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Thread: AutoCAD installation on Vista Business 64-bit

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    Post AutoCAD installation on Vista Business 64-bit

    People:
    I am an outside consultant for a firm that uses ACAD. My expertise is with servers, workstations, and networks, not with ACAD.
    I've recently built and installed a new workstation using Windows Vista Business 64-bit for its OS, to accommodate 8 GB of RAM. My client continues to experience several crashes daily, usually while he rotates a fully-rendered 3D representation of a fairly complex drawing. [I will admit that as an outsider I don't know what a "complex" drawing is. The drawings are roughly thirty to one hundred times as complex as, say, a late-design steam locomotive, but not as complex as the Empire State Building.]
    Two questions:
    (1) When I set up AutoCAD 2009 on this machine, there was no specific indication that the 64-bit version was installed; the installation was quick and clean, but not very informative. For all I know, there is a 32-bit version running -- so the first question is: How can I be sure that the 64-bit version of ACAD 2009 is installed and running?
    (2) When I check memory usage on the workstation using Task Manager, there is never an indication that more than 3.5 GB of the available RAM is being used, regardless of the number and size of drawings that are opened simultaneously. Is this an indication that only the 32-bit version of ACAD 2009 is being used? Or is there some setting that must be enabled to permit ACAD to use all available RAM?
    Thanks in advance for your help.

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    Certified AUGI Addict jaberwok's Avatar
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    Default Re: AutoCAD installation on Vista Business 64-bit

    1. The A2009 DVD contains both 32- and 64-bit versions. The installer detects the operating system and installs the correct version.

    2. AFAIK acad should be able to use all the memory made available by the OS.

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    AUGI Addict Glenn Pope's Avatar
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    Default Re: AutoCAD installation on Vista Business 64-bit

    When running AutoCAD, go into the task manager and go to the Processes tab. Look for "acad.exe" and see if "*32" is added to the end.

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    Default Re: AutoCAD installation on Vista Business 64-bit

    Thanks for the info.
    (1) Checking the Task Manager "Processes" tab indicates that the version of acad.exe that's running is in fact the 64-bit version -- i.e., the "*32" indicator of a 32-bit process is absent. I regard this as good news.
    (2) However, the TM "Performance" tab indicates that 3.25 GB of an available 8 GB of RAM is being used when ten Windows applications are running, including IE 8 with 6 or so graphically heavy sites open, and ACAD with two large drawings open. I take this as an indication that somehow not all available RAM is being made available to all apps. I am having the client perform a stress test -- open 10 to 15 additional "large" ACAD drawings and check RAM use again.
    I'll post the result of that test in about 2 hours (1:00 PM EST).
    Thanks again for the help so far.

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    Default Re: AutoCAD installation on Vista Business 64-bit

    I stress-tested the ACAD application just now. Existing tasks were:
    2x Internet Explorer 8 (1 tab each)
    3x Windows Explorer
    MS Mail
    Task Manager

    AutoCAD: Client opened 18 drawings, each of which was a complete schematic for a pipe organ. [To repeat, I am not an ACAD specialist, so please pardon any goofs in this description.] The detail goes down to the individual screw, nut, and bolt; each organ appears to be constructed from about 60 to 75 subassemblies, totaling in my estimation 10,000 to 30,000 individual items. The drawings are displayed as fully rendered 3D images. The client then attempted to rotate one of the drawings an arbitrary amount, say 270 degrees.

    The machine did not crash. The application appeared to loop. Task Manager reported RAM use peaking at 4.06 GB, so clearly the OS is recognizing and using RAM over the 32-bit limit. CPU use on both threads got to about 55% and stayed there for about ten minutes, after which I forcibly terminated the ACAD application using Task Manager. The image was being displayed only occasionally, perhaps every twenty seconds for about three seconds; otherwise the AutoCAD workspace screen was white. Task Manager reported the AutoCAD application as "not responding"; the ESC key had no effect.

    The dual CPUs of the Xeon processor were continuously busy, but other applications could be launched and executed normally, with normal response time. I no longer believe the machine was short of any resources, and I now believe it was using everything it had available. After I terminated AutoCAD, it was restarted normally without rebooting the system and the customer is using it now.

    However: AutoCAD 2009 appeared to be looping or otherwise stuck while performing a simple drawing rotation.

    Any ideas?

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    Certified AUGI Addict jaberwok's Avatar
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    Default Re: AutoCAD installation on Vista Business 64-bit

    I don't know what the problem is but I can say `ignore the "not responding" messages'.
    Whilst calculating, acad locks out all IRQs.
    I'd look into the graphics card display driver first - is it the latest and is it recommended by autodesk?

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    Default Re: AutoCAD installation on Vista Business 64-bit

    What video card model is installed in this workstation? Is the latest driver from the vendor or nVidia/ATI installed?

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