Help Autocad crashes

[fprico]

Hi, I am constantly having Autocad crashes I can not work more than 10 minutes and have a crash. I remember this never happened to me when I used Autocad 2009. But with this new release is happening  all the time. What should I do?

[pendean]

2014? plain or vertical or LT? Windows version? Is this the same PC that 2009 is installed and running well? PC specs?
10-minutes is when it dies? Is that when you have your autosave kick-in? Or is 10-minutes a guess? Is there a command that triggers it?

[fprico]

Hi, I am using Autocad 2013 plain. My windows is 32 bits. The PC I was running is not the same I think this is better I previews had a pentium 4 with 1gb ram and now I am using a Core 2 quad 2.33 ghz, 4 gb ram and a Nvdia gtx 460 perhaps the mother is not the best. 10 minitues is not the time when it dies But What I mean is that It doesn t take to much time to have crashes, I am having lots of crashes per day.

This is happening very often when zooming and orbit its when the procesor make a noise of procesing that I know it will crash, It always makes the same. But this it also happening with others commands, I don t know which.

Also I am experimenting very often that the mouse pointer disappear to select any tool of the ribbon or to close autocad it seems that the pointer of the mouse do not respond and y can t get out of the limit of the viewport with the mouse. But I discover that when I enter the list command that is solved and I can continue drawing. 

[jggerth1]

Core 2 sounds like a rather old Pc for production,  -- are you running XP or Win7 for the OS?  Have you run any diagnostics on the RAM, CPU, Hard drive, etc?

Regardless, It's most likely that the problems you are seeing are related tot he machine you are running on.  if you can't replace it with a current workstation, and especially if it's been running XP for any length of time, it's probably time to Fdisk the hard drive and rebuikld the machine without all the cruft that accumulates in windows over the years.

What you are seeing with frquent crashes is not normal...

[fprico]

Hi, I don t know if its very old, I buy it 4 years ago, it has 4 cores. I am using win 7. I ve recently format the pc and installed all but this still persist. I was thinking of buying a Nvdia quadro 600 but I don t know if this will solved the problem..

[David.Pullin]

Try turning off your hardware accelleration.  If the video card is not supported or isn't working properly, you will get all sorts of interesting issues with autocad.  Out of 4 drafting machines, I only have one currently in the office that will support hardware acceleration, the others must be turned off.  We do 2d work though, and it doesn't really change anything for us.

[dgorsman]

32 bit OS and 4 GB RAM can crash easily with large file sizes e.g. lots of 3D content.

[fprico]

so 4gb ram is low for Autocad?

[fprico]

I read that Autocad only uses 25% of the 4 cores procesor, so with a Core i3  3,3 ghz will be better than an i5?

[pendean]

Turn off AutoCAD's hardware acceleration and see if that helps.
Find out what commands trigger a crash, since the 10-minute statement was not accurate or correct.
Also turn off all background running applications: you only need AutoCAD running 90% of the time if you are in production.

Win7 32bit can only use about 3Gig RAM: Adding more is pointless. I don't think that's your problem unless your DWG files are in excess of 15-20MB is size and/or you have a dozen of more large XREFs in it.

Wiyth your mouse diasppearing, it would appear your video card is choking under the pressure: my first tip above may fix the problem.

PS: you might want to put back WinXP that came with your PC, it might help matching an old OS with an old PC.

[dgorsman]

For modern/more recent software that is low.  But as noted earlier, unless you are running a 64-bit operating system adding more will be irrelevant.

[jggerth1]

You are mosty correct that AutoCAD uses a single core.  There are some minor features that are multicore, but by and large, a faster cpu is preferable to more cores running.

But maybe we need to step back a bit -- what exactly do you mean by "AutoCAD is crashing'?  Does the entire computer go down?  does AutoCAD close suddenly - and if it does does the CER (Customer Error Reporting) screen come up?  Does autocad become non-responsive, leaving the win7 spinning blue wheel of boredom rolling on the screen?  If that's what happens, how long do you wait for it before giving up?  What does TaskManager show when this happens?

What else is running?  did you install 360 or content service?  Did you change from an Aero theme to a basic display theme? What's your anitvirus, and did you disable that to install the software?

Is the video driver you ar using for that Nvidia card he WHQL version, or is it more a bleeding edge card.  If your BIOS has built in diagnostics (usually you can find this through setup, or a boot screen - possible hitting F2, Esc, or Del duing boot) does that show any problems?  Have you tried pulling the viodeo card out and reseating it?  how about pulling the RAM and reseating it?

Lots' of things to try - but this sound like either a hardware problem.  Possibly virus/malware running on the PC, but with a recent format, I'ld look to the hardware.

[fprico]

When I say it crashes I mean that Autocad closes and the customer error reporting come up. Some times it happens  that Autocad became no responsive leaving the win 7 blue wheel rolling and the Autocad I wait up to 1 or 2 minutes but still continues the same, so I go and close it with the task manager.

The content service is installed but I don t know nothing about it, I don t use it. My Antivirus is Avast free, and I disable it when I installed Autocad.

The video Card is more recomended for rendering and games, is the Nvidia gtx 460, Yesterdey I tried to disable the hardware acceleration but it seems that Autocad run slowly and with some delay, also I noticed that in performance settings it saids that it is not certified, I don t know what does it mean. Also Yesterdey I enter in the msconfig and turn the cores to 1 I could see that autocad uses 100% of the procesor but I don t found that it runs faster than before, it seems to run more slowly but I am not sure.

The PC its ok, I maked a scan and there is no virus. Also I ve recently format the PC.

[fprico]

So, any other suggestion?

[pendean]

Buy a better PC is what everyone recommends: you've done everything else.

[fprico]

So what should I buy? is a core i3 3.3 ghz ok or should I go for core i5? with 8gb ram and a quadro k600 should be ok?. last days I entered in the msconfig and choose the option of one core, does that have any effects in the performace? i was not working to much in Autocad last days to see if it crashes but I make a quick test with autocad, and I could not noticed a perfomance enchancement. 

[pendean]

Hardware Discussion area has many recommendations, explore it for ideas and recent questions asked:
http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/Hardware/bd-p/116

Autodesk Supported Graphics Cards List and drivers:
http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-graphicscard

One of many online reviews of Vid Cards on the market:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/AutoDesk-AutoCAD-2013-GPU-Acceleration-164/

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> I am constantly having Autocad crashes I can not work more than 10 minutes

What are the commands when you crash, does that also happen with new files when you start drawing based on an original AutoCAD template?

Besided of that I hope that you have not migrated settings I also want to ask: how big are your DWG-files. Because I don't think that 4GB is a reason to crash fi you are running just small drawings. I also don't think that it is necessary to have a newer processor as long as your drawings are not too big, you also won't need a better graphicscard as long as you don't do too much 3D-modelling.

Interesting is now:

- Are there specific commands started that crashes AutoCAD?

- Are there specific drawings open when AutoCAD crashed?

- Do you have tried to run (for a test-period) with admin-permissions?

- Fo you have your DWG-files locally or on the network? If network then try to copy them to C: and then run AutoCAD

  without a network-connection active, disable antivirus (and other defending-sw)

- Do you have copied any files from 2009 and do you use them now with 2013?

- You were asked to disable hardware-acceleration, have you tried that (command _3DCONFIG ==> manual tune)?

- What does the taskmanager report when AutoCAD crashes (how much memory did AutoCAD use, what other

  processes are active (active using the CPU)

Last but not least: I would not run Win7 as 32bit, in this case I would use WindowsXP as the memory requirement of XP may come down to 100-150MB, while Win7 needs minimun around 500MB (up to 1.5GB depending on what you have installed and what services are running). So WinXP let's AutoCAD more space to live.

You might also start Windows in diagnostic mode as this gives you (hopefully) more information on what exactly happens.

Good luck, - alfred -

[fprico]

Hi,

I don t know exactly wich is the command but most of the time is when I make zooms and orbits.

The other thing is that the cursor dissapears and I could not select anything outside de viewport, I don t know why but when I enter the list comand and then esc that problem is solve.

Yes that happens with new files but the more objects I add Autocad become more inestable. 

I am using files that goes from 2mb to 15mb, and I am having also problems with the 2mb files, I mean that also with small size files I am experimenting crashes. 

-This is not happening with especific drawings. I am having this problem with all files.

-I don t know what do you mean to run (for a test-period) with admin-permissions.

-I have my dwg files locally.

-I am not currently working with 2009 files.

- I disable hadware acceleration but Autocad runs slower and with some delay.

- Last days I change the number of cores in msconfig so it seems that it is using 100% of the procesor, although I don t know to much about computer. Also I recently enable the memory to 3gb as it says here  http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9583842&linkID=9240617 

But I don t have to much time to probe what this had done.

I attached you a screen shot of the task manager when I was doing orbits, thats why it is in 100%.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> but most of the time si when I make zooms and orbits.

That sounds like graphiccard or graphiccard-memory or graphiccard-driver.

Try to run diagnostics or change the driver to newer or older ones.

>> I don t know what do you mean to run (for a test-period) with admin-permissions.

Your Windows account should have administrator-permissions to avoid problems with any file access restrictions.

>> Last days I change the number of cores in msconfig

Really? I never heard that this might be an advantage (to reduce the number of cores used).

>> I disable hadware acceleration but Autocad runs slower and with more delay

Yes, that is logical: But for the moment (as long as your system seems to be unstable) you should not take care of the speed, but take care of the stability. With other words, it's not interesting that it is now slower than before, it's interesting if it crashes with the same rate as with the switch activated.

>> Also I recently enable the memory to 3gb

That is at least one risk more! Reset this setting back to default as long as you have crashes. When you found the reason of these crashes and you got a stable system then you can try to use that tricks.

>> But I don t have to much time to probe it what this dones

Well, we don't have the problem, so we can't test it for you (to get YOUR system running!).

To your screenshot: can you show next time the processes tab so we can see what process using the full load of one core?

- alfred -