Automation Error ... All File contents are lost !!!

[Anonymous]

Hello,

We are facing strange issue with all different versions of AutoCAD (2007, 2011, 2013). While users are working on the file, all of a sudden the contents (work done) are lost and it becomes all blank. The file size is same but when we open the file all the work done is not displayed, but just a blank screen.

It happens occasionally and there is some Automation Error in the command line below. The software is not hanging but the open file is in hang state and we have to close it. While closing whether we select yes/no the content (work done) is all lost. The temp location where the files are saved in one of the computer is become huge around 40GB will many Autocad autosave and temporary files; if it has anything to do with it !

Can anyone guide what could be the possible issue ?

Thanks,

[nedwards9820]

Work that is lost with this Automation Error is truly lost.  There is no way to recover it.  Your drawing, even though blank, will contain any blocks that were inserted.  Probably you will have lost both the original drawing and the backup irrevocably.  Also, the autosave feature is likely to have failed so you won'd be able to recover drawings from there.

-ne

[Anonymous]

how to slove this automation error...

[rkmcswain]

You are asking in post 22 essentially the same question asked by the OP in post 1.

The short answer is: there is no definitive answer at this point.

[nedwards9820]

No-one will be able to answer. The problem presumably lies deep in
Autodesk's incompetent coding.

Until they take this matter seriously, can I suggest using DraftSight? It
has a reasonably similar interface.

-ne

[dgorsman]

Given the apparent uniqueness of the situation ie. this isn't happening to EVERYBODY, I would suggest the problem lies not in the AutoDesk stars but in the specific computers.

[pendean]

Exactly: no one here is losing files as described in this thread, and since we all use the same programs 2007-2013 (and presumably the same WIndows platforma) I too am inclined to believe a local solution needs to be identified and implemented.

I'm not sure why no one wants to better identify the " Automation Error-Drawing is busy" being mentioned. start by unplugging from the network, testing files locally, and run some additional tools in Windows to identify what else is going on.

[nedwards9820]

The Automation Error has frequently occurred when I have been out of the
office using AutoCad2014 on my laptop.

It does not seem to relate to network usage. It is even more strange that
other instances of AutoCAD open in other windows are unaffected. It is
impossible to replicate conditions that cause the error, but it almost
invariably occurs when I have multiple windows open and am working
deeply... so deeply that I have often failed to do the occasional S

-ne

[pendean]

IS you laptop-AutoCAD set up to seek content on a server when you are there and plggued in?
Are you accessing the DWG files through VPN? Or other remote 'cloud' source?
"automation error" appears like a VBA code error too.

[Anonymous]

Dear Sir,
Thanks for your support , The Autocad software i use is
installed in the same PC i work . This usually happens when i use the key
combinations like COPY , TRIM , MOVE commands. The drawing i made till that
moment seems to be erased and iam left with a blank page.

Please do the needful , Awaiting for your reply.

Thanks,
Vinoth

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> This usually happens when i use the key combinations like COPY , TRIM , MOVE commands.

>> The drawing i made till that moment seems to be erased

I would then start command _UNDO and look if the data comes back.

Next is that at this state I would never do a _SAVE and overwrite the existing DWG/BAK file, I would run a _SAVEAS and give the drawing a new name, that makes you more save for trying to rescue your data.

I'm with Dean at the point that "noone else has the problem loosing data when starting one command". I see that only possible in combination with some installed apps/tools/plugins/other customizations. So verify what is loaded into your AutoCAD, any customization should be checked and if there is nothing found, then recreate a new Windows user account and start drawing within that context and without doing any customization!

Good luck, - alfred -

[nedwards9820]

When this error occurs, AutoCAD overwrites the .dwg and the .bak files simultaneously.  Is this a clue as to what is going wrong?  I've just reinstalled Win8 on a new SSD with a fresh installation of AutoCAD2104 and I get the error still

-ne

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> AutoCAD overwrites the .dwg and the .bak files simultaneously

Looking to your screenshot it shows that the files were written in the same minute, but that does not mean simultaneously. By default first the BAK is built up from the previous DWG and then the new DWG is written from a temporary file.

If the file is small enough (or writing is that fast) then you can save a lot of files within one and the same minute.

>> a fresh installation of AutoCAD2104 and I get the error still

Can you show what software you have installed yet?

Did you run excessive tests with memory and the SSD (I know that you should not perform to much stress test with SSD, but at least one pass would make you more save about the driver and the hardware).

- alfred -

[nedwards9820]

every single time the error occurs .dwg and .bak have the same timestamp.  And everysingletime they are blank drawings. And everysingletime I loose hours of work.  I did not save the file when the error occured -- no file should have that timestamp let alone a bak with the same timestamp.

This is an new installation yesterday -- so there's hardly anything on the laptop except Win8, AutoCAD and AcroPlot.

-ne

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> so there's hardly anything on the laptop except Win8, AutoCAD and AcroPlot.

Are there some specific commands when AutoCAD comes up with that message with the automation error?

Where do save the data to? All to the SSD? Then try to save them onto a network path.

Do you have any page setups in the drawing using the AcroPlot as plot-device?

@others having that automation error and loosing the data:

do you also have Win8?

do you also have AcroPlot?

do you also have built a SSD (if so what type)

- alfred -

[rkmcswain]

---

@nedwards9820 wrote:

every single time the error occurs .dwg and .bak have the same timestamp.  

---

Forgive me, I have not been following along closely to all of the posts. Wow, this sounds a lot like something is doing an "Erase All" or "wblock & erase" and then immediately running Qsave twice.

So just to clarify again, when this "Automation Error" message appears, AutoCAD is at that point not responding? In this screen shot, it doesn't look like it.

In "@Anonymous"'s case (he/she posted a 'ruined' drawing), the drawing geometry was still present, it was just inside of one or more block definitions. In your case, you're saying the drawing is empty, the missing geometry is NOT in a block definition?

Run the APPLOAD command and carefully browse the "Loaded Applications" list, looking for anything out of place (say a .lsp or .arx loaded from the %temp% directory or something?)

Run the ARX command, F option and do the same thing.

Do you have you log file enabled, and if so, when you review the log file, are there any other clues?

[nedwards9820]

This happened with a different SSD.

It happened with a different OS (win7 vs win8)

The only common thread is win64 bit, the hardware and AutoCAD2014.

- ne

[nedwards9820]

Attached is a screen grab of the command line when the error occurs.  Which is has again.

[nedwards9820]

The attached screen grab of our archive/versioning cloud service shows that the save made 4 minutes before the automation error happened was not a successfull save.... so something is going wrong with the basic file save process it seems.

-ne

[pendean]

Unless you share a DWG file with the problem, this type of quest by you will remain predominantly unanswered.

[jggerth]

OK, this is starting to make a little bit of sense -- and it's looking less and less like an Autocad problem.

Your running a command, ET - appears to be an alias for EXTEND-  but something is being triggered that starts updating Indexes for blocks.  that's not typical -- something is running on your machine, some 3rd party or vetical app that you've not identified.    And apparently it's running at various times and or being triggered by various commands.

So question 1 is how is the ET alias defined? It does not appear in my OOTB acad.pgp, and when I run any aliases in the PGP file, the official command names shows in UPPER case.  In your case, ET calls the extend command, but it display that in _lower case_.  That leads me to think that ET has been programmatically created, via LISP, ARX, or something, and that in addition to running EXTEND, it's doing something else that's causing your automation error.  At a guess, a lot of your commands have been rewritten to include to include this indexing 'feature'.

Quick check, if you type !C:ET at the command line, what doe you get back?

question 2 is the 'cloud' stuff.  If you disable that completely - uninstall it, kill it, block it from access, do the problems persist?