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Shell Feature causing system to freeze

13 REPLIES 13
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Message 1 of 14
Pebblebrook
2104 Views, 13 Replies

Shell Feature causing system to freeze

All,

 

Has anyone ever had a problem with a particular file crash/freeze/not respond whenever using the shell feature on Inventor LT 2013?  I am operating with Windows 7.  I have the AutoCAD Inventor LT 2013 Suite.  Just bought the computer two weeks ago and just installed Inventor about two weeks ago also.

 

In any case, it seems the file of this model is corrupted, as I have never had a problem using the Shell feature before this and shelling other objects even while the corrupted part is open works fine.  However, if the "visibilty" of the part in question is checked and i click on the shell button, the program immediately freezes.  I am not sure how to work around this and I really do not want to start the entire part modeling over from scratch.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

 

PB

_______________________________________________________________

Working with... Autodesk: AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2013 | OS: Windows 7 | GC: ATI 6670 | Mem: 8 gigs RAM | Proc: Intel core i5 | Monitor: Acer V213HL
13 REPLIES 13
Message 2 of 14
trumpy81
in reply to: Pebblebrook

Can you give a little more info please. What are the computer specs?

 

Are you able to attach the part file/s here or provide a screenshot or three of the problem.

Regards
Andy M
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2013 Pro SP1.1, Win7 Pro - 64Bit - SP1, Intel i7 960 @ 3.333 GHz
Asus X58 Sabertooth, Corsair 12Gig DDR3, AMD Radeon HD6970, Samsung 830 Series 256G SSD, 2x 3TB Seagate, 2x 2TB Hitachi,
1x 1TB Samsung, 4 x 2TB Seagate in Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, Dual Asus VE278Q Monitors
Message 3 of 14
wobeirne
in reply to: Pebblebrook

Im running professional 2013, and sometimes It'll crash on me when I try to make an edit that corrupts a mesh. Double check the edit to make sure it doesnt cause any conflicts. I know Inventor should tell you if there is a problem, but every now and then it decideds to give me the silent treatment instead. 

Message 4 of 14
Pebblebrook
in reply to: trumpy81

The computer specs?  I'm not at work right now, so don't have all the info regarding the computer, but the computer is a desktop (as opposed to a laptop) that was built specifically to use this software package, to be significantly above the minimum requirements Autodesk suggests, more memory, a faster processor.  In general, the computer is rather fast and brand new.  I do not recal the details, graphics card, etc., but when purchasing it at the store, we pulled up Autodesk's website and I and the salesperson made sure we were well suited to use this program to the fullest.  Do you have a particular computer spec you are curious about?  Processor, ram, etc.?  I can look into it.

 

I cannot attach the part file, as it is company propreitary info unfortunately.  But I can say the part is ultra simple, just a few sketches.  It was only in the works a few hours before the file became corrupted.  One attempt was made to cut a piece of the model off and attempt shelling the newly cut part.  We unchecked the visibility of the first part and then was able to shell the second cut off part just fine.  Then returning to the previous part, by unchecking the visibility of the second then caused it to freeze again when attempting to shell the previous again.  We then tried to backtrack by deleting any components/sketches/edits that were made just prior to the freeze bug, but that didn't help even all the way back to the first sketch of that part. 

 

The screen shot of the message could be made, but the message is the program's simple "Inventor is not responding" dialog box.  Again, this message box comes up the moment the SHELL button is clicked.  I also clicked on several other buttons around it to see if it was a category type of issue, but it does seem to be only related to the Shell feature.

_______________________________________________________________

Working with... Autodesk: AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2013 | OS: Windows 7 | GC: ATI 6670 | Mem: 8 gigs RAM | Proc: Intel core i5 | Monitor: Acer V213HL
Message 5 of 14
Pebblebrook
in reply to: wobeirne

Do you have any idea what caused the mesh to get corrupted?  And how does one check if it is corrupted?  How does one check for errors, as I imagine Inventor LT would work similarly to the professional version.  And what do you do to return to a working/uncorrupted part?  We are going to get a SVR, but don't have it yet.  It seems kind of a big deal to lose an entire part file for a new business using a software package that's not cheap in the least, even the LT version.  I come from a software QA background and this would be considered a show stopper bug, something found only in Beta versions.  If it were something only we saw, then fine, we just begin again.  But you are saying sometimes this happens for you as well?  This is a simple model too, and already corrupt?  But anyway, I know all software contains bugs, and I'm not disappointed with the product...yet.  Just surprised, and trying to find a work around.

_______________________________________________________________

Working with... Autodesk: AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2013 | OS: Windows 7 | GC: ATI 6670 | Mem: 8 gigs RAM | Proc: Intel core i5 | Monitor: Acer V213HL
Message 6 of 14
trumpy81
in reply to: Pebblebrook

As far as computer specs go, sometimes it can all be relevant, but most times not. Graphics cards can be a big part of problems and it seems that the Nvidia cards are related to most of the graphics related problems I've seen on this board over the past couple of months. It appears that Nvidia cards are fantastic for gaming, but seem to forget about everything else.

 

As for the shell command, I have noticed that there is a problem with it. It often takes an inordinate amount of time for it to complete a task. Sometimes, just starting the command can take a long time. I don't recall this being the case in previous versions, but I use the shell command so little, that is hasn't been a problem for me.

 

If you do recieve the 'Program not responding' message in the window titlebar, ignore it, it just means that the program is not communicating with Windows at that point in time, it does NOT necessarily mean that the program has stopped working. All it means is that the program is busy doing it's thing and probably due to poor programming, it's not talking to Windows while it's doing it. In some cases though, it does indicate a problem and it's often difficult to distingish between the two scenarios. Microsoft and Autodesk both need to address the problem.

 

In this case though, with the shell command in 2013, I would wait up to about 10 mins before declaring the program locked up. Longer, if you are working on a larger part or assembly. The wait time can be dependant on your computers hardware, in this case, the speed of the processor and your memory modules has an impact.

Regards
Andy M
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2013 Pro SP1.1, Win7 Pro - 64Bit - SP1, Intel i7 960 @ 3.333 GHz
Asus X58 Sabertooth, Corsair 12Gig DDR3, AMD Radeon HD6970, Samsung 830 Series 256G SSD, 2x 3TB Seagate, 2x 2TB Hitachi,
1x 1TB Samsung, 4 x 2TB Seagate in Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, Dual Asus VE278Q Monitors
Message 7 of 14
Pebblebrook
in reply to: Pebblebrook

Yes, we waited over 10 minutes...eventually the software completely fails. 

 

The user name I use here is for my company and both and my employee who uses the program may respond to it.  I was explained by him that he lost 2 hours of work, waiting and waiting for it to come around.  He tried a number of things to see if he could find a work around, but had to wait a long time each time to make sure it was a complete freeze.  It really is a bug and not due to slow processing speed.

 

Our comp specs...

 

Graphics card: ATI 6670

Memory: 8 gigs ram

Processor: Intel core i5

Operating system: Windows 7

 

 

_______________________________________________________________

Working with... Autodesk: AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2013 | OS: Windows 7 | GC: ATI 6670 | Mem: 8 gigs RAM | Proc: Intel core i5 | Monitor: Acer V213HL
Message 8 of 14
Pebblebrook
in reply to: trumpy81

I like that you have included your computer specs in your signature.  It has inspired me to do the same.  thanks,

_______________________________________________________________

Working with... Autodesk: AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2013 | OS: Windows 7 | GC: ATI 6670 | Mem: 8 gigs RAM | Proc: Intel core i5 | Monitor: Acer V213HL
Message 9 of 14
trumpy81
in reply to: Pebblebrook


@Pebblebrook wrote:

I like that you have included your computer specs in your signature.  It has inspired me to do the same.  thanks,


No problem, it saves time and having to type it out all the time ... lol

 

For the shell problem, lodge an error report with Autodesk. They may need access to your files though, the errant ones at least. But definitely raise the problem with them.

 

Maybe you could try to simulate the problem with non sensitive drawings or such to demonstrate the error.

 

Good Luck and Happy Inventing.

 

 

Regards
Andy M
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2013 Pro SP1.1, Win7 Pro - 64Bit - SP1, Intel i7 960 @ 3.333 GHz
Asus X58 Sabertooth, Corsair 12Gig DDR3, AMD Radeon HD6970, Samsung 830 Series 256G SSD, 2x 3TB Seagate, 2x 2TB Hitachi,
1x 1TB Samsung, 4 x 2TB Seagate in Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, Dual Asus VE278Q Monitors
Message 10 of 14
Pebblebrook
in reply to: trumpy81

Yes, if no one here really has had this occur much, then there probably is no easy fix/patch available, which is what I wanted to look into before I filed this bug with Autodesk.  Yes, I understand that they would probably need to have the file, as if it is corrupted, it may help them.  We have already moved onto a new design, as we found no work around.  But it still is quite similar in design to the prior, so I'd still rather not upload it here publicly.  I will have it sent to them though, 'cause I really hope they are able to fix it, so as to avoid it in the future...already cost a few day's work.

 

Does Autodesk have a customer bug database to send it, or just email it to customer support?

 

Thanks,

 

PB

_______________________________________________________________

Working with... Autodesk: AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2013 | OS: Windows 7 | GC: ATI 6670 | Mem: 8 gigs RAM | Proc: Intel core i5 | Monitor: Acer V213HL
Message 11 of 14
trumpy81
in reply to: Pebblebrook

Email it to customer support. They may direct you elsewhere, but it's a start at least. I thought I had an address for lodging bugs etc... but at the moment I can't find it.

Regards
Andy M
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autodesk Inventor 2013 Pro SP1.1, Win7 Pro - 64Bit - SP1, Intel i7 960 @ 3.333 GHz
Asus X58 Sabertooth, Corsair 12Gig DDR3, AMD Radeon HD6970, Samsung 830 Series 256G SSD, 2x 3TB Seagate, 2x 2TB Hitachi,
1x 1TB Samsung, 4 x 2TB Seagate in Netgear ReadyNAS NV+, Dual Asus VE278Q Monitors
Message 12 of 14
Pebblebrook
in reply to: trumpy81

Interestingly enough, I cannot find even the Customer Support email address from anywhere on their website.  So not sure how to present this issue to them.  Does anyone know the email address?  Thanks.

_______________________________________________________________

Working with... Autodesk: AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2013 | OS: Windows 7 | GC: ATI 6670 | Mem: 8 gigs RAM | Proc: Intel core i5 | Monitor: Acer V213HL
Message 13 of 14
JDMather
in reply to: Pebblebrook


@Pebblebrook wrote:

... the part is ultra simple, just a few sketches. 


Been several days now.

Have you tried recreating this "ultra simple" part from scratch and verified that the behavior persists?


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Message 14 of 14
Pebblebrook
in reply to: JDMather

Yes, this "ultra simple" part was needed to be redrawn the very next day of course.  Anyway, I have not seen the same complete loss of a time on a project from a bug since with any new files, but we have had repeated varied difficulties with the shell feature, where we have had to work around them, assuming them to be design features.  They are different from the original put in this post, so the real issue of this thread now is how for the client to make it known to Autodesk of the exact issues he or she comes across.  I'd be happy to send the corrupted original file to Autodesk for this last issue and would be happy to explain the others on an individual basis if it would be useful.  It's not that I'm suggesting the shell feature for 2013 is "buggy", but it does seem to "have bugs".  Completely normal for a new version of software.  But what is a client to do?

 

In any case, love the software...excellent software.  Just trying to help make it better by providing details of what we have come across, so they can get them fixed before others come across them as well. 

_______________________________________________________________

Working with... Autodesk: AutoCAD Inventor LT Suite 2013 | OS: Windows 7 | GC: ATI 6670 | Mem: 8 gigs RAM | Proc: Intel core i5 | Monitor: Acer V213HL

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