Definitive Reasons for Crashes?

[Wingman]

Hello,
Has anybody provided any definitive reasons for why PC DMIS crashes (not phisical CMM crashes but Software crashes)? I have personally seen crashes when I try to undo a particularly complex boo boo. Other crashes just seem to happen. I have been 'told' things like memory (we have 4GB of Ram), clashes with Outlook e-mail program, and memory conflicts with other applications.
Still, I am looking for some protective measures to reduce the number of crashes encountered. Is there anything we can do from a user standpoint to reduce them?
Thanks,
Bill

[JamesMannes]

The only thing that I have to offer is the old adage, "save often". The reason I say that is because it seems to clear out the temp files and lets DMIS stay up and running. I don't have any hard facts to back that up but just my experiences.

[Underspec]

I have not seen any definitive reason why it crashes. I'm using v4.1 now but was using 3.7 at my old job. So far I've only seen 2 software crashes.


P4 3.4ghz
1gig ram
Intel (Onboard) video 128mb

[JIM HARRIS]

Go to control panel,system properties,advanced,adjust for best performance.

[Wingman]

I don't get as many as my off shift gets. I get more now that I have an off shift - LOL.
Come to think of it I may not save as often as I used to either. Hmm
Thanks

[Underspec]

It seems to be a software issue and machine specific.

[SABarber]

I agree with Jim Harris. I run in best performance mode (XP SP2) since the OS uses less memory and it does not contain the GDI leaks MS introduced with SP2 for modes other than Best Performance.

[kneislyd]

I'm in the process of upgrading 7 CMMs at my site to PCDMIS v3.7 MR3 from MMIV (SCO UNIX). The PCs are XP SP2 w/512meg ram. On the development CMM while doing a measurement study I found that PCDMIS crashed after 8-11 repeated executions of the inspection program. Never did figure out why, but suspected memory leaks.

[SABarber]

It has been mentioned that MS introduced a GDI leak (about 300 each time pcdmis flips from learn to execute) with XP SP2. Running in Best Performance Mode bypasses these leaks. Downloading the 'MS hot fix' helps but does not clear all of them. XP Theme mode also uses memory. If you have limited memory using Best Performance Mode helps.

[STANLEY]

I know with 3.5 mr1 if you try and delete too much it will crash every time. I don't know if its the same way with the newer levels of pc-dmis.

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

I know with 3.5 mr1 if you try and delete too much it will crash every time. I don't know if its the same way with the newer levels of pc-dmis.

With V3.5 (no MR), if you delete MORE than a single feature & dimension is will crash using the DELETE key. It would rarely crash if you did it with mouse clicks through the menus at the top. HOWEVER, if you did a double CTRL-S save BEFORE deleting mass amounts, it very VERY rarely crashed.

[Tested]

On some versions features constructed from hits i.e. (CIR1.HIT[2], ....) OR from features constructed from (offset features), also features using assiginment varibles (V1,0,0) can cause crashes if you select update NOM's by mistake durning dimensioning.

[RussL]

We have a machine thats crashed since it was installed nearly two years ago.
B & S had made a number of suggestions, we would try one, it would help for a while and when the crashes would return, we'd try another. The latest thing we tried is working locally, this seemed to make the biggest difference though according to IT here this is illegal because they don't back up PC's.
We use V3.7 MR2 - XP SP2
By the way, I was told if you have XP, 2 gig's Ram is the max that is used unless IT has some XP switch toggled to use more, even then, I believe the max is 3 gig's if you are 32 bit.

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

We have a machine thats crashed since it was installed nearly two years ago.
B & S had made a number of suggestions, we would try one, it would help for a while and when the crashes would return, we'd try another. The latest thing we tried is working locally, this seemed to make the biggest difference though according to IT here this is illegal because they don't back up PC's.
We use V3.7 MR2 - XP SP2
By the way, I was told if you have XP, 2 gig's Ram is the max that is used unless IT has some XP switch toggled to use more, even then, I believe the max is 3 gig's if you are 32 bit.

Oh goodie! Another chance to slam IT (he he he he he)

There is no reason in the world for IT to NOT backup the PC's, it is not that hard AT ALL, in fact, it is as easy as backing up anything else. Working over a network has been a bug-a-boo with Pcdmis for as long as I can remember.

You can install up to 16 gig on XP 32 & 64, it all depends on the motherboard. However, 32 will only see a maximum of 3.2 or something like that and it will ONLY allow a single application to use up to 2 gig max. So, installing more than 3 gig IS a waste on XP 32bit and 2 gig is probably plenty. BUT, if you can talk your IT people into getting you XP 64bit, cram as much in as you can!