Suddenly Slow Mates

[diamondcat]

I am working on the following system:
Dell Workstation PWS530
Intel Xeon CPU 1.7 GHz
2G Ram
NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro
37G Hard Drive/30G Free

I have been using SWX for a while and never had a speed issue. A couple of times I complained a bit about being slightly slow but that was on a 53Mg assembly file.
Yesterday I noticed it got real slow.
I am working on a 9Mg assembly file that I have worked on previously with absolutely no speed issues. The file has no errors, everything is mated properly and all of the attached parts are in the same directory as the assy.
The rotate and zoom are real quick and the file opens in a decent amount of time, but when I do any type of mating it takes forever.
I have tried:
1) All the tricks about suppressing parts, large assy mode etc. and that didn't work.
2) I have closed SWX and restarted the system
3) I have disk cleaned my computer of all temporary files
4) I went to defrag and it said it wasn't necessary.
5) I closed everything else, including Virus protection.

I have tons of space on my hard drive so that's not an issue. I created all the parts from scratch on this system in the same version.
When I noticed it got slow I had recently done the following things:

1) Copied a 1G *.pst file onto my system. I have since deleted this file and deleted it from the recycle bin.
2) Downloaded the SWX SP4.0 patch. I only recently installed it today.

I am on a network.

Any thoughts?
Any other system info I can give that might give a better clue?

I have a bunch of other Dells just like this one so my next step is going to be load SWX on one of those. Then I can try bringing up this file to see if it is the computer or not. I just didn't want to spend the time if it is something I did.

I would appreciate any help that is offered.
Thanks,
Lori

 

[MadMango]

I would first try to uninstall SP4.0, going back to your old SP. Then look at your performance again with this assy. If you see an improvement, then you'll have to submit an enhancement request to SW about how SP4.0 is behaving with your large assy. "The attempt and not the deed confounds us."

 

[pakamy]

diamoncat,

I've been experienced same problem like you before. What I suspected is a Network Problem. Ussually there's a "traffic jam" in network during the working hours. Due to the differences and variety networks, these problems can often be difficult to diagnose.

Try to seperate all component files from the network by save them into your PC.( Plug out your network cable to prevent it search the files trough network automatically )After finish your job then reload them into the network.

This will prevent the random crashes happen too.

Hope it helps you!

 

[diamondcat]

Thanks for the responses.

I don't think the problem can be the SP4.0 because it was installed about 24 hours after I started having speed problems. Unless there is something in the download process that may have done something??

The network may be a possiblility but I think it would have more to do with something being wrong with the network rather than a traffic issue. The problem started after everyone else had gone home. Plus, there used to be 15 people working on this network, now there are only three because of lay-offs. I am the only SWX user so the others may not notice anythings wrong?? I will try the idea about copying my files to my local drive then disconnecting and unplugging from the network and see if it is any faster.
If that doesn't work I will try the other computers and see if it is a computer problem. Although I don't notice any other speed changes with the system.

Thanks again,
Lori

 

[dogarila]

Check also this thread559-25622 for some possible causes.

Andrew

 

[SBaugh]

Does the Assembly have a complicated parts in it...like Helixes, in-contexted relationship, (intense) DT's, Surfaces. etc...

All these things will cause a slow down in assemblies.

Regards, Scott Baugh, CSWP
credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com

http://www.3dmca.com

http://home.insightbb.com/~scott.baugh/

*When in doubt always check the help*

 

[diamondcat]

Everything is basically plates, shafts, nuts & bolts, the only thing I have that is remotely complicated are two springs. and they were in there before it got slow anyway.

The 50+Mg files I was bringing up before were tons more complicated. Those had smart sub-assemblies of automotive parts that had been brought over from IDEAS with all of the history trees intact.

Thanks for the help though,
Lori

 

[SBaugh]

If you recently upgraded to SP4 and this all started, then I would go back to SP3. Otherwise try watching your Task manager and see if it gives any tale, tale signs of whats happening.

What OS are you running? With your set up I would guess Win XP, 2000, or NT. Are you running any virus protection? If so, did you have it running when you upgraded or install Software (SW)? You should always turn virus protection off when installing SW. Some folks have had trouble installing with it running.

I'm willing to bet its something in the network but maybe not. Hopefully someone will find your answer soon!

, Scott Baugh, CSWP
credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com

http://www.3dmca.com

http://home.insightbb.com/~scott.baugh/

*When in doubt always check the help*

 

[diamondcat]

It started acting slow before I installed the SP4.

My Virus protection has always been running and it is up to date. I have tried turning it off, restarting the computer, then opening the assy again but it is the same speed.
It didn't have any errors or seem to have any problems when I installed SP4.0 with the Virus Protection running.

I ran a program on my system called Metascream to see if maybe the system is running slow or something.
At first it was just a basic test with nothing running, then I had it open when I was working in SWX and when I would do anything in SWX the slide bar that shows 'Current CPU Usage' would go to 100%. Is it supposed to do this?

These are the results I got from the basic test:
(I am not familiar with most of this info other than the basic CPU info, are there any clues to slowness of speed?)

[ CPU Information ]
CPU Name (Vendor): Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 1.70GHz
CPU Speed (MHz): 1694 MHz
CPU Type: Standart OEM

[ CPU Detailed Information ]
CPU Family: 15
CPU Model: 1
CPU Stepping: 2

CPU Instructions Cache (KB): 12 KB
CPU Data Cache (KB): 8 KB
CPU Level 2 Cache (KB): 256 KB

[ PC Memory Information ]
PC Total Physical RAM (MB): 2047 MB
PC Aviable Physicla RAM (MB): 1785 MB
PC Physical RAM Used: 12 %

[ Final Results ]
153.1736 - seconds.
7658 - frames.


Lori

 

[SBaugh]

At first it was just a basic test with nothing running, then I had it open when I was working in SWX and when I would do anything in SWX the slide bar that shows 'Current CPU Usage' would go to 100%. Is it supposed to do this?

Yes.

you need to get the benchmark for SW. You can get it from

http://www.solidmag.com/

you send in a request and they reply back to you with a username and pass, then you can dl it. Try getting the benchmark and running it, then post your results here. That will help us deterimine what the cause could be.

It tests CPU, Graphics Card, I/O, and Complete system. You also enter in computer info. its pretty slick. Try that then let us know.

Which by the way all the models will or should be local. You could try and setting it up over the network and see if it acts like it has been lately. Also place one on your HD and see if its any better.

Best Regards, Scott Baugh, CSWP
credence69@REMOVEhotmail.com

http://www.3dmca.com

http://home.insightbb.com/~scott.baugh/

*When in doubt always check the help*

 

[BBJT]

Did you add anything to the assembly prior to when you noticed the slow down. Anything? We have seen certain assemblies here that were acting just fine and all of a sudden they come to a snail speed just from mating another piece of hardware. It almost seems that it hits a certain amount of mates and the starts to crawl. You might want to try and suppress all the mates, just for testing purposes, and see if that speeds up the assembly. Also incontext features and parts will slow an assembly down considerably also. If you have any try and suppress them to test the speed. BBJT CSWP

 

[diamondcat]

I will have to give that a try.
Right now I am real busy working in some little files (autocad) so I will try that once I am done.

Thanks alot,
Lori

 

[SoledWorker]

Solidworks has acknowledged a problem with "SmartMates" in 2003. The symptom is very slow mating. You may have better luck using "normal" mating, though this is supposedly just a 2003 sp0 issue.