SW crashing with large assy's 2

[PDMAdmin]

Our entire user base is experiencing a problem that only seems to be getting worse as our project progresses. The larger our assemblies become, the more often SolidWorks crashes when we try to do basic things, like save the assembly files and check them into the vault. We have been unable to check the top-level assembly file into the vault for several weeks because SW consistently crashes.

Here is what we have done so far to try and prevent the crashes:

Local Settings / Temp directory is emptied out each day through a logon script.

I have tried a Repair as well as an uninstall/reinstall on both SW and PDMW. Neither of these actions improved the situation.

Both hard drives on my machine have been defrag'ed within the last week.

RAM, processor speed and hard drive space are not the issue. I have 2 GB RAM (plus a 4095 MB swapfile -- the max allowed under Win2k), a 2.80 GHz Pentium 4 and plenty of free space on the hard drive.

Have I missed something in attempting to pinpoint the cause of these crashes? Any advice/suggestions are always appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[SBaugh]

What video card and what driver is being used on the machines.

What version of SW?

If your running XP, what SP?

Since you did mention Win2000 - What SP is that on?

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[PDMAdmin]

Nvidia Quadro FX 1000 video card with driver 6.14.10.5303

SW2004 SP04.2

Win2k SP4

Thanks!

 

[engAlright]

Were your files create in Solidworks 2004? We have had issues with files that go back 1 or 2 versions that include crashing on saving and document corruption - our hardware is similar to yours.

For crashing on saving, minimizing the amount of data that needs to be saved (suppressing all components before save) and turning large assembly mode OFF before saving (???) seems to help.

Are you choosing to resolve all parts on check-in? This can cause problems, even though it's "recommended"...

Also - make sure your assemblies and parts are free of rebuild errors and circular references and lock all external references, only unlocking as you need them.

 

[PDMAdmin]

Some were created in SW2003, but we have had other large assemblies that were created in SW2004 cause crashes as well.

The crashes do seem to occur more often when I try to resolve all components, but how can I choose not to resolve all parts on check-in? According to the PDMWorks help, all components in an assembly must be resolved before you can check-in the assembly.

 

[SBaugh]

When you do a Clean uninstall & reinstall there are more areas in the Registry that has SW in them. Maybe if you went deeper into the registry and removed not only SW but also PDMworks, maybe that would get it.

What version is your PDMworks and what SP? I would hope that your PDMworks vault and client are the exact same SP and that the SP of SW is the same as the vault? I talked to SW about this just last week, and their recommendation for best performance is that the SP of SW is the same for the vault and the client as well.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[PDMAdmin]

I have tried removing all registry entries for a complete uninstall, including PDMWorks, but that did not help.

We are running PDMWorks 2004 SP3.0, which does not match the SP for SolidWorks 2004 SP4.2. However, we have been able to reproduce the crash in SW2004 and SW2005 with PDMWorks turned off, simply by trying to save the assembly to disk.

 

[swhitey]

I had the same problems with my large assemblies. Solidworks crashed often or took over an hour to open them. I also was using SW2004 SP4.2. When I used my machine at home though one evening I noticed the problems were not there. At home I was using SP3.0. I have visited my VAR with my data who confirms the problem with any service pack after 3.0. My VAR has now handed the problem over to Solidworks Corporation who are still currently investigating the problem

 

[ctopher]

(plus a 4095 MB swapfile -- the max allowed under Win2k)

Have you tried making this number a little smaller? For some reason it has helped me little.

 

[PDMAdmin]

I tried downgrading to SW2004 SP3.0 and reducing the size of my swapfile slightly. SW seems to be a little more stable under those conditions, but not enough to prevent crashes. I have noticed that SW consistently triggers its memory error once I reach about 1.6 GB of memory usage (I have 2 GB of RAM). The swapfile size and location doesn't appear to make any difference.

 

[Arlin]

"I have noticed that SW consistently triggers its memory error once I reach about 1.6 GB of memory usage."

Yep, that is about the real world limit of the 32-bit windows operating system. ANY 32-bit OS can only manage a maximum of 4GB of memory. In the case of Windows, it reserves half of all available memory for itslef, leaving 2GB maximum for any single application (theoretically, in practice 1.6-1.7 GB is more realistic, as you have noticed).

If you do some searching here and at comp.cad.solidworks, you will find some info on enabling the 3GB switch. This will allow SWX to access up to 3GB (theoretically) while reserving 1GB for the OS. Users have had mixed results with this setting and it can be quite dangerous if implemented improperly.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

For some details on the 3GB setup check

http://www.panoramafactory.com/discus/messages/17/313.html?1057432320

 

[PDMAdmin]

Thanks, guys. I'll give that a try and report the results here.

 

[PDMAdmin]

Well, after doing the 3GB update on XP, the first few checkin and save attempts have been completely successful. Here's another helpful link for things to watch out for:

http://www.d-digest.com/ssa/v3i1/model_tips_review.html

Thanks for the help!

 

[davidinindy]

So, has anyone had any bad things happen after doing this switch? I'm thinking about doing it, but am hesitant. I do not want to mess anything up!

 

[davidinindy]

I can't even find the boot.ini file on my computer!

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

It is in the C:\ directory, but if you can't find it it may be hidden. If you have access go to the Windows Tools > Folder Options > View & select Show hidden files & folders

DO NOT use the 3GB settting on XP SP1 ... your system could freeze if you do ... apparently a hotfix from Microsoft is needed to allow the 3GB switch to be used.

Also note that this is not supported by Microsoft.

 

[davidinindy]

CorBlimey... Did that... Ended up finding it buried deep under: control panel, system, performance, startup and recovery, settings, and edit startup options. Whew...
Added "/3GB" after the last line, rebooted, and system is running, but not sure if I notice an increase in performance yet. What should my min. and max. page files be set to for optimum performance?
I also took tech supports advice and turned on "geometry pattern" on my linear patterns where possible.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

For VM settings check

http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php

 

[PDMAdmin]

I found out something else today. While SW 2004 requires all components to be resolved prior to a PDMW check-in, SW 2005 does not. You can keep components lightweight if you choose, even for a PDMW check-in. However, you will probably want to make sure SW always resolves out-of-date lightweight components (or at least prompts you). I checked a very large assembly into a PDMW 2005 test vault without exceeding 1 GB of memory; trying the same thing in SW 2004 used 1.8 GB, resulting in a crash. Perhaps another good reason to upgrade...?