Commands not executing when Saving or Exporting

[RNDinov8r]

Has anyone else seen this behavior? When the go to save a part or assembly, or go to export a different CAD format (say STEP/STP), nothing happens? I would have never noticed the save issue, had it not been for the fact that I was working on a new file, and I was never being prompted for a name or location. Then I noticed today that when I went to export an assembly to STP, I could go File-->Export-->Cad Format and nothing happened. A restart of inventor is required to fix this. My main concern is that it happens with saving too. This happens whether I am running one instance of IV or multiple instances. I cannot isolate it to anyone file or type. I have not noticed if I am repeating a similar process or command prior to this occurring.

We are not running vault. I am running IV 2020.3.4 Pro, 

Win 10.

[CGBenner]

@RNDinov8r 

Is it possible you may have a buried dialog somewhere?

[RNDinov8r]

My suspicion is that is not the case. I will verify that is not the case next time it happens. 

I do know that I can close and reopen the file, and still get the same behavior.

[mcgyvr]

Try the Inventor Reset Utility (backup your application options first)

[johnsonshiue · Accepted solution]

Hi Chad,

I suspect this can happen when there is already a same named component loaded in the memory. For example, if you have an assembly called AssemblyA which contains PartB. You try to import PartB.STP or save another file to PartB.ipt. You may run into null op. It is because the file is already loaded. The same named file is not allowed.

Many thanks!

[RNDinov8r]

Thanks Johnson.

That makes sense. Next time it happens I'll not any other conditions, but I think your explanation is pretty good. 

[phlyx]

Have had very similar issues including just a few minutes ago.  Did a SAVE AS and was saving the file as a name that already existed but was not open and had not been opened today.  I got an message ERROR SAVING FILE but it looked like it saved the file as the name changed and the date stamp of the new file was correct.  But as soon as that happened regardless of what file I was in, if I clicked on SAVE AS it would do absolutely nothing. No menu, no error, no popup dialog, nothing.  Had to shut down Inventor and restart to clear and yes, the file did save.

Also another one I've noticed recently.  When I do a SAVE AND REPLACE I enter the new name (on the network) and click OK and I get the little spinning wheel for 15-45 seconds, then Inventor hangs for a few seconds, then Inventor window blinks and it's back working again.  Not sure what's going on with that.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Scott,

I suspect it may be related to network traffic. The process of retrieving files from a location is not dictated by Inventor. If possible, please run Microsoft Windows Process Explorer to what exactly happen during the delay.

Many thanks!

[phlyx]

This is the way Inventor is responding today and recently.  When I switch between tabs it changes the viewport instantly but then Inventor remains un-responsive for 10-20 seconds.  Even though this is a large assembly in the drawing, when I RMB and click on EDIT VIEW it takes an EXTREMELY long time for the Inventor drawing view editor window to populate.  I do this dozens and dozens of times a day so you can imagine my frustration level by the end of the day.

https://www.screencast.com/t/Nz47UW17daXZ

[phlyx]

And every time I switch between tabs (files) , click on a different command, just about anything, Inventor hangs for 10-30 seconds.  And that is with just about every command.   

Here's an example.  In the drawing and I click on the Annotate tab, changes instantly.  Click on Dimension and immediately get the cross to pick points.  But I wanted to change dimension style.  After clicking the drop down style menu Inventor hung for 55 seconds before I got the mouse pointer back so I could change styles.

Another example, changed from the drawing to the model, instant.  Clicked on an item to select it, 35 seconds before it highlighted.  And I just did an Inventor Reset last week.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Scott,

If you are talking about poor performance when switching document window, it is probably hardware related (graphics or 3D connexion). From Inventor's perspective, everything is in the system RAM after it is loaded. The only thing change during context switch is displaying the graphics or moving cursor focus.

Please make sure the hardware drivers are updated. Also, all critical Windows updates need to be installed.

Many thanks!

[RNDinov8r]

Scott's workstation is literally 8' from my desk. All of our workstations have identical builds (we have 8 workstations like this). I do not have these issues. The only difference between his useage and mine is that Scott works remote, and is using a remote desktop so he can work from home. However, the workstation is doing all the grunt work...He's basically displaying the Workstation at his home, and using his mouse at home to control his workstation in the office. 

I too can remote in from home, and I don't see these issues...in fact, a number of our engineers have had to remote in at one point or another during this Covid fiasco, and none have exeperienced these issues. 

Addtionally, all of our machines are updated at the same time by our IT department.

[CGBenner]

@RNDinov8r 

Sometimes with a remote work situation, it may all come down to bandwidth in your neighborhood.  You may have the best modem and router you can buy, for a true workhorse PC, but if the infrastructure at the telephone pole is outdated or undersized, and some kid is playing Call of Duty all day long... he might be sucking up all of your bandwidth, and your powerhouse system is at the mercy of whatever signal you're left with.  I recently had unexplained internet performance issues, and it came down to a #%$@! squirrel chewing on one of the lines!  Just another possibility....

[phlyx]

I can pretty much assure that it's not neighborhood bandwidth as we have Frontier FiOS fiber optic and the biggest benefit is we all tie directly to a network switch and there is no neighborhood shared bandwidth like copper does.  I also run Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, Teams, Chrome, Corel PaintShop, and many other apps remotely on my workstation and have absolutely no lags or freezes.  I have dual monitors home and workstation and when Inventor is stalled I jump to other apps and they all work flawlessly.  And I have a 3Dconnexion device at work but not at home, too much trouble trying to run remotely, so I do not use that remotely.  Also, just to see if that makes a difference I'm uninstalling the 3Dconnexion software on my workstation since I'm not using it remotely.

[phlyx]

Okay @johnsonshiue , I am going to see if you might have stumbled across a big speed bump in my operation.  I uninstalled the 3Dconnexion software from my workstation and Inventor already seems more responsive.  Hmmmm.  I'll keep an eye on that but could be there was something flaky between NetExtender and/or RDP and 3Dconnexion.   

[phlyx]

Well, I need to retract that statement.  As soon as I opened something in a second tab then switching caused Inventor to hang.  Dang it!!!

[phlyx]

Looks like it doesn't matter on which machine I have open.  As I opened sub-assemblies it seemed to work clean but every time I switch back to the top level assembly Inventor freezes for 30 seconds to a minute before I can do anything.  Have two sessions of Inventor open and it does the same thing in both with two different projects and two different machine assemblies.

[phlyx]

A big part of my response is graphics.  Ran the extensive Inventor Bench and although the overall is terrible, other test results are about where they were but graphics is terrible.

Would be nice to know if there was something I can do to improve video performance via RDP.  Something with color, resolution, etc.  

[phlyx]

And right now with just about any model I can open it, works fine.  Open a second parts or assembly, switch back to the top level I just opened and it's 45 seconds before I can select anything.  Pretty repeatable.  And I don't have to edit anything in the 2nd tab, just switch between tabs and it does it every time.

[phlyx]

New info for this situation.  I did a pack and go on the entire machine I'm working on to my local drive.  Opened in a few seconds rather than several minutes but I expected that.  But when I open a second tab and switch to that and the main machine, I can instantly pick something else with no lag at all.  When I am opening the assembly on the network I cannot pick anything for about 45 seconds.  As far as network speed I tested by copying a 1GB file from my local to the network and really couldn't even get my stopwatch started before it was copied.  Something else is going on here but seems like it might be with my network card.