Autocad 2012 LT keeps locking up screen, mouse & keyboard

[Anonymous]

New to using windows autocad 2012 LT.  It keeps locking up the screen, mouse & keyboard.  I installed the autocad hotfixs and service packs and it still does it. 

I have a Intel Core 2 Quad CPU, Q8200 at 2.33 GHz, 2.33 GB of RAM. 

XP Professional version 2002 with service pack 3 installed.

Any ideas on what I should do?

[pendean]

That's a very, very, low end PC.

[drjohn]

I can run full blown AutoCAD 2012 on an ancient Dell w/ 2.8 GHz, 2 GB RAM and onboard graphics.

Not saying it's not a VERY, VERY low end machine, just that it will run on a VERY, VERY low end box.  I don't think that may be the reason for the crashes IMHO. There's something else lurking in the background somewhere.

Throwing hardware at software is not always the answer.

Regards,

DJ

[pendean]

OP is not crashing, just "locking up" at startup of the program. Usually that means a very slow paging to the HD, or there is something else running in the background that has eaten up resources. Booting XP into safemode would verify the latter, a very long wait would verify the former.
Wasting time on a very old $150 machine using a new $900 software package (or $4000 in your case( is silly IMHO whether a fix is found or not.

[Anonymous]

Actually it starts just fine.  I has frozen after hours of use and less.  It has shut the whole system down and re-started all at once... Most of the time it just freezes.

I read on here that a fix might be to purge and save.  There might be something in the drawing that I am using.

Another is to turn off automatic updates.  I guess they were talking about windows updates.

Or turn the hardware acceleration button to off.

There was another one that I can't think of.  I have it written down at work.

[Anonymous]

I remembered what the other thing to do was.  Turn off xref undate.

[Charles_Shade]

How about excess Scale Lists and Layer Filters if the OP is new to LT 2012?

OP - What was your previous version?

I'm running LT 2012 on an XP Pro SP3 machine here with 3 Gig RAM and it runs well, not great, but well.

1 Meg Nvidia card as well.

[Anonymous]

(How about excess Scale Lists and Layer Filters)  Not sure what this means?

 (What was your previous version?)  Full aoutcad 2006

Another thing I read on here to do was "Change Compatibility Mode"  I don't know how to do that either.

When it said to "Turn off Automatic Updates", does that mean to turm of Microsoft Windows updates?

[Anonymous]

How about excess Scale Lists and Layer Filters)  Not sure what this means?

I looked them up.  Scale list is default and I have not used any filters.

[Charles_Shade]

-In your LT 2012 when you open a 2006 drawing type SCALELISTEDIT. Lots of strange scales in the list?

-Compatability mode would be you wanting to install 2006 on a Win 7 OS. 2006 products do not support use inside a Win 7 environment so you would install it using XP mode.

-Yes, update windows when you want not when they want.

Please mark any response as "Accept as Solution" if it answers your question.
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[pendean]

>>>...Actually it starts just fine. I has frozen after hours of use and less...<<<

So your XP runs out of RAM or system resources and stops working: can we assume a Windows restart is the only fix?

[Anonymous]

Yes.  Restart is the only fix.  Hold the off button until it shuts down.  Hit start again.  Start all over.

[Charles_Shade]

I'm not a whole lot different here with PC Specs and do not see this happening.

I'll agree that the RAM leak spoken of about CAD has merit and I will, from time to time, shut down and restart at lunch.

What I have found with this current system similar to the OP's is using Dynamic Blocks has hugely increased the drawing size and therefore slowed my drawing down.

Not to the point of freezing but it is noticeable.

So in conclusion I'll support the low end PC theory in general but do believe there is something else going on.

[Anonymous]

Question: Will more ram help or is it pointless to do that with this grade of computer?

So far, 2 days without freezing.  Used it quite a bit yesterday.  A couple of times it looked like it was going to stop.  It froze for 4-5 seconds, then resumed what I was doing.

I have been doing this:

1. Purging the "old" blocks already in the drawing & saving.

2. I have turned off the Hardware Acceleration feature.

3. Turned off windows automatic updates.

4. I disabled the External Refererences (Xref)

I don't really know if any of this really helps.  Seems to have helped some.

[Charles_Shade]

With the XP system you will not be able to use much more RAM. You could install two 2 Meg moduels but you would still only be able to use 3 Megs.

Reads as though you have done the things that you need to do.

Any word on the Scale Lists (SCALELISTEDIT) or Layer Filters when you open the Layer (LA) dialog?

[Anonymous]

Any word on the Scale Lists (SCALELISTEDIT)

Yes, They are all just the default settings. 

Question: Should I remove the scales that I never use?

Layer Filters when you open the Layer (LA) dialog?

I don't have any layer filters set up.

[Charles_Shade]

Scales - Only remove them if you want to. The problem came from several hundred being created in previous versions that in no way could be likened to anything you were using. The nomenclature was strange as well.

As for the Layer Filters - Very few users if any used these extensively either. For a version or two of CAD Layer Filters were created in the program randomly and ran to excess causing problems. I only ask these two questions to make you aware and to make sure these were not your issue.

[Anonymous]

I'm picking up more & more information everyday.  Thanks for your help.