MasterCAM X with Solids Crashing

[stanektool]

I have about 10 machines on my shop floor all running MasterCAM X MR1. Two of those machines are used to run Mill level 3 with Solids. Those two machines both crash on average about 7 times a day. The toolmakers say that it probably always happens when they are working with a large IGES import (2000 or more surfaces). One of my guys says it happens a lot when he's saving and opening files and the other says it happens when he's zoomed in on a wireframe and rotating it.

 

I'm not sure if this will help but here is one of the error messages that Windows pops out.

 

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The Instruction at "0x7c910e02" referenced memory at "0x3f008081" the memory could not be written.

--

 

These are both Pentium 4 3.0gig machines with 2gig of RAM running Windows XP SP2 with the latest updates (We have a WSUS server serving approved updates on the fly to all machines on the network.) They are also running MasterCAM X MR1 (The latest crappy 'reinstall the entire package' update).

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

-Craig

[P_Scott]

stanektool,

 

I would check to see what the differences are between the 8 machines that run Mcam X without crashing and the 2 that run it but crash several times a day. I can almost guarantee that it would be related to the graphics card. Is the Shading active when those large IGES ("I guess") files are brought in? What is the graphics card on the two machines that crash regularly? ATI cards are still to be avoided at all costs when running Mcam. The error message you printed is meaningless to all but the few software engineers who wrote it and programmed the O/S to show it when something goes wrong. As far as all the computers running

quote:

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MasterCAM X MR1 (The latest crappy 'reinstall the entire package' update).

---

, I've experienced no such crashes on my system since installing that "crappy" MR1. But then again, I'm using a graphics card with a nVidia Quadro FX 540 chipset on it. HTH

[stanektool]

Absolutly nothing is different, all the machines were purchased together from the same vendor with the same components. They also all have the same software installed on them. the only difference I can see is on the two that are crashing the users both run Mill level 3 with Solids.

 

I said 'crappy' because they made us do a complete uninstall and reinstall of MasterCAM X without giving us an MSI file to allow automatic install through Active Directory. Know what kind of pain in the arse it is to go to 10 seperate machines while guys are trying to use them to update software? Not everyones tool shop has one computer in it. *****Come on MasterCAM, get with the modern era and give us administrators the tools we need to get our jobs done in a reasonable ammount of time***** what if an admin had 1000 machines to update?

 

As for the video cards, those machines are running Quatro FX 500 series video cards also.

[gcode]

quote:

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Quatro FX 500 series video cards also.

---

Go into your Advanced Display Properties and

make sure the Open GL settings Vertical Sync and Unified back/depth buffer are turned off.

[stanektool]

I apologize, they are not 500 Series. Then are in fact Quatro NVS 280 PCI-E cards. and when I go into Display Properties->Settings->Advanced I see no Open-GL settings even in the Tab for Nvidia Quatro.

 

-Craig

[dwsz71]

stanektool,

 

Not to nit-pick but the NVS series is about as good as onboard graphics. They are 2D cards. And if they are 280 models, they are PCI cards, not PCI-E cards. Much lower bandwidth.

 

link

[WWFCAM]

I also have X crashing multiple time during the day

 

the splash screen comes up sim has become disconnected

 

happens most when using solids and sufaces

 

I also have hypertreading on

 

I'll try your suggesstion gcode and see if it helps

 

thanks

[gcode]

quote:

---

Quatro NVS 280

---

This is an extremely poor choice for a Mastercam

(or Cad/Cam) video card.. Its about 1 step up

from a blackboard and chalk

[jctjct]

I have this card - Quadro NVS 280 PCI-E - without much crashing. I have some minor graphics glitches sometimes, but nothing I can't deal with.

[dwsz71]

Correction on my part:

 

I did some more research and found that the NVS 280 is also available in a PCI-E variety as well as AGP.

 

But they are still 2D cards with multi-display support. The FX line might suit you better. And faster, seeing as you would have some actual support from the graphics card helping you out. Right now I'd say the CPU is doing all of the work rendering as well as calculations of toolpath.

[Greg Williams]

quote:

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Quatro NVS 280 PCI-E cards

---

I am suprised that mastercam works at all with this card.

[P_Scott]

stanektool,

 

quote:

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Quatro NVS 280

---

Unfortunately, gcode and dwsz71 are correct. Herein lies your problem. Those graphics cards are not good. You could try to turn down the hardware acceleration but that's a "band-aid" solution that will rob your system of processing power. Especially if you are trying to generate some complex surface toolpaths. So your options would be to turn down (or OFF) the hardware acceleration for those pc's, or replace the graphics cards with Quadro FX 500's or better. HTH

[gcode]

stanektool,

 

On the Screen page of System Configuration there are some graphic support settings.

You might want the try switching from Open GL

to GDI.

Also try checking the "Disable hardware acceleration"

This might help with the frequent crashing on your

solids machines.

I suspect you will find the resulting performance losses with these settings unacceptable.

Then again maybe not. Your current video cards have neither hardware acceration or OplenGl support.

You realy need a more appropriate video card on your solids machines.

Frankly, I'm surprised they will even run with their current video cards.

[stanektool]

Ugh, that figures. Ok, I will look into purchasing some 500 series cards. Dumb xxxx me, when I saw Quadro under the video list I assumed. Didn't even bother researching the NVS vs. FX. Oh well, live and learn.

 

-Craig

[bbrown01]

Graig,

 

You're not alone. See recent link.