Archicad 9 - Crashes on 3D window

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Having a slight problem with the following build:


CPU: AMD 64 bit 3200
MOBO: ASUS AV8 Deluxe
RAM: 1Gb TwinX Corsair 3200

Video: Hercules 9700 Pro 128mb / Asus 9600 XT 128mb

OS: XP Pro SP2


One entering a 3D window, the whole system will crash without responding, i.e. Windows freezes, no keyboard response etc.

A successful render is only possible in 1 one every 10 or so attempts.

We've tried different RAM, Video Card driver revisions, and have had tried different video cards. The machine has been formatted a number of times, cards re-seated etc. The machine is running at stock clock speeds and has not been overclocked.

I’m just about running out of ideas – any thoughts??

Cheers, Dave.

[Ben Odonnell]

Dave,
Try downloading the latest build. 2219 and see if that relives the problem. You could also try taking the model a bit att at a time. Use the marquee and open up your 3D window, maybe you have some geometry some were that is playing up.

HTH.
Cheers.
Ben

[Anonymous]

Hi Ben,

The current install is fully up-to-date.

On changing video cards from an older Hercules 9700 Pro 128mb to a newer Asus 9600 XT 128mb we thought we’d fixed the problem, but it only lasted for 7 or 8 render attempts.

Fully uninstalled / reinstalled multiple driver revisions on both. At this stage the only thing I can think of is possibly the power supply. While it’s a brand new 500 Watt unit, it is a cheaper PSU.

I’ve heard of strange, somewhat random errors that have been caused by poor quality or under powered PSU’s.

It’s not just crashing on complicated renders either. Our simple “test” is just to draw a basic slab and some walls and hit render. We’re still lucky to get a successful render once in every ten attempts.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your time, Dave.

[Djordje]

If you can, try a better video card; more VRAM, that is, if your models are big and complex.

[stefan]

Does it crash with the native 3D engine instead of the OpenGL one?
Can you use hardware acceleration in 2D?

128 MB Video RAM seems to be enough. Don't think ArchiCAD's textures are eating that all up...

Try the video-card benchmark. It's a separate part of this ArchiCAD-Talk forum. Might point you down to specific problems.

[Anonymous]

Thanks stefan, I will have a bit more of a play.

The Hercules 9700 Pro 128mb worked fine in an older box in the past. No conflicts in other 3d apps that I'm aware of either.

Cheers, Dave.

[ci-JoshOs]

Definitely sounds like a hardware problem.
I have a p4-2.0Ghz system with 1 Gig of RAM, and a 32Mb Graphics card, and i've never seen it crash on 3D.
The fact that it is killing windows entirely would indicate that it is a system-wide problem, not just ArchiCAD.
Try running 3DMark on it(use version 2001SE):
www.futuremark.com
If it works at all you can stress test your machine using it.

The symptoms you are experiencing sound a lot like Power supply issues, so try swapping that out for another one.
Also, if you can, check your CPU and GPU temperatures.

[Anonymous]

The machine runs 3D Mark and other benchmarking programs all day along, no problems at all.

Have yet to run Memtest, but considering it crashes on two separate sets of RAM, it would most likely be a memory controller issue then, which is unlikely as this machine is faultless running other resource guzzling applications.

I might give it a round of Prime95 to see if it shows anything. Failing that, I'll try another PSU in it to see what happens.

Thanks for the replies guys!

Dave.