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If Solidworks wants our business, why aren't they answering our questions?

Question asked by Jim Canale on Apr 24, 2009
Latest reply on Apr 30, 2009 by 1-I7AP5K

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Hello!

Three weeks ago I got the email about the 30 day trial for the engineering stimulus package. I've never tried Solidworks and have never downloaded a trial. Thought it would be a great opportunity to try the program. Sounded easy. Just download the program and install it using the trial key they emailed.

Unfortunately, 6 attempts at a download over the past three weeks got me 6 freezes of my PC. It happens the instant I click on the link. I also tried 2 times from my home PC. Of course, Solidworks immediately emails trial keycodes, but what good are those without the program?!!??@@$#

So I called Solidworks customer support today. Frankly, I think the young lady was kind of snotty. I told her I've never had a problem downloading updates and trials from other websites, but she acted as if she thought I should take a course in "computers 101". This to a guy who has been using Macs or PC's daily since 1984. She didn't have any constructive advice other than to tell me I should:

A. Turn of my antivirus software.. (YEAH RIGHT, like I'm going to do that...)
B. Look up a "reseller". (I don't want to be pestered by sales calls now.)
C. Sign up for this forum.

I browsed over here and saw that the first few posts are from people who ALSO can't download. Why does Solidworks send someone who can't download the program to a public forum to ask other people who can't download the program how to fix it?!! Is this just a scam to force me to talk to a reseller? Do they really have a program to download?

Actually, I did send an email to one of the local sales offices a couple weeks ago about the download issue. They didn't respond. I guess Solidworks doesn't want my business.

There are other CAD programs I can evaluate and buy.

No one else has this question

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1-I7AP5K Apr 24, 2009 3:33 PM
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1. The girl you spoke with gave you sound advice. You MUST disable antivirus software before you install SW, but this shouldn't impact downloading the program.

2. SW support is provided through local resellers, so if you want support, you're going to have to go through them. The reason they sent you to the forum is because you refused to go to the reseller. I've never gotten a lot of sales calls from ours (just a few calls over the years and mostly when our licenses are about to lapse).

3. It sounds as if you have a PC problem of some sort. I would recommend talking to the reseller to see if they can spot anything that is amiss.
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Jeff Mirisola Apr 24, 2009 7:17 PM
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Jim,
You click on the link to download and it freezes? Is it your PC freezing or the connection to the link? How about some more info (pc specs, etc)?
Also, you say you've tried it also from your home PC. The manner in which you've worded things makes me think you've tried from work, too. The engineering stimulus package is for out of work engineers to hone their skills. If you want a trial version of SolidWorks, one with physical media, you should contact a VAR. The stimulus version has limitations that the trial version wouldn't.
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Albert Brain Apr 26, 2009 5:39 PM
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Jim,

I recently downloaded the stimulus package it took about 5 hours to download using a high-speed connection. If your on dial-up you might as well forget it. The only problem I had was loading it on my computer. I had to uninstall anti-spy ware programs, but once I did I was off to the races. You have to enter the key code in the download manager before you can download it and make sure you are only downloading the standard version. Hope this helps.
Al
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Oboe Wu Apr 27, 2009 4:40 PM
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Hi Jim,

The download process will fetch the SolidWorks Installation Manager as an exe file (about 25 MB) which will download the approapriate package according to your serial number. So there could be some settings on your machine blocking this Installation Manager.

Besides, there are following notes about the download at:
http://www.solidworks.com/sw/esp/4644_ENU_HTML.htm

NOTE: The SolidWorks Student Design Kit is a very large download. It is approximately 1.7 GB (1700 MB), so the following are required:

. A broadband Internet connection

. At least 8 GB of available disk space to download, install, and begin using the software effectively

. A rough estimate of download times depending on your Internet connection speed:

768Kbps DSL: 6 hours
1.5Mbps DSL or T1 Connection: 3 hours
6.0Mbps-DSL/cable or T2 connection: 1 hour
10Mbps cable or T3 connection: 30 minutes

Thanks,
-Oboe
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- Jim Canale @ Oboe Wu on Apr 28, 2009 1:25 PM
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  Thanks for all the replies.
  
  You think I'm being selfish about this? We've had some layoffs, and I fear that I may be next. I'm working hard to keep my job. But you can't fault me for wanting to upgrade my skills just in case. School's out of the question for me. I have a bad health problem. Can't sit upright in a straight backed chair for more than a few minutes. I need special seating and the option of getting out of my chair at regular intervals. I can't get disability. I have to work. And I WANT To work. Thank God at my present job, I'm machining parts when I'm not drafting. I'm not slave to the screen.
  
  Most of the computers in our business are 5 - 7 years old and run Windows 2K OS. Our electrical engineering staff uses 15 - 20 year old PCB CAD programs which run under DOS. I do mechanical work and have the most modern tool we have in house , Autocad LT 06. I've been trying to convince management a 3D program like Solidworks would be very helpful to our work here. But it's tough convincing my employer when I can't SHOW THEM. (Believe me, I've tried.)
  
  I asked a reseller last fall if I could get a demo program to try. He said it's not available. So when this opportunity appeared, I figured it was a Godsend. My work computer's W2K and probably won't run Solidworks. I figured I could start a download at work during lunch hour or after I punch out, transfer it to disk and take it home to learn. My cable connection at work is a bit faster than my connection at home.
  
  When I first attempted the download (from either work or home computers), I was asked to install the download manager, which I did. Both computers freeze when you take the next step. I never get the opportunity to designate a save location for the download. I've never had any problems downloading from other sites.
  
  As for shutting down anti-virus.. Sorry. I won't do that. Neither would our IT manager permit it. Pretty foolhardy to do that while on the internet. Maybe for an installation when disconnected from the internet, but not a download. I used to handle IT here when the company just started. I'd say it's extremely rare that an installer requires that virus software be turned off first.
  
  Any way, I've got to get cracking and make up my lost time. I'll talk to a reseller again.
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Tom Nicholson Apr 28, 2009 1:59 PM
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Not sure about the stimulus trial, but when your on subscription, your allowed to just download the release without using the installation manager. Your probably having problems downloading because your on w2k and your trying to use the installation manager.

If there is a link "if your having problems 'click here'" , click on that, then download everything separately.. make note of all the required prereq's that solidworks needs to work correctly. when you do a full download of solidworks not using the IM, the prereq's are NOT downloaded and installed.. You might have to download SP0.0 and then SP3.0..
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- Adrian Velazquez @ Tom Nicholson on Apr 28, 2009 2:38 PM
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  Jim, just a couple of notes:
  
  SolidWorks 09 won't run on W-2K, you need at least XP. It is on the system requierements.
  
  Dissabling your AV while downloading SW is a must. Some AVs are well known to block some important files from the SW Download which causes a faulty install.
  
  If you can, invest on a newer PC then talk to your VAR.
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- Jim Canale @ Tom Nicholson on Apr 30, 2009 1:16 PM
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  Thanks Tom and Adrian. Finally got the download to work (without freezing my PC). Actual download only took about 40 minutes. Don't know what the issue was. I did not disable the antivirus, as our system administrator won't allow that. We may be backwards on our application software, but at least our AV program is a late issue server based Norton Corporate Edition. I'm sure that Norton AV would alert me if it blocked a file.
  
  Maybe all the bitching I did with Solidworks support caused them to change something on the website? Maybe not. Now I just have to transport the installer to my home PC and start learning.
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  - John Summers @ Jim Canale on Apr 30, 2009 3:02 PM
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    Solidworks no longer requires turning off anti-virus depending upon the anti-virus company (click here).
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1-I7AP5K Apr 30, 2009 3:36 PM
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Thanks, John, I was not aware of that. The page seems to have been very cleverly hidden, those crafty devils.
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If Solidworks wants our business, why aren't they answering our questions?

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