SW07: Crash on Open/SaveAs Dialog Box

[DKaine]

I have an odd problem. I call it odd because I haven't been able to find any hint of it happening to anyone else... When I am in SolidWorks, and go to "Open" or "Save As" a file (i.e. whenever I have to use the file browsing dialog box), SolidWorks usually crashes. Every once in a while, I will be able to browse, pick, open, save, and do whatever... I haven't been able to determine a pattern as to when this happens though. Has anyone else ever experienced this, or at least heard of a fix for the problem?

 

[SincoTC]

Does it literally crash or just stop responding for a while (30 seconds)?

I'm surprised you couldn't find anything, although searching only the titles doesn't always work well as this link shows:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=232004

If you come back, it may help if you list your system specs and the OS and SW versions

Trevor Clarke. (R & D) Scientific Instruments.Somerset. UK

SW2007x64 SP3.0 Pentium P4 3.6Ghz, 4Gb Ram ATI FireGL V7100 Driver: 8.323.0.0
SW2009x32 SP1.0 Pentium P4 3.6Ghz, 2Gb Ram NVIDIA Quadro FX 500 Driver: 6.14.11.7751

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Have you submitted an Rx of this problem to your VAR?
If not, you should. If you have, what was their response?

Try resetting the registry per faq559-507.
It is an easy quick fix if it works, and is easily reversible if it doesn't.

 

[DKaine]

SincoTC: When the dialog box opens, It freezes for about 3 seconds and then the program terminates. I don't experience any system hang/lag when this happens, it acts the same as if I went into task manager and terminated the program at the process level. It happens with file>open/save/save as, as well as Insert Block, Insert dwg/dxf... anything that opens a file dialog box.

System Specs:
MS Windows XP Pro SP3 V2002
AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 5200+ @ 2.61 GHz
2.0GB Ram
NVidia GeForce 8600GT

 

[DKaine]

CorBlimeyLimey: Unfortunately I'm not in the position to contact our VAR, that's my Boss' job and that's going to be a last resort for him. I tried the registry hack, and we'll see where it goes. It works for now, but in the forum link that SincoTC posted, that method was suggested and worked for a short time, but the problem recurred. So I'll hold off for a few sessions before I declare the problem solved.

Cheers m8

 

[SincoTC]

I'm pretty sure that your GeForce card isn't recommended for SW use and that may be a problem, although some are having succes as this link shows:

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=182039

I'm not sure with that card if you get the option to bypass the card's hardware acceleration, but you could have a look and try checking the "Use Software OpenGL" under "Tools> Options> System Options> Performance"? You must do this BEFORE you open any files or it will probablly be greyed out. If it's stable and doesn't show the problem with this option on, then it's almost certainly a Video Card or driver problem.



Trevor Clarke. (R & D) Scientific Instruments.Somerset. UK

SW2007x64 SP3.0 Pentium P4 3.6Ghz, 4Gb Ram ATI FireGL V7100 Driver: 8.323.0.0
SW2009x32 SP1.0 Pentium P4 3.6Ghz, 2Gb Ram NVIDIA Quadro FX 500 Driver: 6.14.11.7751

 

[DKaine]

I think I've found the problem! I exported my backup (old) Solidworks Registry branch to try and get my old settings back easily (I'm lazy)... I ran across two branches:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SolidWorks 2007\User Interface\Settings\OpenFileDialog]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\SolidWorks 2007\User Interface\Settings\SaveFileDialog]

These caught my attention. I took my backup tree, edited these branches (including keys) out of the .reg file, and then imported the file back into the registry. All my settings returned and my open/save dialogs seem to work just fine.

SincoTC: Thanks for the tip on the video card, I'll see if I can just weasel a new one out of my boss

Also, as a side note, it was WAY easier to debug this problem once I had my settings in a text based file... Of course if SolidWorks released a Linux version the settings would already come that way... *poke*prod*jab*

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

If resetting the registry works temporarily, then obviously something is corrupting the registry. It could be opening a particular file, or using a sequence of keystrokes, or a system option setting.

Just recently I discovered that disabling the Status Bar (via the View menu) would create a mismatch of the origins when inserting the first part into an assy. My VAR has confirmed the problem and has reported it to SW. It took many hours of changing one setting at a time, and inserting a part into a new assy, until I found the culprit. You may have to do your own round of testing.