Strange behavior with Shape Manager

[DanEpps]

When opening the Shape Manager everything freezes for several seconds before Shape Manager starts. I started up Windows Task Manager to see if it was caused by excessive CPU or memory usage then clicked on the Shape Manager icon. This time it started without delay.

This happens every time I open Shape Manager and is repeatable this so it is not a matter of caching or whatever.

Is anyone else seeing this?

[Joe Soto]

Im not seeing it Dan, even with a large batch of cabinets and 1 loaded in the cab editor. Joe
Have you tried to reboot

[Mike Seisser]

Dan,

No delay opening shape manager here......

[DanEpps]

Yep...rebooting has no effect on it.

It is really strange in that if I have Task Manager running it starts immediately but if not, it takes about 7 seconds consistantly. It doesn't matter whether I have just started eCabinets and it is empty or if I've been using it for a while and have items in the Cabinet Editor.

It is difficult to catch what is going on because it works great when I use Task Manager.

[DanEpps]

Okay, it just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser...

I had the bright idea to grab a video of the problem using Camtasia Studio. Guess what? It opens normally when THAT is running too!!!

I'll keep plugging at it until I find something...

[DanEpps]

Okay, if Task Manager is showing on screen, Shape Manager starts immediately, otherwise it has this long delay. Also, shortly before it starts it flashes on-screen for a split second and disappears before reappearing in a couple of seconds.

I managed to capture video of the delay but it doesn't show the screen flash (probably dropped a few frames in the capture).

Funny, I was able to get the video capture using SnagIt in video mode but not Camtasia Recorder...and they both use the same video capture engine.

[Al Navas]

Dan,

I wonder if you are disabling your virus scanner while you use eCabs. I have been noticing the interaction with different parts of eCabs too, especially when I create a new screen capture. And, just tonight, some of the same things you are seeing with the Part Editor as well.


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

[DanEpps]

Not only did I shut down A/V, but I went so far as to kill every process not critical to Windows operation and it still has the delay. I even stopped and disabled every service not essential to Windows and no change in behavior.

I rebooted in safe mode so that absolutely noting is running and it still had the delay. I scanned the system for viruses, spyware, adware and malware, scanned the registry for bad entries, defragged my disk drive, checked it for errors, deleted all cookies and temporary files and it still has the delay.

It is just really odd behavior that it would work great when Task Manager is running on top of everything or when Camtasia Recorder (but not SnagIt recorder?) is running a video capture.

I have tried just about everything I can think of in terms of tracing the problem and keep coming up empty.

[DanEpps]

Well, this is definitely isolated to my workstation. I tried it on my laptop (with Vista no less) and it starts immediately.

Back to the drawing board to see what is causing this. Most likely it is related to a Windows update or some other software has updated a supporting system dll and it is affecting eCabinets.

When (if) I find the problem I'll post it here for anyone else that might experience the same thing.

[Rick Palechuk]

Ours prayers are with you Dan, Goodbye.........I mean good luck.

[DanEpps]

Ours prayers are with you Dan, Goodbye.........I mean good luck.

Gee thanks...

Actually I think I might have found the answer in part at least. Some time ago I was having problems with the amount of memory eCabinets was consuming (who wasn't?) and attached a Microsoft debugger to the process to watch exactly where the memory was being used.

Well, it seems that I permantly attached the debugger to eCabinets.exe instead of temporarily to the running process. I finally saw this by watching process threads and seeing that eCabinets.exe was executing as a subprocess underneath the debugger. I detached it and it seems to be a little better but I haven't rebooted yet. If there is any improvement after rebooting then I'll know I found the culprit.

[DanEpps]

That helped quite a bit. There is still a slight delay but I also have several background programs that run all the time. The delay I see now is definitely quick enough that I can live with it.

[Peter Walsh]

Dan,
Anytime you can kill de bugs in de computer...................do it.
regards,

[DanEpps]

Okay...this time I think I have actually found the issue. I monitored every event in ths system while opening the Shape Manager. One thing that caught my eye was when eCabinets read the registry for video settings.

I had used Dean's tweak utility and thought everything was OK there. I went into the nVidia Control Panel and discovered that it had many "hard-wired" settings that should have been set to "Let application decide." Changing these to let the application decide causes eCabinets to get video settings from the registry instead of overriding them with static values.

The end result? Shape Manager opens instantaneously now, just like it should.

[Al Navas]

Cool! BUT, are you saying it is Dean's fault???

Dan, would you mind posting the image of the NVidia Quadro Properties Panel, to show which were screwed up? In particular, I am interested in the Performance & Quality Settings. I wonder if I am having similar issues.

Edit to add: Should everything that is ON in Advanced Settings be turned off, since the Tweak Utility should handle the critical stuff?

Thanks!

.