System unstable after installing AutoCAD

Question

I'm having terrible stability issues with Autocad/Autodesk 2009 on a Latitude D630. I can't lock the problem down to any software/hardware issues or even find out what user actions are connected to the instability. It just keeps crashing with no apparent pattern.

I've reinstalled Autodesk, reimaged the laptop a couple of times using known good images, and have even swapped the hard disc into a new laptop. Any ideas?

There are no errors in the event viewer for the times of the crashes and there are no crash logs or dumps. The onlything odd that I notced was that just before the ssytem went down there was a message saying that the CPU was cycling its frequencies from 1ghz 1.2ghz.

Is is possible that when the PC tries to save power by lowering the processor cycles it is causing this instability?

mombodog · Answer

Do you have plenty of installed memory?

K-infotech · Answer

Yep, it's a D630 which I've pretty much maxed out. Not an ideal platform, I know, but if anything it should be slow rather than unstable. I've had a few different error messages on it, but the latest one is

Microsoft Visual C++ runtime Library

Runtime Error

(Path to Inventor.exe)

Abnormal program Termination

There are no errors in the log files for this time period and there is nothing obvious wrong with the machine, the last time that this happed the machine was siting idle with Autodesk open, though it has also happened while it has been in use. It's only ever unstable with Autodesk/autoCAD. I've reinstalled the softweware several times, I've installed it on several different machines (All D630). I've used known good images of D630 that are perfectly stable on every other machine (The ones witho-ut Autodesk), and also I've personally rebuilt the machine by hand from first principles. I know that the built is good, but the something is causing an instability and I don't know what.

mombodog · Answer

I would run the Dell diagnostics on the hardware.

Larry R · Answer

Yeah, I second the diagnostics option (F12 at the Dell splash screen and select Onboard Diags, or boot from the Dell Resource (aka Drivers & Utilities) CD).  At the least find a copy of memtest86, or a similar test to verify it isn't a memory failure.  I like memtest86 as it also tests the cache in the CPU and not just the RAM.

Windows General

System unstable after installing AutoCAD

Was this post helpful?