my ribbon is 100% gone

[granite07]

I have just installed Civil 3D 2011 x64 from the student download site.

Before this post I have researched and tried the various blog posts concerning missing ribbons.The suggestions have ranged from the simple advice to toggle through the ribbon cycle, to the suggestion that the ribbon file is missing. I have checked the ribbon file (copied and pasted from a working C3D install) and tried the 'ribbon' command. Also, not only is the ribbon gone but the quick access toolbar is also gone. The search and subscription center icons are gone too.

If I use the ribbon command the response is "Unknown command "RIBBON".  Press F1 for help."

the ribbon appears to be set to 0

Tried MENULOAD command - Civil 3D is loaded

your help is appreciated

[AlmasSuljevic]

HI granite07,

Can you type WSCURRENT in command line and then Civil 3D? See if this will restore your workspace. If not, then it is pretty clear that the issue is with your user settings or installation. Check following link to resolve it: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=14929107&linkID=9240697

Let us know if thisi helps.

[granite07]

I neglected to mention the WSCURRENT command has been tried

For the suggested registry and file delete

1.  deleted HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\AutoCAD\R18.1\ACAD-9000:409 
2. deleted C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2011
3. deletedC:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Autodesk\C3D 2011

The result: the ribbon is still missing


 

[AllenJessup]

If you haven't solved this yet you might want to try a Repair of the installation.

Allen

[AlmasSuljevic]

I would also do what Allan said. It seems there is an issue with installation.

[granite07]

Previous to the post to this blog a repair was tried, as well as uninstall and fresh reinstall. Based on your advice I tried another repair and now this error appears when opening a file from the open icon but does not appear if the file is double clicked to open

.

the error reads "This is the default handler for commands. Set your command handler in ComponentManager.CommandHandler to handle commands raised by Ribbon, Menu, Quick Access ToolBar, etc."

It seems like the last time I installed Civil 3D from the student site I had the same issue with the ribbon and that time solved it by using an earlier build that I had downloaded from the student site previously. I would use the installation file I used previously but deleted it several months ago to make room for a virtual machine.

My intuition is that the build posted to the student site is corrupted or the ribbon is commented out.

[Anonymous]

wonder if it could have something to do with the search path?

[granite07]

a 2012 install also has the ribbon missing but now the quick launch is there but no search or community icons

'ribbon" is an unknown command

[granite07]

I checked the path in options/files/main customization file it is the same as in my working copy on the laptop and I checked that this is were the files actually are (if this is what you mean by search path)

C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\C3D 2012\enu\support\C3D

[granite07]

There has not been much action on this thread over the weekend,

Also, Navisworks 2012 and Quantity Takeoff 2012 failed to install, intuition says the ribbon and these install failures are related; the operating system is Server 2008R2, possibly another factor.

Having TA'd two years of graduate virtual design and construction courses with a 40 machine lab and 40 student laptops and three-years of VDC research, means I have installed AutoCAD, Navisworks, and a dozen other software applications about 160 times on 120 machines from various manufactures, and four different operating systems over the past three years. I've never seen the ribbon missing (except for a faint memory that the last time I installed the latest C3D 2011 build the ribbon was missing and had to use an older build) or had Navis and QTO fail to install.

Is the ribbon dependent on a .NET or OS Service?

[andrewpuller3811]

Not sure about windows server, is there a run as administrator option?

Might have helped a great deal if you had specified the windows version at the start. Just a pointer for future.

Might help also help if you can post what is being shown in the commandline when you start up.

[granite07]

not sure why you are not sure with Server 2008R2, I have installed and run  2010 and 2011 C3D on the Server 2008R2 x64 OS; worked fine.

1) Are you suggesting I install using run as admin command, there is only the admin acccount on the install?

2) command line at startup, you mean the command line in C3D?

Please clarify what you mean.

[andrewpuller3811]

Not sure about windows server because vista has UAC, does windows server?

Try installing as administrator first.

In vista, you can right click on the civil 3d icon and select run as administrator. This shouldn't be necessary, but in your case, if it is available worth a try.

[Jeff_M]

I think the Ribbon interface requires the .NET Framework version 3.51. The original version of Server2008 shipped with .NET 3.0 and I haven't seen anything saying V2 was any different. Nonetheless, .NET installs have been known to go wonky, so you may need to reinstall the .NET modules (a Google for this should give explicit instructions).

That being said, none of the Server versions are on the list of supported OS's. Not saying it will never work because I've never used a Server edition, but Autodesk won't oficially provide support for it. 

[SethHall]

Hi granite07-

I have seen this Ribbon issue whe the antivirus was not disabled/process killed during installation of the product. By any chance is this what happened in this instance?

[granite07]

Thank you for the suggestions, these all sound very good and logical and is why I have tried all these, it is difficult to give a full list of all the possibilities tried:

1) tried repair of the 2011 version with virus scan (Sophos) off and installed 2012 with virus scan on

2) installed .net 3.5.1 after the 2011 install but before 2012 install

3) autodesk support will also not support student downloads so I am already sunk, Server2008R2 x64 runs fine with Win7 x64 or Vista x64 drivers, been using it for over a year now with many autodesk products and software from other developers - the OS may be an issue but not significant one from my experience, for all I know Win7 and Server 2008R2 have the same source code and only differ in how they are configured by default

4 as for UAC in Server2008R2 the default account (admin and the one I use) has Admin Approval Mode disabled, there are no limits on the default admin account, subsequent admin accounts have Admin Approval Mode by default enabled and if I understand correctly should use the "run as administrator" function - from past experience installing a lot of software on Server2008R2 I have never used the "run as administrator" function, everything works fine

Next:

During the process of testing the various suggestions, the C3D 2011 install is corrupted and throws several errors now. On Monday 5/2 (the workstation is located on a field experiment site and I am at the University this week) I will uninstall C3D, clear the install files, then reinstall a fresh copy, and carefully follow and document all the suggestions given here (and any that accumulate in the next few days) to see if it is a combination of issues and to verify I did not make a mistake.

Support for students and researchers:

Autodesk may want to reconsider not testing Server. As a researcher, funding is never sufficient. For software I use the Autodesk student site and the Microsoft dreamspark site (plus a few other sources, some open-source, and occasionally have to purchase). There are limits, the autodesk student license is shorter than the duration of graduate research (the 2009 to 2010 change was painful but x64 made it necessary) and the dreamspark program provides Server versions, not Win7. So, autodesk is  leaving out all everyone who found this combination and are running autodesk software with server x64 OS on $100 laptops with an ebay processors upgrade and stuffed with 8GB of newegg memory and laptopvideo2go drivers; certainly a lot of bang for the buck if you can keep the temperature down (small box fan).

[granite07]

this missing ribbon mystery has become deeper:

This past week I did not finish reinstalling Civil 3D with the suggestions to turn off the virus scan and use the run as administrator function. As a short-term workaround I put my laptop harddrive (Mushkin SSD) in my new workstation tower (revo drive equipped). In the laptop everything worked fine, in the tower there is no ribbon...

Can this be the graphics card driver; the laptop has a GeForceGo 6150 with the latest driver from laptopvideo2go and the tower has a Quadro FX 5600 with the latest driver from the nvidia site.

[granite07 · Accepted solution]

this is a bug.

My quick launch reappeared and I opened the workspace quicklaunch, changed it to 2D and there was the ribbon, then changed it back to 3D and the ribbon stayed. Now the quick launch is gone again. There are many forums threads about the ribbon missing and both the researchers I know that use civil 3D had experienced the phantom ribbon episode with different resolutions. I think the various suggestions are simply covering an intermittent and difficult to pinpoint bug and through the process the issue is somehow resolved though not necessarily because any of the suggestion solutions actually work.

my machine specs (maybe it is hardware related): AMD PHENOM-2 AM3 975 QUAD; ASUS AM3 M4A87TD /USB3; 16GB PC12800/1600MHz; OCZ REVO DRIVE 1RVDX0240; nvidia Quadro FX 5600 1.5GB (HP): Server 2008R2 x64, AutoCAD civil 3D vE.49.N.600, nVidia 270.71

hopefully when I restart the ribbon will still be there: image of the ribbon and missing quick launch

[AllenJessup]

The card should be fine. I have a Quadro FX 4600. Sometimes there are problems with the "Latest" drivers from Nvidia. You could try using the latest certified driver through Autodesk http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/cert?siteID=123112&id=16391880.

I can't say if this is specifically you're problem. But I have seen graphic cards and drivers cause some weird problems.

Allen

[granite07]

changed from 'latest' driver 270.71 to recommended driver 265.70

GSTESTBENCHMARK test found wireframe increase from 70,975ms to 89,766 but the wireframe fps dropped from 2.56 to 2.03; this pattern is across the board of metrics

The cadalyst benchmark found a more dramatic Rotate Wireframe(3D) change from 4.3 to 21

As a pragmatic test we loaded MS Flightsimulator and compared the Quadro FX 5600 with an ATI FirePro v7800 (main difference is developer and buswidth 384 versus 256 - excluding release dates 2006 versus 2010). The Quadro fps is unplayable at 15 while the FirePro played very well at 60 fps. The pragmatic CAD test with civil 3D is reversed with the Quadro slightly edging the Firepro (they both disappoint) and in Navisworks the Quadro simulation is perfect with crisp clear transitions while FirePro simulation is unviewable.

At this point, with the current experiences testing in C3D,  given a choice I would use the Quadro and continue looking for something that resolves the poor wireframe (particularly 2D wireframe) orbit behavior.