ProE problem - it wont start

[A Reinke]

I installed ProE 2001 and the student 2000i2 version last night to my XP machine. i'm pretty sure this has worked in the past, but i can't figure out what it wont load.

i double click the shortcut for either, it loads a command window for a minute, then it goes away, the IDE light flashes a bit, then nothing happens. my std file on the desktop says this:

Failed to initialize communications. Some features are disabled.
Exception - code was -1073741819.


help. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

[A Reinke]

I installed ProE 2001 and the student 2000i2 version last night to my XP machine. i'm pretty sure this has worked in the past, but i can't figure out what it wont load.

i double click the shortcut for either, it loads a command window for a minute, then it goes away, the IDE light flashes a bit, then nothing happens. my std file on the desktop says this:

Failed to initialize communications. Some features are disabled.
Exception - code was -1073741819.


help. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

[MattG]

I've had a the same problem to this on win2k, although I didn't get an error message.
In my case it was some sort of video glitch.

First, check you have the most up to date video driver available.

Apparently setting the config.pro option graphics win32_gdi can overcome this.

Also, try going to the display options in the control panel. On the settings panel select advanced, on the Troubleshooting pane of the dialog that comes up turn the hardware acceleration off.
If pro/e runs you've got a driver problem.

At least that's how it went on my machine

[Tim Heinemann]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by A Reinke:
I installed ProE 2001 and the student 2000i2 version last night to my XP machine. i'm pretty sure this has worked in the past, but i can't figure out what it wont load.

help. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


I'm not using ProE but I remember hearing our gearbox guys (who have to because the manufacturer they're working with uses ProE) say that the source code has a "ticking time bomb" implemented which is due to "explode" in Feb 04. They've been talking about this because the company they're working with obviously was slighlty in panic to get their software patched in time. I really have to admit that I've been thinking of this as a bad rumour because it just sounds too weird but maybe there's a spark of truth in this. Keep us informed....;-)



Tim

[A Reinke]

i have the latest version of Nvidia drivers...and...no crap, as i'm typing this, i turned off hardware acceleration, and ProE loaded.

go figure, so Nvidia is to blame. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif

i have an original GeForce3 video card, i didn't expect this to occur.

~Adam

[Steve Yao]

The bug is real and PTC has an area on their website dedicated to it.

Here is a link:
PTC Important System Notice - Timeout (http://www.ptc.com/go/timeout/)

-Steve Yao
UNM FSAE 2003-2004
Brakes, Pedals, Bodywork

[MattG]

Sounds about right Reinke, my system had up to do date everything as well (S3 Savage card). If you can't find a fix, (see if you can find out what the config.pro option thing I mentioned earlier is) then try edging up the hardware acceleration to get as much as you can before Pro/E stops loading.

That's the limit of my technical expertise.

Good luck.

[Tim Heinemann]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
The bug is real and PTC has an area on their website dedicated to it.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Reads slightly like a dishonored paycheck for one or their programmers....;-)



Tim

[A Reinke]

i guess i'll try their fixes, though i'm not sure why turning off my hardware acceleration would let the program run.

~Adam

[cdorneman]

Is anyone trying to run this on XP Home Edition? I have ProE and ProMech Student Editions, but I've had trouble getting them to run on my machine...any advice is appreciated.
--Casey

"Life is tough. Life is tougher if you're stupid." John Wayne

[R Mac]

I am having trouble with running a ProE 2001 student edition on my XP professional. I can see the Dos window open, and for a split second it will say bad command or file name then automatically close the dos window and not do anything else with the program.

I turned off the hardware acceleration, and tried different compatabilty options. Can't seem to get it to work.

When installing it though it has to install for i486_nt and i486_win95. I was told XP should work for the nt option.

[BeaverGuy]

To work with XP it needs to be installed as i486_nt and your hard drive has to be using the NTFS file system.
I had a simmilar problem with PRO/E loading but not running. To fix it all I had to do was turn my firewall off, I am using Zone Alarm as my firewall.

[Kiwi FSAE]

I say it all the time at 2am Pro/E sucks the big one. I have just mastered it (3years) and now our uni swaps to Pro/E Wild Fire, yay.

But we all pissed ourselves when found out about the problem.

I run a copy of Pro/E 2000i^2 student on XP okay but then it is a laptop with sweet FA graphics.

If water feels like concrete at 100kph, what does concrete feel like?

[Nim-T]

Goto this website where in the forums section there is a forum dedicated to all of these problems:

www.proecentral.com (http://www.proecentral.com)

When i recently had the problem of the dos window appearing for a split second upon loading on xp using Pro/E student 2001, I opened up the registry editor, used the find command to find every entry with 'ptc' in it, deleted them, and reinstalled. Works BEAUTIFULLY!

[A Reinke]

where'd you get a copy of ProMech? wanna make a image file and share? http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[cdorneman]

I had my sources...but I've never been able to get it to work on my machine, and I haven't had an opportunity to use it anywhere else, so I feel like a toddler with keys to a car right now...no idea what to do. I'm trying to load it up with the advice on here...maybe it'll work this time.
--Casey

"Life is tough. Life is tougher if you're stupid." John Wayne

[Gareth]

Dude, Wildfire rocks.

I worked for Rand Worldwide (not Rand corp), a Pro/E reseller, for 4 months so I know the answers to the majority of the standard tech support questions. It should tell you something when a software reseller pays 4 uni coop students to answer Pro/E install questions fulltime. That's a lot of questions...

Anyway, Pro/E uses the OpenGL graphics library/drivers. Newish nVidia cards usually have amazing OpenGL support so it's weird that it didn't work. I've personally used it on both the GeForce 2 MX and 4 MX without a single problem (I'm currently using a 4MX). Like MattG said use the config.pro option to fix any graphics problems.

If you don't have a "config.pro" file, create one in the ``$Proe2001/text'' folder and copy in the line:
graphics win32_gdi
This forces Pro/E to use software rendering (why turning off hardware acceleration made it work). Careful when doing this as notepad is notorious for putting ".txt" at the end of everything.

The std.out code 1073741819 is a sign of a graphics driver problem. The std.out file is generated when Pro/E crashes. It can be found in your working directory (the "start-in" folder for the Pro/E shortcut).

Watch out for ZoneAlarm - Pro/E uses TCP/IP to check out its licenses from Flexlm, the license manager, so if you disallow it from connecting to itself it will not work.

Has anyone had trouble getting FlexLM to run on WinXP lately? I've tried installing UG and ADAMS recently (both use flexlm) and none of my usual tricks work. I have a feeling it has to do with XP service packs, but I'm not sure. I can't think what else would have changed in the past year.

If anyone else has any good Pro/E questions I may occasionally be able to help out. Of course, I do have the little inconvenience of a car to finish building...

[A Reinke]

i dont have config.pro file in the $ProE2000/text/ folder, so i'll try adding what you said...and seeing if it works.

~Adam

[A Reinke]

and, yup, that seemed to work. kinda sucks Nvidia can't support its OpenGL drivers properly...i expected better of them.

gonna try it out now and make sure 3D performance isn't hurting too bad in Proe.

~Adam

[Ariyan]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by A Reinke:
I installed ProE 2001 and the student 2000i2 version last night to my XP machine. i'm pretty sure this has worked in the past, but i can't figure out what it wont load.

i double click the shortcut for either, it loads a command window for a minute, then it goes away, the IDE light flashes a bit, then nothing happens. my std file on the desktop says this:

Failed to initialize communications. Some features are disabled.
Exception - code was -1073741819.


help. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_frown.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

sure its not the tip-over safety switch, wait, this isn't a bike engine, nm..... http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif