Pro Engineer freeze problem

Hello

I am posting this on behalf of a friend of mine.

He has recently taken delivery of a new Dell computer with 512Mb of
memory and a 3Ghz P4. The OS is Xp Home.

He wishes to run Pro Engineer Student edition on this machine but
after installing, the program runs but refuses to accept any input and
stops responding to mouse and keyboard.

The same program ran on his much slower machine without any hitches
and the only difference between his old machine and the new one apart
from a faster chip and more memory is that the newer machine has a PCI
express 128 Mb ATI Radeon graphics card rather than an AGP slot in the
slower computer.

Could this be where the problem arises?

MTIA

 

: Hello
:
: I am posting this on behalf of a friend of mine.
:
: He has recently taken delivery of a new Dell computer with 512Mb of
: memory and a 3Ghz P4. The OS is Xp Home.
:
: He wishes to run Pro Engineer Student edition on this machine but
: after installing, the program runs but refuses to accept any input and
: stops responding to mouse and keyboard.
:
: The same program ran on his much slower machine without any hitches
: and the only difference between his old machine and the new one apart
: from a faster chip and more memory is that the newer machine has a PCI
: express 128 Mb ATI Radeon graphics card rather than an AGP slot in the
: slower computer.
:
: Could this be where the problem arises?
:
Easily possible ~ don't know of another program that is as graphically
cantankerous as Pro/e, meaning, cards and drivers play an inordinately large role
in generating problems, including those which do not immediately seem graphics
related.

First thing to check is the PTC website for certified/decertified graphics cards:
http://www.ptc.com/partners/hardware/current/decerts.htm
If this card is on the decertified list, you can guarantee problems. Also, check
out the type of card that is certified. For ATI/Radeon, there's only the FireGL
cards. Not on this list? You've just increased your chances of problems/conflicts,
many of them i/o related.

Then, even if your card is on the list of those certified/supported, check the
driver this card needs to be compatible with Pro/e. The right card with the wrong
driver is just as problematic.

This kind of troubleshooting boils down to a process of elimination. If these
things check out OK, we'll have to try something else.

David Janes

 

David Janes wrote ...

*Think* the Radeon cards are well known for being problematic with CAD
applications.

Some applications have a method of turning off OpenGL hardware acceleration
which can be used as a troubleshooting tool. Is there a way to do this
with Pro/E? Setting config option: graphics win32_gdi, maybe?

 

: > David Janes wrote ...
: >
: > Easily possible ~ don't know of another program that is as graphically
: > cantankerous as Pro/e, meaning, cards and drivers play an inordinately
: large
: > role ......
:
: *Think* the Radeon cards are well known for being problematic with CAD
: applications.
:
: Some applications have a method of turning off OpenGL hardware acceleration
: which can be used as a troubleshooting tool. Is there a way to do this
: with Pro/E? Setting config option: graphics win32_gdi, maybe?
:
Yeah, Jeff, good suggestion. I forgot about item one on the troubleshooting check
list. Definitely worth a try on XP, just to see what happens. Model movement,
without OpenGL, gets sluggish, jerky. It's interesting to compare, though, with
actually going into XP and turning off hardware acceleration with
'Properties>Settings>Advanced>Troubleshooting' and sliding the acceleration bar
all the way to the left. With graphics set to OpenGL, model spinning stays quick,
even without hardware acceleration. But selection highlighting (mouse
acceleration?) bogs way down. Of course, if partially or completely turning off
hardware acceleration in Windows solves the freezing problem, you can be pretty
sure it's the card and not just the driver that's troubling you. Another thing to
check, anyway.

David Janes

 

This is a problem that I can relate. My company forces me to use a Dell.
We have found that it is easier just to format a Dell as soon as it comes in
the door. I don't know why, but the Windows install that Dell pushes on
does not play well with Pro.

Good Luck
John

 

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Thanks I'll need it

 

Tried turning off hardware acceleration. No luck. A manual I managed
to acquire suggested that I give the network card an IP address with a
subnet mask added. No luck.

It is a program called Xtop that is crashing.

 

: > On Sun, 7 Nov 2004 14:27:22 -0800, "David Janes"
:
: >: Hello
: >:
: >: I am posting this on behalf of a friend of mine.
: >:
: >: He has recently taken delivery of a new Dell computer with 512Mb of
: >: memory and a 3Ghz P4. The OS is Xp Home.
: >:
: >: He wishes to run Pro Engineer Student edition on this machine but
: >: after installing, the program runs but refuses to accept any input and
: >: stops responding to mouse and keyboard.
: >:
: >: The same program ran on his much slower machine without any hitches
: >: and the only difference between his old machine and the new one apart
: >: from a faster chip and more memory is that the newer machine has a PCI
: >: express 128 Mb ATI Radeon graphics card rather than an AGP slot in the
: >: slower computer.
: >:
: >: Could this be where the problem arises?
: >:
: >Easily possible ~ don't know of another program that is as graphically
: >cantankerous as Pro/e, meaning, cards and drivers play an inordinately large
role
: >in generating problems, including those which do not immediately seem graphics
: >related.
: >
: >First thing to check is the PTC website for certified/decertified graphics
cards:
: >http://www.ptc.com/partners/hardware/current/decerts.htm
: >If this card is on the decertified list, you can guarantee problems. Also,
check
: >out the type of card that is certified. For ATI/Radeon, there's only the FireGL
: >cards. Not on this list? You've just increased your chances of
problems/conflicts,
: >many of them i/o related.
: >
: >Then, even if your card is on the list of those certified/supported, check the
: >driver this card needs to be compatible with Pro/e. The right card with the
wrong
: >driver is just as problematic.
: >
: >This kind of troubleshooting boils down to a process of elimination. If these
: >things check out OK, we'll have to try something else.
: >
: >David Janes
: >
:
:
: Tried turning off hardware acceleration. No luck. A manual I managed
: to acquire suggested that I give the network card an IP address with a
: subnet mask added. No luck.
:
: It is a program called Xtop that is crashing.

Check in any of the working directories you were logged to when it crashed. You
should find there a file called std.err or std.out, quite innocuous looking,
really. These ascii files usually contain 1 line of text that says what error was
encountered. I have discovered no other function for these files except to report
errors. One is always created when the program crashes, even if no other
indication is given and the program just seems to wink out, poof, it's gone, along
with some minutes/hours worth of work. Usually, when it crashes, it will contain
some innocuous message like "Raising signal: 00013". And that little turd in your
working directory is all the 'apology' or 'help' you get. Still, you may be able
to find reference to these messages on the PTC website and get some kind of hint
as to what is actually causing the crashes.

David Janes

 

Trust me. In the last year and a half my department has purchased 8
high-end Dell workstations. Each one of them had bugs that just kept coming
up. About 95% of the problems would go away as soon as we wiped out the
original Windows install from Dell.

Your error message telling you Xtop is crashing. Xtop is Pro E.

John Morrison