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SW08 Strange graphics and crashing problems 2

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lumenharold

Mechanical
Sep 6, 2006
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I have been having problems with assembly files that open fine sometimes and other times open in a low resolution or cause SW to crash. None of the problems are consistant from file to file nor do they always appear in the same files. I can open an assembly that looks low rez and then open a sub-assembly and it will look great. I tried to set the resolution for "all parts" with the assembly in the tools settings and my OpenGL check box is now checked and grayed out.

I have a Dell 690 with a Quadro FX 4600. The SW site lists the approved driver for the Dell as ...9777 but for the same card under nVidia as ...9778. I have 9777 installed as a suggestion from my VAR.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. The crashing and slow rotation speed with the SpacePilot is a drag. Thanks.

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
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Yes. That corrects the grayed out box problem temporarily but the crash upon opening and the glitchy graphics issues still come back. I have the nVidia settings at "SolidWorks" and everything was working as it should with SW07.

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
Ok. If you're having the problems when 'OpenGL' is active, then it's not a graphics issue. Are you, by chance, working across a network? What are your operating and system specs?
Have you tried disabling your SpacePilot driver? You may be having a driver conflict issue.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Certified DriveWorks AE
Dell M90, Core2 Duo
4GB RAM
Nvidia 3500M
 
I really appreaciate your support. My PC is a stand alone as far as SW is concerned. We have a small workgroup hub of four PC's for sharing doc's but only one SW workstation.

My PC: Dell Precision PWS690
Xeon CPU 5160 @3.00GHz
2.99GHz, 3.25 GB of RAM
Win XP Pro 2002 SP2
nVidia Quadro FX4600
SW is 2008 SP1.1 32 bit
OW is 32 bit for 32 bit, SP0.1
SpacePilot
MS "Natural" 6000 Mouse

To what extent do I need to disable the Pilot to test your theory? Shutdown the PC and unplug or a complete uninstall?

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
I think if you disable the SpacePilot driver first, it would be a good start. I seem to recall a thread somewhere regarding some driver conflicts with certain mice (mouses?) as well. I don't remember if the thread was here or on another forum though...it sucks getting old.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Certified DriveWorks AE
Dell M90, Core2 Duo
4GB RAM
Nvidia 3500M
 
Old is a state of mind. That's what those young smart .... wait a second I need to yell at a kid for walking on my lawn. Anyway, I used to design with a pencil and straight edge.

I disabled the driver. The graphics in the main assembly were lousy so I opened the tools/options etc and changed the setting to apply to all parts (again even though I had checked it before) and the OpenGL grayed out. Enabled the driver w/o restarting and SW crashed when I tried to re-open the assembly after deselecting OpenGL. Did a quick search at 3D Connections and Google for driver conflicts and came up empty unfortunately.

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
Assuming that your problems are new, have you tried rolling back to the last SP when you didn't have the problems? I, generally, won't upgrade my SP unless the "fixes" are something I actually need. Also, I almost never upgrade to *.1 (or *.2, etc) SP's.

Jeff Mirisola, CSWP
Certified DriveWorks AE
Dell M90, Core2 Duo
4GB RAM
Nvidia 3500M
 
It's kind of tough to sort out where all the problems start and stop. I have OptisWorks Optical Design and Lighting Add-ins (a SW Gold Partner) and since installing SW08 SP1.0 and OW SP0.0 I have had a few problems. The main issue being that when I would try to explode an assembly with OW enabled SW would crash. It was very repeatable. OW has been very responsive with a SP and North American Tech Support was great in talking me through some installation issues. No more Optis related issues. The crash was happening from the start, with OW installed or not at SP 1.0. I was hoping SP1.1 would clear it up. It was the problems with OW that had me chasing down every driver update I could think of. I ran the SW Rx for the OW techs and the SW VAR. I was holding out for SP2.0 but the crashes seem to be getting more frequent. Another strange thing and (perhaps a clue?) is that I can open a sub-assembly from a problem assembly tree and it will look and rotate great.

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
When I turn off the Add-in SW still crashes but if I leave the Add-in off when I open a file (and it actually opens) the graphics look correct. I can then enable the Add-in and have the graphics stay in high rez. SW doesn't seem to crash once the files are open, just when opening an existing assembly file.

I wish the crash were more repeatable so that it would be easier to capture. Thanks again for the tips. I'll send my VAR and OW techs appropriate emails about the issues I am seeing.

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
Spoke too soon. Graphics problem is there even when the files are opened with the Add-in turned off. I am aware that the Natural mouse is basically a repackaged intellimouse (I think I have that right) and I've found a few threads on problems with driver compatability with those. Perhaps I'll swap out the mouse and see what happens.

Thought I should update in case anyone else is having problems with Add-ins, etc. Thanks again Jeff.

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
I have uninstalled the IntelliPoint 6.2 software for my mouse. So far so good but it has been only a few hours. SW has crashed once while opening a file with the Add-in enabled but otherwise no crashes or graphics junk. I had read a few posts regarding the drivers and understood that if the drivers were up to date then I would be less likely to have a problem. I'll try working through the next few days with the Add-in on and off to see if they are related. Perhaps there is a repeatable failure to pass along.

Thanks again.

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
Try this 2 minutes test.
Create a block, save and close SolidWorks. Then reopen SolidWorks and open the part1.sldprt.
Do not move the mouse for 2 minutes. Does SolidWorks crash with MS asking to send file?


Bradley
SolidWorks Pro 2008 x64 SP1.1
PDM Works, Dell XPS Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU
3.00 GHz, 5 GB RAM, Virtual memory 12577 MB, nVidia 3400
 
Thanks for the help. I wasn't quite sure what you were looking for when you suggested that I create a block so I sketched a square, made it a "Block" then extruded it to create a block. Either way, the file opens fine. The crash seems to always happen on assembly files (the "Loading" bar hangs on the first blue box and then gone!) so I made an assembly of the block. Still no crash.

There are plenty of times my mouse is stationary and SW doesn't crash. Conference calls, working in the lab, stuff I'm supposed to do.... The only message that comes up is that SW needs to restart. Nothing from MS. Are you thinking it's the IntelliPoint still?

Harold
SW2008 SP1.0 OPW2008 SP0.0
 
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