Menus and Ribbon frozen after crash

[Cre9engr]

Has anyone seen this happen?  Lately, whenever Civil 3D crashes, my menus and ribbons would freeze, but my command line still works. It's like the entire user interface locks up.  I'm able to workaround the problem by rebooting the computer and then recovering any drawings I had open at the time of the crash. I'm wondering if it's just me or if anyone else is having this same problem.

[tcorey]

Where are your user support files? If they're on a network drive, what happens if you move those to a local drive and then crash AutoCAD. Does that make the problem go away? If so, check your network timeout settings.

If you're running a default standalone install, try running a repair install and then a clean uninstall/re-install if the repair isn't successful. Search for TS45252 before running the uninstall. This doc shows you how to do a clean uninstall of Autodesk products.

Tim

[andrewpuller3811]

I have had similar experiences using Civil 3d 2013 64bit. I find the cursor disappears in the drawing area then the ribbon and tool bars stop responding with the cursor only visible over the command line. If I recall correctly, if i get in early, before the ribbon becomes unresponsive, I can close civil 3d using the close button on top right. Otherwise terminate the acad.exe process, along with the other AutoDesk processes and the restart civil 3d.

[Cre9engr]

Tim,

My support files are located on the local C: drive.  I tried doing both a repair and clean re-install, and I'm still having the same problem.  I even tried updating my video card drivers. 

The problem occurs most frequently when I try to access the File Menu, but it can occur if I try to use other menus or the ribbon. I'm unable to replicate the error at will.  Sometimes, the menu and ribbon becomes unresponsive.  Other times, Civil 3D will hang for about five minutes before opening the File Menu.  When it does freeze, like I mentioned earlier, I'm able to use the command line at will without any problems.  I also noticed that during a freeze, my cursor will disappear.

The only way I could temporily resolve the problem is to utilize the workaround described by Andrew.  I have to terminate the Autocad process in Task Manager and restart Civil 3D.  In the extreme cases, I have to terminate the Autocad process in Task Manager and then reboot my computer.

Untill a solution presents itself, I've been creating aliases to my most used commands to avoid using the menu and ribbon as much as possible.

[tcorey]

Fred, what happens if you boot your system in Diagnostic mode?

Are you using a genuine Microsoft IntelliMouse or another brand? If you have an IntelliMouse handy, give it a try.

[Cre9engr]

Can you remind me how to boot into diagnostic mode Windows 7, again?  It's been awhile.

I'm using a Logitech M570 Trackball with Logitech's Setpoint Software.

This problem only occurs inside Autocad.  I'm not having any troubles with the rest of my software.

[tcorey]

Hi Fred,

To boot in diagnostic mode:

Windows Start button. Type MSCONFIG in the search box. On the General tab, pick Diagnostic Startup. Press OK and re-boot the system.

Regarding the Logitech mouse. It doesn't matter if AutoCAD is the only app having trouble. I would try disabling that device to eliminate it as possible source of conflict. Just saying...

Best regards,

Tim