this complex, with so many possible interactions, it is not as simple as you might expect to just "fix one bug without breaking something else". Just to give you a sanity check, back in the (good/bad?) old days of products like Computervision CADDS 3 (top of the line!), the entire multi user system ran on a 300 MB disk. That's OS, Application software, user temp space and data storage, etc. They had what? over 300 programmers back in Bedford (that's about one man-year of Software every day!). There were way more bugs and crashes, etc. And it was all proprietary hardware under their control!! Also you were looking at $250k to $1M per installation - $1,500 just for the proprietary workstation furniture... One set of workstation hardware alone cost 20 to 50 times what your entire PC and software cost today. Then the capabilities were a mere fraction of what today's CAD systems can do. I don't think we all appreciate quite how well off we are today.

Again, there are bugs, I don't like it, but I am realistic in my expectations. That doesn't mean I don't complain sometimes - I just try to keep it to realistic proportions.

Here's an example. There is one very basic bug that I have complained about often since SW2000 at least and has never to my knowledge been fixed. It has been verified by both the VAR and SW. Try making a sketch line equal to another in a sketch on a plane at an angle to it or an edge at an angle. The length will not be equal, but the projected lenght (L cos a). Now THAT's a fundamental BUG ladies and gentlemen (and in my humble opinion, unforgiveable not to fix it). Anyone from SW paying attention?



3/4 of all the Spam produced goes to Hawaii - shame that's not true of SPAM also.......

 

[G1DESIGN]

I agree with the tick maybe there should be a little corner of eng tips where you can just go and whinge and whine about anything and just stick to the topics in the solidworks section (i am a hipocrite yes)

 

[SBaugh]

If that's the case you and anyone that wants to join you, can pay Eng-tips so much a month and start a new SW Complain group. You can find the link above in the border in the top "NEW Eng-Tips Groups"

http://www.eng-tips.com/groups.cfm

But I think if anyone wants to complain they are in the right NG.

Just my .02 worth...no harm intended in this post just a suggestion.

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376
When in doubt, always check the help