10 replies to this topic

[jbayless]

Hello,

I'm using Solidworks Student Edition 2007. When I open Solidworks, everything works fine; however, like clockwork, it crashes after an elapsed time of one minute and 30 seconds. I'm really perplexed about this; it's making the program essentially unusable. It doesn't matter if I open a big file and start editing, or if I just leave the program with nothing open and doing nothing. I get an error message that "SldWorks has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

Windows then offers for me to send an error report.

I'm using Windows XP Professional on a Lenovo W500 laptop.

Are there any suggestions about how to fix this? Let me know if there's any additional information that I can provide that will help.

***Edit:*** I just updated my graphics drivers to the latest versions posted on the Solidworks website; the problem seems to be fixed now. I'll let you know if anything resurfaces

Edited by jbayless, 19 April 2009 - 07:13 AM.

[jbayless]

Hm, it seems to still be happening after all.

Strangely enough, it seems like if I just ignore the message that says the program has crashed, I can still use it fine. Some non-essential component must be crashing... I wonder what.

[Annika Nauheimer]

This really sounds like a graphic problem. you could try to use software open GL.
There is a "Use Software OpenGL" option that can be found in Tools, options, system options, performance.
The option can only be modified when there are no SolidWorks documents currently open.

See if the problem exists afterwards.

Annika

[jbayless]

Hi Annika,

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately, switching to software OpenGL did not fix the problem. Also, my graphics card (ATI FireGL Mobility V5700) is listed on the solidworks website as being compatible, and should be able to do OpenGL.

Is it strange that the crash still happens when I open the program but don't have a document open?

When I open solidworks a second time (after the crash), it says "A journal file could not be created. Auto recover will not work. Another session of SolidWorks may already be running on this machine." But when I check the task manager, I don't see SolidWorks listed in any of the active processes...

Thanks for your help so far!

Jacob

[Annika Nauheimer]

Hi Jacob,
This all sounds very strange and I would suggest to do a clean reinstall. Maybe some corruption during the installation process.
It is very important to shut off the virus and spyware software during installation. This can cause some corruption.

For a clean reinstallation: (it is valid for 32 and 64 bit systems):
1) Open the machine with an administrative profile (a normal user profile with administrative privileges is not enough) and disable the antivirus
2) Edit the registry (start_run and type “regedit”) and go to change the name of the folder HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Solidworks
(the scope of this operation is obtain new registries without any error inside)
3) Reboot the machine (you need to do it after have disabled the antivirus in order to really not have the antivirus working)
4) Open it again with an administrative profile (a normal user profile with administrative privileges is not enough)
5) Verify to have the 3.01 version of Windows installer, in order to do it: start, all programs, accessories, command prompt, msiexec and press enter:
a window will appear in front of you reporting the information that you need (if the version is wrong please update).
6) Uninstall SW
7) Reinstall SW
8) In order to complete the installation you have to reboot the machine and open it again with the same administrative profile (the installation will get its end only after the reboot)
9) Run SW (always utilizing the same admin profile) and turn on all the add-ins: this operation will provide to register forgotten library files

This should definitly help

Annika

[jbayless]

Thanks for the suggestion!

Since it's a new computer, Solidworks was actually the first program I installed... I didn't even have an antivirus program installed when I installed Solidworks!

But I didn't know that I had to be on the administrator profile (as opposed to a profile with administrator privileges) when installing. I didn't see that in any of the official instructions...

I checked as you said, and I do have the right version of Windows Installer.

I'm just worried... is it likely that trying to re-install will mess things up more than they are already? It seems that I'm only provided two installs of SolidWorks for the Student Edition, and this is my second (since my previous computer, to my dismay, was not up to spec)... what if it won't let me license it?

[Annika Nauheimer]

Hi Jacob,
This is definitly a strange thing...
Did you activate the license already?? Well if yes its not a problem at all solidworks is going to ask you if you want to transfer the license
back. Just click on I want to keep it/ because i am reinstalling- and it should be fine.
I can't think of anything else than a corrupt installation. I would give the reinstallation a try and make sure you delete the regsettings
OR before try to rename the regsettings (HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Solidworks) to e.g. solidworks_old and try to start solidworks
again. This sets everything back to default... but i don't really think this will help- but you can give it a shot

Good Luck!

Annika

[RenewVis]

Hey... I had the same problem until I read this on a tech support website: http://www.javelin-tech.com/main/support/s...ks_2009_faq.htm

‘SolidWorks Explorer has encountered an error’ is displayed while trying to start SolidWorks Explorer 2009.

This is a typical symptom of not having the .NET FrameWork 3.0 application installed on the PC running SolidWorks Explorer 2009. This is required for SolidWorks Explorer and SolidWorks 2009 to run. The .NET redistributable packages are included with the DVD or download. Browse the source of the installation (DVD, download folder, or Administrative Image). Go to the <source location>\<swwi>\data\DotNetFX and double click on dotnetfx3.exe for WinXP x32 and dotnetfx3_64.exe for WinXP x64. Once this is installed, run a repair of the SolidWorks Explorer Installation.

First, I had to download the .NET Uninstaller here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

Then I went to get the latest Windows .NET framework at windows website:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...19-81da479ab0d7

PROBLEMS SOLVED. I was happy and hope you can be too. Good luck!

Hello,

I'm using Solidworks Student Edition 2007. When I open Solidworks, everything works fine; however, like clockwork, it crashes after an elapsed time of one minute and 30 seconds. I'm really perplexed about this; it's making the program essentially unusable. It doesn't matter if I open a big file and start editing, or if I just leave the program with nothing open and doing nothing. I get an error message that "SldWorks has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

Windows then offers for me to send an error report.

I'm using Windows XP Professional on a Lenovo W500 laptop.

Are there any suggestions about how to fix this? Let me know if there's any additional information that I can provide that will help.

***Edit:*** I just updated my graphics drivers to the latest versions posted on the Solidworks website; the problem seems to be fixed now. I'll let you know if anything resurfaces

[jbayless]

Thanks!

Just a quick question - do you know if this is unique to SolidWorks 2009? Because I'm using the 2007 version.

[Ammiddeon]

We find that working in lightweight or large assembly mode can cause problems in that some information gets missed from the drawing, such as decals, which we need to show. So we have to work in standard mode. Generally, working on the model is fine and does not behave sluggishly, but it does crash alot. And yes, we are running x64 but im not sure solidworks is using all available memory, how can you check this?

Thanks

[adjunddioliox]

Hm, Im getting quite a few errors... it might be linked to the issue. A few crashes and downloading files like AVG, graphics card drivers and its saying there corrupt?

Reinstall the upgrade or shall I try and fix the previous issue first?

____

Think Ill just do a fresh format on both drives. Install XP 32bit on the larger HDD, then do the upgrade for the same HDD. Probably run better.