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Solidworks 2011 used to work before without software OpenGL

Question asked by S. dw on Dec 7, 2011
Latest reply on Feb 16, 2012 by S. dw

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Hi all,

I've been busy with this problem for some days now:

Solidworks 2011 used to work fine until a couple of days ago. When opening an existing part (and solidworks) the program hung. After trying a couple of times I managed to open a new part. Afterwords I worked for something like 4 hours in SW without problems.

The next day when trying to open a part the same problem occured: the program hangs. It is using 100% cpu (1 of my 4 cores), the memory stays the same.

I am able to open a 2D drawing and the basic program without opening a part or assembly.

After looking on the internet, I tried to thick on: "Use software OpenGl". After which I am able to use the program, but much more slowely. I tried the following:

- Updating video drivers to latest (clean installes)

- going back to previous working drivers

- repaired solidworks

- reinstalled solidworks

The problem persist. I can't use SW anymore without Soft OpenGl.

My system:

Intel Q6600 (2.4Ghz)

4*1Gb pc 8500

POV Nvidia GTX 460 SSE2 1 Gb

Asus P5Q-D Turbo

lots of hdd's etc...

OS: Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 with all updates

SW: Solidworks 2011 x64 SDK Sp 2

I installed "OpenGL Extension Viewer" . My OpenGL versions is 4.2. I did some rendering test with that. No problems there.

So I'm puzzled. I did not install any new software or updates when the problem started to occur at first. First time it occured i managed to work around it by opening a new part. Any help would be appreciated.

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Kelvin Lamport Dec 7, 2011 12:18 PM
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That is typical of the GeForce cards. They are not suitable for SolidWorks. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

If the card has been working for some time, it could also be the card has "gone bad". A component may be breaking (or broken) down.

Short-term fix ... try re-seating the card.
Permanent fix ... get an approved card.
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Jeremy Feist Dec 7, 2011 12:21 PM
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if there were no software changes - one possibility is that your graphics card is simply wearing out.
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- S. dw @ Jeremy Feist on Dec 7, 2011 1:59 PM
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  Thanks for the replies. As I use the SDK i'm obviously a student... and have just been studying electronics... the thought of something being wrong with the card occured to me. I can test a card of the same series later this week. I'll post the results here.
  The thing with the card being bad is that all renderings with "OpenGL Extensions viewer" work flawlessly.
  
  I've tried re-seating the card but it didn't help.
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  - S. dw @ S. dw on Dec 8, 2011 2:41 PM
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    I tried today another card, also a GTX 460 SSE2,
    same result. The program hangs when trying to open a part or assembly.
    Help...
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S. dw Dec 9, 2011 1:29 PM
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Today I installed a previous version of SW, SW2010 X64. This version works with hardware OpenGL.
So, to recapitulate I tried the following to get SW 2011 SDK x64 to work properly with openGL:

- reinstalled SW
- repaired SW
- Reinstall drivers (newer, older, beta...)
- tried swapping graphic cards...
- tried graphic cards setting...

Non of the above made a change. It's all pointing in the same direction though, a problem with SW2011... essecialy when SW2010 does work...
SW RX gives same results in 2010 en 2011 versions.
Any help would be appreciated.

Working 2010 version
Failling 2011 version: I don't get further then that screen. Sometimes I can see the feature tree. No model appears. Afterwards I have to start task manager to close SW. The rest of the screen turns black when trying to switch windows.

SW2011 is using at that moment 100% CPU (1/4 cores). I found out that when I change the video card setting for SW: "Threaded optimization"; the program still hangs but does not use any CPU anymore. Turning this on or off does not make a difference for the 2010 version...
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- Kelvin Lamport @ S. dw on Dec 9, 2011 12:59 PM
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  From my previous post;
  That is typical of the GeForce cards. They are not suitable for SolidWorks. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
  
  If the card has been working for some time, it could also be the card has "gone bad". A component may be breaking (or broken) down.
  
  Short-term fix ... try re-seating the card.
  Permanent fix ... get an approved card.
  
  Updated version;
  That is typical of the GeForce cards. They are not suitable for SolidWorks. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.
  
  If the card has been working for some time, it could also be the card has "gone bad". A component may be breaking (or broken) down.
  
  Short-term fix ... try re-seating the card.
  Permanent fix ... get an approved card.
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  - S. dw @ Kelvin Lamport on Dec 9, 2011 1:47 PM
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    Thanks for the reply. I understand the explanation of: "Get an approved card". But buying a 500€ card (as a student) to solve a software problems seems a bit extreme. Honestly, I would not be even shure it would work. It used to work with Geforce, the card is not gone bad. Drivers are up to date and the previous version of SW works flawlesly with the card.
    I do understand that -as a CAD company- Dassault has tested the Quadro cards and prefers them (and supports them...). But I'm not the only one out there using it with a Geforce series cards. Am I the only one having this problem? Are system setting likely to cause such a problem? The knowledge base of SW is not accessible for me, so no help there...
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    - Jerry Steiger @ S. dw on Dec 9, 2011 3:48 PM
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      S.
      
      Not all approved cards are expensive. The cheapest approved ATI and Nvidia cards are less than $200in the states. More, no doubt in Europe, if only for the VAT, but I doubt they will go as high as your estimate. Still not something you want to hear, but spending a bit may be preferable to waiting for software OpenGL.
      
      I've been using SW almost 13 years now. I have always run middle of the road approved cards. Every card eventually had to be replaced when a new version of SW pushed it too hard to get real work done. It's just the nature of the guys who write software to push the hardware limits.
      
      Jerry Steiger
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John Burrill Dec 9, 2011 2:23 PM
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One of the problems with the GeForce cards (at least as far as Solidworks is concerned) is that they have a subset of the full OpenGL implementation. Now in the case of my old GeForce 7600, the fallout from that was Solidworks wouldn't turn on HDRI and reflections (realview) altough judging by Half Life 2, the card was certainly capable of rendering them. So, Solidworks is not only checking for hardware opengGL support, but also the full ICD implementation. In the case of some drivers Solidworks won't turn on hardware acceleration.
This behavior is the result of Solidworks tests with specific card and driver implementaitons which they do with every release. So, while it's not arbitrary what cards Solidworks will support, there are human decisions involved-which is why you're OpenGL tester program may say it works fine but Solidwork still won't use it.
OK, so how does this apply to you, you wonder
First, you might be using a driver verison/card combination that did OK when Solidworks tried it out on 2010, that they subsequently decided not to support (for reasons of stability, usually) in 2011. First thing to try is updating the driver. I'd suggest an Nvidia unified driver instead of the vendor-specific one. If that doesn't work, I'd try a microsoft compatibility driver. Back in the day, Solidworks reported on uncertified cards like the GeForce so you could tell what the worst combinations were. Nowadays, it looks like they're only reporting on workstation cards.
If that doesn't work, try a microsoft compatibiliity driver. It's possible, that Solidworks may better implement a generic driver for a non-certified card than the latest vendor version.
If that doens't work, try bumping hardware acceleration back in Windows (display settings dialog, troublshooting tab in XP) and let the CPU render controls, cursors and application frames. One of the problems with gaming cards is that they don't support multiple accelerated application windows usually, so Solidworks might enable openGL acceleration if it knows it doesn't have to compete with Windows for GPU handles.
I don't have an explanation for why performance has progressively declined. My Geforce 7600 had a fan go south on me. I put a utility fan in the case, aimed at the GPU heatsink. It worked at first but after a couple of months, it would only boot in safemode. When I tried to boot the machine normally, it would shut down shortly after entering my user name and password. Interestingly enough, I put an old Oxygen GVX1 in the machine and it came up right away with now problems. I guess the lesson is that hardware problems can be subtle at times.
Anyway, good luck. Let us know how it works out.
JOhn
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Dustin Barnes Dec 28, 2011 10:19 PM
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I am also having the same problem as the person who started this thread. The difference is that I do have an "approved card" with the correct driver. I have installed and reinstalled as well as repaired. Haven't had any luck. I have not only had the problem on our workstation, but also on my mobile workstation. The workstation uses a Quadro 2000 graphics card and the mobile uses a 2000M. Without OpenGL enabled, I am not able to start a new part/assembly or open a part/assembly. Drawing works just fine. I do not see how this could be a graphics card issue mainly because I am experiencing this on two well-equiped computers, with 2 somewhat different cards. Has anyone found a solution to this program yet?
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- S. dw @ Dustin Barnes on Jan 6, 2012 3:49 PM
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  Due to my upcoming examinations I haven't had the time to try and solve the problem further. All I can think of is to remove and reinstall all parts of software needed by SW, thus all the Microsoft Redistributables. I have tried installing a premium version of SW2011 but the problem persisted (so it is not limited to the SDK version). Any solutions would be appreciated!
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- S. dw @ Dustin Barnes on Feb 20, 2012 9:07 AM
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  I think I've found the cause. I've formatted my system and systematically reinstalled all software while testing SW. It appears it has something to do with my anti-virus. Just disabling it doesn't help. After removing my AV SW could run again without soft open GL. I am currently using Bitdefender Total Security 2012.
  
  I've been able to run SW with my antivirus on too but not for long. After rebooting a couple of times, SW failed again. Removed AV, SW worked again.
  
  If you look around on the forum you can find similar posts with conflicts between bitdefender and SW.
  
  I've changed the AV to Comodo free 2011 (wich seem to work on W2K8r2) and problems are gone...
  
  Cheers.
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Solidworks 2011 used to work before without software OpenGL

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