Problems with Detail Room

[Al Navas]

I am running:

1. eCabinet Systems 5.1, Build 5
2. WinXP SP2
3. Dell Precision M90 2 GB RAM, 70 GB HDD
4. External Western Digital 500 GB HDD

My problem:

a. I can create cabinets, assemblies, everything.
b. I can create a room, zoom in and out, rotate, etc., at full speed.
c. BUT the Detail Room function takes FOREVER to load anything! I am still waiting, about 45 minutes after loading one cabinet. It does not matter what I load, it takes forever to respond.

The rest of eCabinet Systems works GREAT, and basically at full speed, as it has for several months now.

I have NO IDEA what might be happening. I would appreciate any help and suggestions as to what to do. Thanks!


Al

[DanEpps]

Do you have lots of knobs, pulls or moldings (especially rope molding) in the room? If so, these items consume vast amounts of memory.

What do you have your virtual memory set at? I recommend setting it to 3172 initial and 4096 max. This will keep Windows from having to continually extend the swap file which results in slowdowns like you are seeing.

[Al Navas]

Do you have lots of knobs, pulls or moldings (especially rope molding) in the room? If so, these items consume vast amounts of memory...

This is happening in an EMPTY room.

1. I create a wall
2. Click on Done
3. The wall and the floor appear on-screen
4. I can rotate the room, etc.
5. I can go into Presentation View - everything is still at full speed
6. NOW I click on Detail Room - there is nothing in the room at this point
7. Everything slows down to a crawl - at this point eCabinets.exe is using up 50% of CPU power; it is actually running, but so slowly that it is unusable. Windows Task Manager shows the program it is not responding; but the screen shows some changes every few minutes, so something IS happening.

What do you have your virtual memory set at? I recommend setting it to 3172 initial and 4096 max. This will keep Windows from having to continually extend the swap file which results in slowdowns like you are seeing.

Virtual Memory:

Drive: c:
Paging file size: initial size: 3100 MB - Maximum size: 4092 MB


Still at a TOTAL loss. I CAN create cabinets and assemblies, etc. The problem develops when I try to add stuff to a room.

Thanks, Dan.


Al
http://blog.sandal-woods.com

[DanEpps]

First, let me ask the stupid Windows question--did you reboot then try it?

Second, what does memory usage for the eCabinets process look like when it is just sitting there?

Third, for the best efficiency virtual memory should always be set at a power of 2. Change yours to 3172 - 4096. This is not likely to be the problem but it won't hurt to change it.

Other than that, its \"Houston, I think we have a problem here.\"

[Al Navas]

Edit to add:
I totally reinstalled eCabinet Systems 5.1, Build 5 last night. No change in this problem.

First, let me ask the stupid Windows question--did you reboot then try it?...

I have rebooted a few times - maybe 20+, or so. I have disconnected the external drives, the external DVD writer, etc. No change. I am down to a bare-bones system now.

I just finished checking the internal HDD - system is reported as clean. CHKDSK went through all five steps, and system rebooted perfectly. It has rebooted perfectly every time.

I have also uninstalled most software, but no change.

Interesting thing: If I open as existing job, everything is fine, even very large room layouts, almost 20 MB. BUT if I try to add more to the room, BAM! The program behavior returns.

Second, what does memory usage for the eCabinets process look like when it is just sitting there?...

I have attached the image, showing memory use, Dan.

Third, for the best efficiency virtual memory should always be set at a power of 2. Change yours to 3172 - 4096. This is not likely to be the problem but it won't hurt to change it....

Done - no change.

Other than that, its "Houston, I think we have a problem here."

Houston, I think we HAVE a problem.

Is it time to re-install WinXP and start over again. No problem doing that - it should take only a short while. BUT I still don't have any idea what has happened.

Thanks for looking!


Al
http://blog.sandal-woods.com

[Scott G Vaal]

Al,
Do you mean when an old job is loaded it works fine until you take it to Detail Room area? If so, you may want to check and see if you have the Show Grid option turned on in the Detail Room area. If so, make sure that the grid setting value on the left menu (in Detail Room) is not set to a very small number. If this value is set small (example: .12\" instead of 12\") it will slow even a fast computer to a crawl. The grid goes out infinitely in this area (this will be changed in the next version to be more like the Cab/Assm editor's grid). Hope this helps.

[Al Navas]

Al,
Do you mean when an old job is loaded it works fine until you take it to Detail Room area? If so, you may want to check and see if you have the Show Grid option turned on in the Detail Room area. If so, make sure that the grid setting value on the left menu (in Detail Room) is not set to a very small number. If this value is set small (example: .12" instead of 12") it will slow even a fast computer to a crawl. The grid goes out infinitely in this area (this will be changed in the next version to be more like the Cab/Assm editor's grid). Hope this helps.

Thanks, Scott.

Yes, I can load ANY job in Custom Layout - it shows perfectly well in the Custom Layout. I can rotate the layout, change the inclination angle, and the response is excellent. In fact, I can even go back to the Wall Editor and back, and all works fine till now.

BUT, while in the Custom Layout, of I click on the Detail Room button, that is it. I can do NOTHING from this point on. The program just hangs, and response is only every few minutes.

At this point I cannot do anything. Is there an *.ini file that I could possibly check, to determine if all is OK?

Thanks again!


Al

[Scott G Vaal]

Al,

Yes, close eCabs (if running), open the file ecabinets.ini (in your installed directory), search for PlaceItemGridSpacing=. You can set it to 12.0000 if it is at some odd value, then restart eCabs and see if you can use Detail Room. Hope this helps.

[Al Navas]

Update:

I looked at eCabinets.ini, and found that PlaceItemGridSpacing=0.0312 !!! I changed this to 12 inches, and NOW all is well.

My thanks to all who have looked into this. I have no idea what might have changed this setting, but now all seems well.

My sincere thanks to Scott, to Justin, and to Jason.


Al

[Al Navas]

Edit, to delete the content, as it is a duplicate.

This is a duplicate post - PLEASE delete. Thanks!


Al