Crashing when zooming in

[DanMiddleton]

AutoCAD LT 2021, crashed on me 5 times this morning.  The first 4 times I was in paper space, working in a viewport that was drawn 3/4" = 1'-0".  When I zoomed in to get an endpoint for dimension, AutoCAD froze and after a few minutes gave me a fatal error.

The last time,  I thought maybe I could go into paper space and dimension the detail.  The program did it to me again, and so I did a reboot of the computer.  It has not done it since, but I have had this problem numerous times in the past couple weeks since installing the 2021 version.  I was using 2019 previously

[pendean · Accepted solution]

Ensure the problem is not the file(s) you are in: you still list ACA2014 in your signature. Start LT2021 then use RECOVER command to open the file(s) (remember to save afterwards). If you are by default saving files doe to that older 2013-DWG format (or older) that may be a problem as well, try to not do that as a default.

If it still crashes: Turn off the variables LINESMOOTHING and LINEFADING to see if that helps.
If not...
Start GRAPHICSCONFIG command then turn off HARDWARE ACCELERATION and see if that helps.

BTW start ABOUT command to ensure you have the 2021.1 update installed: if not, go get it and install it (restart your computer afterwards).

[DanMiddleton]

@pendean I am running the 2021.1 update, and I changed my signature (that took a bit to figure out, lol).

I am thinking that it is probably the file.  I am thinking a lot of our problems are because we have moved our templates and blocks along as we upgrade and some of these files have probably been created in AutoCAD LT2000 or earlier. 

What do you do when you upgrade programs?  Do you start a new drawing somehow and set all your "standards", then save it as a template?  How can I clean these files up and start from "scratch"?

We have a number of Non-Purgeable items that somehow have probably come from older files.  Is there a way to get rid of all these?

[pendean]

We maintain a set of core sharable Template files regardless of versions we have or move to, those are updated periodically as things change for us (new address, new branding, new or changed preferred settings and so on).

if you need to start from scratch (a good way to get rid of old content or settings that are no longer relevant), the process can take some time. here are some online resources to help you through it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MWoVOKdT14 or if you prefer reading https://www.landfx.com/docs/cad-basics/autocad-getting-started/item/2654-template.html

Best way to get rid of non-purgeable items in a DWG file that you don't want is to use WBLOCK command to only grab what you wish to keep: explore it in HELP. It's not a silver bullet, but it does let you start with a cleaner slate 🙂

HTH