9 Replies Latest reply on Sep 16, 2016 11:13 PM by John Kecsmar

    Long shot - cosmos/M issues

    John Kecsmar
    John Kecsmar Sep 14, 2016 7:43 AM

      I have been using Cosmos/M for almost 25 years - still can't give it up. It works great. More robust than the 'light' version embedded in SW.

       

      Anyway, this is a long shot. For some reason since today whenever i create a new model in cosmos and try to check the model or even run it, it disappears and closes down. I open up an old file....perform the same, no problems, it works. It seems on new models that i create are having this issue.

       

      So, I monitored the new files it creates and I notice 2 files suddenly being created as it does this 'melt' down.

       

      One called X and is windows batch file and then the other GeoBat1.bat which is also listed as a windows batch file. I have never ever seen these in the 25 years of using Cosmos/M. It appears what ever is going on is related to these files and the creation of them.

       

      What is going on and why?..and more importantly..how can I stop it so I can run my models again?

       

      I do realise there is probably no one out there that can assist as it is an old XP format program pre SW too...but hey, i'll give it a short

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        • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
          Julien Boissat
          Julien Boissat Employee Sep 14, 2016 8:53 AM (in response to John Kecsmar)

          Hi,

           

          Can you please have a look at Solution Id: S-019420 to see if it applies to your case?

           

          Julien

            • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
              John Kecsmar
              John Kecsmar Sep 14, 2016 6:02 PM (in response to Julien Boissat)

              Hi Julien

               

              Many thanks for the reply (I know it is a long shot!). Where can I find the solution: S-019420?

              Do you happen to have a link to it?

               

              This is my first time using this website/forum, hence unsure how/where to look for this.

               

              John

                • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
                  Julien Boissat
                  Julien Boissat Employee Sep 15, 2016 5:11 AM (in response to John Kecsmar)

                  Hi John,

                  1. Log in the Customer Portal (https://customerportal.solidworks.com/ )
                  2. Click Knowledge Base
                  3. Type S-019420 and hit the Search button
                  4. There should be only one search result. Click on it.
                  5. Review the pdf in attachment of that Solution.

                  Julien

                    • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
                      John Kecsmar
                      John Kecsmar Sep 16, 2016 2:06 AM (in response to Julien Boissat)

                      Hi Julien

                       

                      Thanks for the idiots guide (that's me!). However, this leaves me with 2 issues.

                       

                      1) My Cosmos no longer has a valid registration, since we only maintained it during the XP era and stopped once it was integrated into SW. We only wanted FEA nothing else. That expired around 12 years ago.

                       

                      2) I do have SW though, but rarely use it. I am studying again and purchased an academic licence for SW for an updated FEA. But after reviewing the FEA inside SW i released it was vastly inferior to the Cosmos of old. It was the sole reason for purchasing SW to test it and use for my Thesis (with varying element types meshes etc etc), and get a full licence after, if i found it useful - which sadly not. So I haven't used the academic SW for a while (kept using my old Cosmos) and so when i tried to register, to gain access to the knowledge base, i get invalid serial number. Which probably means because it was only a 1 year licence, i am not able to gain access to it.

                      Ansys provides academic licences for free...just zero support though!

                       

                      Thus many thanks for your assistance, but I am not able to view the S-019420 report.

                       

                      John

                        • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
                          Alessandro Tornincasa
                          Alessandro Tornincasa Sep 16, 2016 2:51 AM (in response to John Kecsmar)

                          John,

                          are you a University professor ? Your University will almost surely be a SOLIDWORKS customer and you'd be entitled to have a free SOLIDWORKS Education Edition license which includes full simulation capabilities. And the good news is that it also includes COSMOSM.

                           

                          Many things have changed in 12 years, SOLIDWORKS Simulation has now almost all capabilities you have in COSMOSM/Geostar, plus many more features which you could not have in standalone fea (automatic contact, connectors, design check plots, design study optimization, and hundreds more). I would give a second chance to SOLIDWORKS Simulation.

                           

                          Alex

                            • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
                              John Kecsmar
                              John Kecsmar Sep 16, 2016 8:39 AM (in response to Alessandro Tornincasa)

                              Hi Alessandro,

                               

                              I am just an FEA user, I don’t need all the bells and whistles of the “part and system management of parts and control of such” etc that SW can do and does very well.  Like a defacto Drawing Office manager and BOMs for purchasing etc…not interested on that side, I just need robust FEA that’s it!

                               

                              I am a research student, and finally after a 15 years absence, finishing off my PhD. I’m doing it part-time and remotely from my University. I can log in to their database and system via a VPN, and can also model and perform FEA via their academic software licences on their servers. But last time I checked they don’t use SW. They have Ansys, Abaqus and one other, can’t recall. Hence I thought I may as well purchase the academic/student version as it appeared to do pretty much what I was after (Cosmos) anyway as I prefer to do it on my own PC rather than via the VPN.

                               

                              But after I loaded it and investigated further too, it doesn’t. Just two type of elements and that’s it!..and no control over the mesh either. Which is why I still persist with Cosmos. The modelling in SW is of course light years ahead of my version 2.9 cosmos, but the FEA side from what I have seen and read is inferior to that of my Cosmos. But anyway, that’s a slight side issue, as I am still stumped why my cosmos won’t run and keep produces these crazy windows batch files. It has never done that before..ever!

                               

                              What I can seem to do, which is weird, if I open up an old file, delete everything in it..and begin a new model..it works! But I’m not keen on that as I know it can corrupt the database at times. If I copy the folder to a new folder and open the same file in the new folder…same result, wont work….it is very strange!!

                                • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
                                  Bill McEachern
                                  Bill McEachern Sep 16, 2016 9:59 AM (in response to John Kecsmar)

                                  Well, you purchased a perpetual license when you bought COSMOS/M......Dassault now owns that so one would think they should be willing to help you on this if you are still running on the same OS and what not as when you bought the thing. But hey reality might be different.

                                  This is a classic case of how SWX Sim creates customer for other products....due to the apparent lack of product strategy...ie no migration path to more complete/robust offerings. COSMOS/M was a pretty solid product in its its day but has been completely ignored by SWX (and from a business perspective they would argue its a justifiable position and they are probably right due to how they positioned themselves on FEA)...while it still ships with the premium product suite there is absolutely no support for it. I doubt there is one reseller that has staff that could build and run a job in it without considerable review and practice. 

                                  I completely disagree with Alessandro's assertion that SWX sim can do what COSMOS/M can do - not even close as you are plainly aware of.

                                  If your work involves low element counts the ABAQUS student version might be the way to go - it might be a lot more helpful and comes with a handy dandy book that provides a great over view. It also comes with the explicit solver which if nothing else you might find interesting to explore (COMOS/M had one as well but it was pretty limited - it is what powers the drop test in SWX sim). If you need a bigger model you can always mesh and run it in the Universities solvers. Abaqus CAE is more like GEOSTAR but much better in my humble opinion. The NL solvers are much more robust and general - i.e. almost any sensible model attribute will run in any procedure. The other thing is that you might be able to install ABAQUS locally and then just log in to access/use the universities token pool. Good luck.

                                    • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
                                      John Kecsmar
                                      John Kecsmar Sep 16, 2016 11:13 PM (in response to Bill McEachern)

                                      Bill et al,

                                       

                                      Thanks for chipping in and also confirming my own thoughts about Cosmos v SW and its poor integration and ambivalence within SW. Not to mention one had to buy all the "other" unwanted stuff merely to use it - which is why way way back in the day we decided to no longer continue under the new DDS/SW. Wasn't what we wanted/needed - yet another CAD system. Pity as Cosmos is a heavy weight FEA and SW would be better for it.

                                       

                                      I can/could use all the FEA options I have available at my Uni..but that also means starting from scratch to learn and teach myself a new program. I'm half way through my thesis and to be honest don't have the time - currently - to do so...which was also the reason why I started off with Cosmos - easy and no time needed to pick up a new program.

                                       

                                      Everything was working well with Cosmos until a few days ago. It is an air-gap PC since it is on my old XP system, and only has a few programs on it...thus unsure why it suddenly starting doing what it has never done before in 25 years of usage! It has some strange bugs and quirks, but i've gotten used to those over the years. But never this!

                                       

                                      Well, as you all note, since i cannot gain access to the SW knowledgeable to see if the S-019420 solves my issue or not, there is little I can do other than reinstall the OS to see if it solves my problem. A pain, but there is no other option for me.

                                       

                                      Thanks to those that have contributed to assist.

                                        • Re: Long shot - cosmos/M issues
                                          John Kecsmar
                                          John Kecsmar Sep 16, 2016 11:13 PM (in response to John Kecsmar)

                                          UPDATE:

                                           

                                          I have been very kindly sent the S-019420. It does indeed describe exactly what is occurring. I have tried using the other *.exe file the master rather than the slave...same result. Just disappears upon execution.

                                           

                                          I have also, prior to my posting on this forum, uninstalled and cleaned the whole PC, and then reinstalled...same result.

                                           

                                          The PATH check is interesting. It has been many years since I learnt DOS, however, the path may be the clue. The report notes it should read:

                                           

                                          %COSMOSM%;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;

                                           

                                          Mine shows this:

                                           

                                          %COSMOSM%;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Lenovo

                                           

                                          Im not sure if this is correct?

                                           

                                          I have tried running the Vprobs, they work...but when trying a new model, same result, disappears upon execution.