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XREF manager, new drawing dialogues extremely slow

9 REPLIES 9
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Message 1 of 10
TF-JHLE
927 Views, 9 Replies

XREF manager, new drawing dialogues extremely slow

Hello,

Our company recently switched our server to a new file path and we have had to update the xref paths for all our external references.  While doing this, we noticed that the xref manager is extremely slow to add or edit the path for a reference.  For example, if I click on an existing xref and click on the ... next to "Found at" the program will sit for at least two to three minutes before opening the window to browse to the file.  If I try to click on any part of autoCAD during that time I get a "AutoCAD is not responding" message.  If I wait for CAD to respond, the browse window will eventually come up. 

 

This same response time happens when I chose new or open dwg from the main AutoCAD file menu.

 

I am wondering if there is some default in CAD that is still trying to reference the old server location or if there is a setting that I need to update to have this open faster.  We did not have this problem until we switched to the new server location.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

9 REPLIES 9
Message 2 of 10
doni49
in reply to: TF-JHLE

Is the change the same in all cases?  For example, they were p:\project\20140125\dwg\*.dwg and now they're p:\20140125\dwg\*.dwg

 

If so, you could make a lisp routine that changes them all for you.  It should go much quicker and if you need to do this in a bunch of files, that could be automated.



Don Ireland
Engineering Design Technician




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Message 3 of 10
doni49
in reply to: TF-JHLE

P.S. as the reply was posting, I noticed this was your first post.

 

So Welcome to the forum!



Don Ireland
Engineering Design Technician




If a reply solves your issue, please remember to click on "Accept as Solution". This will help other users looking to solve a similar issue. Thank you.


Please do not send a PM asking for assistance. That's what the forums are for. This allows everyone to benefit from the question asked and the answers given.

Message 4 of 10
Alfred.NESWADBA
in reply to: TF-JHLE

Hi,

 

>> Our company recently switched our server to a new file path

Any was it really necessary to change the drive-letters too? The path to the server can change daily without any (negative) effect if the drive-letters stay constant.

So if your previous working directory was Z:\Projects and your current connection to the new server is provided by Z:\Projects too then you'll never have a problem. Before now going through thousands of drawings I would have asked the admins for such an option (and also a question why they have not asked before they changed).

 

The problem with timeouts after server-path changes are:

a) when you try to select a different path AutoCAD tries to activate the current path set for the XRef and is searching, searching, retry searching before it gives up

b) some paths in your AutoCAD options points to directories or files that don't exist any more, also time consuming. Therefor check all your paths in the options.

 

- alfred -

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alfred NESWADBA
Ingenieur Studio HOLLAUS ... www.hollaus.at ... blog.hollaus.at ... CDay 2024
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(not an Autodesk consultant)
Message 5 of 10
TF-JHLE
in reply to: doni49

The path change is just beginning of the file location:

\\JHLEADC01\Company\JHLE\... changed to \\Server01\jhles\JHLE\...

 

I did read about the LISP expression from another person's post but have not been able to successfully get that to work quite yet (I am not IT and code is NOT a skill of mine).  So I have been using the "redir" command in each drawing I open until I have time to fuss with the LISP expression.  All things considered, the redir command works and is a lot quicker than editing each xref at a time.

 

The slow xref manager is actually in files that I have already done the redir command and all the xref locations already point to the new server.  So it is really when I need to change a path on the new server or even add a new xref or image all together.  It's even extremely slow if I am starting from a brand new drawing.  That is why I am wondering if there is something behind the scenes that I am missing.

 

I have gone through the file tab in the options window and there are no files referencing the old server path.

 

Message 6 of 10
TF-JHLE
in reply to: Alfred.NESWADBA

Hi there,

I wish it would have been possible to keep the same dirve name but we weren't mapped to a drive b/c each computer had the server mapped to a different drive.  VERY frustrating day to day, so they switched to just using the server location: \\JHLEADC01\Company\JHLE

 

I did ask if we could change the new server name to the old one and was told that it was not an option.  So I am stuck with what we have at this point.

 

Regarding the time-outs - see my response above.  This is acting this slow after I update to the new server location.

Thanks!

Message 7 of 10
doni49
in reply to: TF-JHLE

If the issue continues AFTER you've performed the update then it sounds like there's an issue with the connection to the server.  It could be a bad NIC card in the server, the port it's plugged into on the switch or a variety of other possiblities.

 

Are other users experiencing similar issues from other computers?  What about loading LARGE files from this server that a DIFFERENT program will use?

 

Both of these things could help prove the theory of a server issue.



Don Ireland
Engineering Design Technician




If a reply solves your issue, please remember to click on "Accept as Solution". This will help other users looking to solve a similar issue. Thank you.


Please do not send a PM asking for assistance. That's what the forums are for. This allows everyone to benefit from the question asked and the answers given.

Message 8 of 10
doni49
in reply to: doni49

Also -- the use of STANDARDIZED drive letters would be a much better way to go if you can make that happen.  If everyone can point the same drive letter at the same UNC path on the server, your reference paths will just point to the drive and folder.   Then when you get a new server, it's just a matter of changing the drive maps to the new server and you're done.

 

To allow people to create their own drive mappings just creates havoc and should not be permitted.  I could understand someone needing a one-off drive mapping for some temporary situation.  I've used them myself but indivuals creating their own drive mappings for long term use = NOT GOOD.



Don Ireland
Engineering Design Technician




If a reply solves your issue, please remember to click on "Accept as Solution". This will help other users looking to solve a similar issue. Thank you.


Please do not send a PM asking for assistance. That's what the forums are for. This allows everyone to benefit from the question asked and the answers given.

Message 9 of 10
MarySeufert
in reply to: TF-JHLE

Have you tried using the Reference Manager to modify all your paths outside of AutoCAD? You can run fairly big batches, but I would recommend going project by project. I can't remember if it supports non-UNC drive pathing or not.

Access it from Windows Start Menu->All Programs->Autodesk->*Your AutoCAD Flavor*->Reference Manager.

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Message 10 of 10
TF-JHLE
in reply to: TF-JHLE

Hello all,

Thank you for your input.  I have been trying the suggested methods for updating the xreference paths and that does not help the overall speed issue.  An interesting development is that I had another employee check if he has the issues on his computer and he does not.  The xref manager works at a normal speed for him but I still have an extremely slow response.

 

I have seen previous suggestions to delete a user profile and try to start from scratch.  How do I go about doing this?  It seems like a logical next step on my computer.

 

Thanks!

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