AutoCad LT 2008 File Open L-O-N-G Delay

[compumatters]

Hello,

I am the IT support person (outsourced) for an architect firm which uses the AutoCad LT software intensely. I am happy to have found this forum and have (unsucessfully, thus far) searched through many posts in an attempt to find a solution to an issue that has been plaguing my customer for awhile now. Before contacting me, they placed several phone calls to Autodesk Support, who were also unable to help.

Briefly, they are set up with a simulated fileserver (which is really just an isolated workstation) in a peer-to-peer environment, with all of the computers running Windows XP as standalone units, running various versions of the standalone AutoCAD LT software, from 2004 to 2008.

A couple of months ago, they had another IT company out to repair some issues on the "simulated fileserver" (this is the computer containing all of the drawings for AutoCad LT, which all users access), they began experiencing the problem on one standalone workstation running AutoCad LT 2008 (the upgrade version, upgraded from the co-existent full version of AutoCad LT 2005). Ever since the simulated fileserver was worked on, this user has been experiencing a huge delay when executing AutoCad LT 2008, then File Open (long delay). The same delay happens when using the icon to attempt a file open. I am able to go to Windows Explorer and click on any drawing file and have AutoCad 2008 open immediately to the drawing. Consequently, with the help of some wonderful posts here, I realize that the problem is with the path or with the computer's attempt to locate files or settings which are no longer relevant.

I am pretty good with software, but I must admit... AutoCAD does appear to be a unique animal, heh. I have not found the standard .ini or configuration files that I would have normally gone to right away. I have discovered that AutoCad writes to .cui and .pgp files, but I am not sure which direciton to go at this point to isolate the error.

The account is reluctant to reinstall the software (which, of course, would be a primary step with other programs) because of the amount of time involved in retweaking the settings back to the user's preferences, so I am looking for another solution.

The only thing that I have found thus far, again thanks to this forum, that makes me think that I am on the right trail is when I do a File Open, I do see the list of other folders on the left under the "MyDocuments" folder. Two of these folders apparently belong to a user who is no longer with the company (e.g. the path says \\Mark\). I believe this might be a possibility to fixing the problem; however, I do not know which files to edit or to recustomize, as I am not familiar enough with the AutoCad LT software to know.

If anyone could point me in the right direction and confirm whether it sounds like this is viable... or has any other solutions... I would absolutely be appreciative.

Thank you so much, and best wishes to all of you with your endeavors,

Paul Slater
Compumatters

[jaberwok]

Hi Paul, welcome to AUGI and thanks for a clear description of the problem.
The first thing is - forget ini and pgp files.
Open autocad, click Tools on the top menu bar, scroll down to Options and click the Files tab. Steadily work down the list, clicking on the + signs and read all the listed paths. If this is 2008LT ungraded from 2005LT, you are looking for any entries that mention 2005. Any paths that point to a 2005LT installation should be altered to the equivalent 2008LT paths (browse to ensure that the new paths actually exist).
For example - if you see "C:\Program Files AutoCAD 20005LT\support", doulble-click it and browse to "C:\Program Files\AutoCAD 2008LT\support and click it and press "okay".
Come back to us if you still have problems.

edit - be aware that this may be only the first step toward the solution.

[compumatters]

Hiya John,

Thanks very much for the welcome and for the quick help!

I had made my way to the Tools/Options section that you mentioned, but I went back and double-checked. Indeed, there are no references to 2005 anywhere: only 2008 is mentioned, or blank, or the user's local data folder.

I do realize that this may be a multi-step fix, but I am certainly appreciative of anything that you can offer, as I am about out of ideas myself... and I know the user is ready to toss this thing out the door, heh heh.

I am still curious, admittedly, about the aforementioned references to irrelevant locations on the simulated fileserver:

All of these appear as selection folders in File, Open, under "MyDocuments"... but none of these locations exist at this point:
\\Mark\drawings\Employee Drawings
\\Mark\drawings\
\\Mark\drawings\Employee Drawings\Boyd

Thanks very much for any help with fixing this issue!

Paul

P.S. I'm also wondering if it would be beneficial to do a repair (via the Add/Remove applet)... and if I were to do so, would I be prompted for the CDs? (I am currently connected to the users computer via remote desktop and do not have physical access to software today).

[compumatters]

Update regarding this problem which had really exasperated me. I was finally able to fix it, and I thought I would post with the solution for future use to users in similar situations. As instinct suggested, the problem was the "Places" List, which was pointing to places on the simulated fileserver that no longer existed, i.e. those folders below "My Documents" on the left side when choosing File Open. By removing all folders expect "My Documents", the File Open delay was instantly avoided. Fantastic.

Thanks again, John, for your help with this issue. Much appreciated!

Best wishes to all of you AutoCadders!

Paul

[jaberwok]

Hi Paul.
Glad you got it fixed and thanks for posting the fix.