AutoCAD LT 2014 Flickering Issue

[NejmarkACAD]

My office recently received the update from 2013LT to 2014 LT, and after installing them, I'm noticing an issue that I don't understand.

If you go to the link below, you'll see a video of the problem.  Basically, when more than one drawing is open, as the user pans around or zooms in and out, the application status bar starts to go nuts, with the word "unrecognized" popping in and out, as well as a small symbol to its left.  Also, while all of this is happening, the colour in the layers bar at the top of the drawing flickers somewhat randomly.  So far, 5 of the 11 copies have had this issue, and 3 of those licenses haven't been used yet.

I'm experiencing this on multiple machines, across multiple platforms.  This includes Core I7's with 8 Gigs of DDR3 RAM and Radeon 6450's running windows 7, all the way to Core 2 Duo's running 64 bit XP with 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM.  

Please see video below:

http://youtu.be/NbaYawDl9Xo

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[ontwerpvis]

I just bought a new system, advised by a autocad reseller (HP Z420 with a Quadro K2000 954MHz,64GB/s 10GB mem)  and have the same flickering issue. Do I understand that the Video card might be the problem?

[kral]

You can solve the problem by .. http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-LT-General/AutoCAD-LT-2014-Flickering-Issue/m-p/4301820#M11445...

[will]

I have not had similar results.  Specifically, when I double click the *.txt file, there are no windows prompts to follow- it merely opens the *.txt file in notepad.  What am I missing?

[yooperjeff]

you have to change the file extension.  The file name has to end with.reg

not .txt

If you cannot see the .txt extension, you will need to do the following:

1. Start Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer). You can do this by opening up any folder (like My Documents, for example).
2. In Windows Vista/XP, press the ALT key
3. Tools > Options
4. View Tab
5. Uncheck the "Hide extensions for known file types" box
6. Click OK

The text file you created should display a .txt suffix (extension).  

Rename the file to have .reg at the end, instead of .txt.

Run the *.reg file by double-clicking it and follow the prompts as directed previously.

Good Luck.

[gccdesign]

All this is a good example of why the correct solution to this well known and serious problem should be included in a service pack or package by Autodesk.

It really surprises me that it still hasn't been.

People who use Autocad are not necessarily experts on how to modify the registry. They likely mostly want to get to work drafting with a program that works and is properly supported.

Different field of expertise.

GChapp

[technoidatx]

The regedit fix was provided by development. It is our responsibility to be able to follow a set of instructions. In this case it was merely cntrl+C cntrl+v into notpad renaming a file extension and running the regedit. This was an easy fix. Come to the forums read up chances are there is a fix. 

[NejmarkACAD]

I can't disagree with this more.

I'm a customer. Until Autodesk decides to start paying me to troubleshoot their product, I have ZERO responsibility to follow a set of instructions. Autodesk shouldn't be asking me to modify my registry, nor the registries of others in my office. The registry isn't something to be played around with, and accidental deletions or modifications in someone's registry can mean days of lost work, or at worst, months or years of lost data.

When something goes wrong on one of the projects I'm running, I don't get to hand my client a hammer and tell him to deal with it himself.

I shouldn't have to haunt the forums to have the software I paid a lot of money for work properly. If something is wrong with the software, the developer should fix it, not me.

[gccdesign]

It was nice that Autodesk provided the regedit fix as a (sort of) immediate solution. It took awhile for this fix to appear.

But what happened to SP-1? Why wasn't it addressed there?

Or as a patch that would install itself? I've seen this with other software.

If so, then a user of the software could install SP-1, or if it doesn't apply to every one, then it could be a separate patch for those that need it.

Who wants to read through 9 pages of posts to figure out which fix is the right one to use so that you can start drafting?

Just as an indicator of the grief this has caused, look at the number of posts under this topic, and notice that month after month it keeps popping up as new posts keep getting added. Posts by new users trying to handle the problem (instead of happily drafting away).

Try to find another topic with this many posts that keeps getting brought forward.

And these are not posts like, "how do I use layers?" or something. It has to do with the proper functioning of the software.

And . . . if you browse the forum a bit, you will find still more users trying to handle this problem, but describing it in other ways, so it's under a different topic. This one issue has a very large number of posts of people being hampered in their productivity.

GChapp

[yooperjeff]

I'm just guessing, but from what I've heard about this problem is that it's hit-or-miss as far as who it affects.  In my own office, before the fix was found, I had a hard time getting any flickering to occur on 3 other user's PC's while opening the same files.  These other PC's are 99.9% identical to mine.

I agree that the fix should have been included in SP1, but when a problem like this is such a crap-shoot, I imagine it is extrememly difficult to pin down what the actual problem is, let alone what else a fix may ultimately affect, there by pissing off more users.  In my opinion it is better to release a manual fix in attempt to calm the fears and tempers of only those who are experiencing the problem.

Keep in mind that the QC / Programmers / Beta Testers etc most likely never saw this issue.  There is no way to duplicate the exact software/hardware specifications of each and every AutoCAD user - that is unless they wanted to get into the hardware game like Apple and completely control everything.  Thank goodness we aren't stuck in that reality - we'd probably still have to use digitizers!

If you really are a novice user of Windows, you could probably call/email tech support like I did early into this problem.  I'm sure they would be able to walk you through double clicking on a downloaded file.  The guy I was speaking with was very helpful in helping to document the situation even though he didn't have an answer right away.  

That said, I posted the clarified instruction sthat people are linking to.  It shows you how to create your own *.reg file to help alleviate suspicion and maybe help someone learn something at the same time.  (In this case) Don't be afraid of breaking your (company's) computer.  By using the *.reg file, you are only modifying the registry in the specific location you are requesting it to make modifications.  The file is NOT going to affect anything else unless you tell it to.  Worst case scenario you might need to uninstall/reinstall AutoCAD.

Good Luck

[Charles_Shade]

I have to agree with yooperjeff concerning the issue. This is not a widespread problem and may only affect a certain setup. I do not nor have I had this issue with AutoCAD LT 14 on Win 7 Ultimate.

What is my setup compared to yours? What is my video card? How much RAM? What about the other programs on my system?

Autodesk may very well have researched and concluded that this issue would cause more problems to other users to make a SP change that would affect all users. Unless a Desker chimes in and says so we will never know.

Autodesk did not offer this solution but rather a user here posted the slution. Autodesk did acknowledge that the fix proffered here does work but is not a solution that Autodesk will recommend - precisely for the reasons mentioned above - They have not tested or proved the utility of the fx and will not assume responsibility for it.

[yooperjeff]

I guess I'm starting to being held up as a little bit of a hero...

Sorry - I didn't mean to imply that I just came up with this fix... it was posted here first:

http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-LT-General/AutoCAD-LT-2014/m-p/3947130/highlight/true#M114269

It's an AutoDesk provided alteration to the software.  I just rewrote the post so that it was a little easier to understand for typical (maybe a little geeky/techy) Windows users like myself.

[xihaw.kong]

i been one of the upgrader for LT 2014 since it released and this problem keep bug me until now (been google about it but no results) and i have to use 2013 version and skip upgrading for all the pc (>10) because of this...

SP1 did not solve this problem... maybe other PCs i need to wait for version 2015... (it's really annoying)

AutoCAD full version no such issue, but more than half of the license are LT

i applied the FixLT.reg... lets see whether it fix the problem...

[tcamp123]

I had this very same problem in my office and no one could find a solution. However, after doing some research I managed to come up with a solution to this annoying problem and the funny part it is a very simple fix.

Simply open any drawing and note this only needs to be done once. At the command prompt type the following below:

CACHEMAXFILES set then value to 1024

CACHEMAXTOTALSIZE set the value to 2048

Now your flicking problem will be gone. However, there is one down side to this fix. If you have 8GB RAM or less your AutoCAD will now drag a bit. But you can fix it if you increase your RAM to 16GB or higher. Remember the more RAM you have the less work your hard drive and CPU have to do. Here is a good rule of thumb to follow when purchasing a new system, always max out your RAM to as much as you can afford. More is always better.

Sorry for the long winded part.

[Charles_Shade]

That is an interesting read in the Help System: Commands for Graphics System

Hopefully we will hear from others that have this issue and will see that it helps across the board.

Oh; and, Welcome to the Autodesk Forums tcamp123!

[hwuidong]

Go to the link below and download new 'AecCore.crx.' and then replace your exiting one in C drive witih new one.

Then it will remove that pain.

http://www.adris.co.uk/blog/entry/autocad-lt-2014-becomes-unstable-fix

[tcamp123]

It should be noted the aeccore.crx fix it only for certain version of AutoCAD(s) and may not work in all. Please take note to that before posting a fix for those running AutoCAD 2014 and AutoCAD LT 2014.

[Charles_Shade]

Though it is buried in this long string of posts I'm pretty sure that those posting and Autodesk have all said that this is not a blessed fix but rather a patch that may work in some cases.

Which is why I do not believe there is or is going to be a fix. Unless the Cache size suggested above is the answer to those who see this problem then the CRX file that is suggested may be what some need to correct to issue.

As I've stated here and I am sure the vast majority of users experience: AutoCAD LT 2014 runs fire without this issue.

[pendean]

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=22742730&linkID=9240817

[neilknowles6510]

Well that seems to work ! Hurrah !

Neil Knowles
Elektra Lighting Design

www.elektralighting.co.uk

[longleyje]

yooperjeff - Thanks for your post Have just installed 2014 LT under Vista (compatibility mode) and on a a Win 7 mach (Subscription) - both with the flickering problem. Have used the AecCore you supplied with success on the Vista laptop
Awesome, Thanks again