Installation & update
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WIBU key causing new G5 Dual processor to lock up

David Tauer
Graphisoft Alumni
Graphisoft Alumni
I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I wanted to incorporate as much of the relevant history to aid in the understanding of the problem.

I have a customer who has been having a hard time getting his new G5 to be stable with AC8.1. Initially, the problem reported was his G5 locking up in middle of operations - is there any known conflicts with OSX.3 and AC8.1?

The G5 was shipped from factory with 512MB RAM, then VAR added another 512MB which turned out to be bad. This add-on memory was replaced.

Next, we updated his WIBU driver - User left machine on - AC was not up - 12 hours later machine is locked up - no combination of key strokes will unfreeze it. Machine will NOT reboot until key is removed.

From GS R&D: Amongst 5 G5s that are run intensely each with its own key, no problems have been found. They are using the WIBU 4.0 driver. The thought is that there is a problem with either the WIBU key itself or the G5.

We replaced WIBU key.

The new WIBU Key arrived Wednesday before noon and I plugged it into an otherwise stable computer ( three days no glitches) at the keyboard. I knew that was risky but why not, it’s the most convenient. Thirty four hours later I find the computer locked up. It ran great up until then and I was really starting to get hopeful and even said so out loud when I came into the studio late to check and the screen saver was frozen. No combination of keys that I am aware could revive it or cancel it. I shut the computer down, removed the key and rebooted successfully. I will now plug it in in the back of the G5 and see what happens.

Well I'm very reluctant to say so, as soon as I do things start to unravel, but so far everything is stable. The G5 has been running steadily since I moved the WIBU Key to the rear USB Port last Thursday evening. I am returning the old one for your evaluation. Please tell me if you find anything wrong with it. I am curious about what caused all the trouble. Tomorrow I am planning on getting back into 8.1 again as I have a ton of work to complete before the Holidays.

After a full 8 days of stable operations with the G5, it locked up. I shut down on Friday evening the 19th. I attempted to turn on the G5 this morning but it would not boot. I tried removing devices but after the first reboot a screen came up telling me I needed to restart my computer and it would not proceed any further. I did a safe boot successfully and then used the disk utility to repair permissions on the hard drive. The computer then restarted and booted normally. Any comments or suggestions?

Well, despite Archicad’s experience it is clear to me that my new Dual Processor G5 is not stable with the WIBU Key installed in any port. For now I will install it when I'm working in Archicad and remove it when finished with Archicad. The irony of having a new computer expressly for the purpose of running a program that requires a device that causes it to become unstable is very frustrating. However, I have too much to do to screw around with it any more. Please let me know if you have heard of any updates or fixes. Otherwise the G5 runs great.

Are there any other G5 Dual processor users who have experienced this type of instability?

AC8.1
G5 Dual Processor/OSX.3
1GB RAM / 2.0MHz CPU / 80GB HD
Video card - ATI Radeon 9600
Computer connected to router - DSL modem, 3 printers
HP120NR, HP LJ4, Epson1200P, PowerBook G3, Desktop G3
David W. Tauer
Graphisoft U.S., Inc. - Boston
1-800-238-3992
http://www.archicadwiki.com
2 REPLIES 2
stefan
Expert
Not sure if this is related in any way, but while I was using VectorWorks 8 on a Mac G4 in an office I used to work for, we had constant lockups of VectorWorks, with their USB-protection key.

It was related with the computer falling asleep during lunch and thus not sending any power to the USB-key, so after lunch, the software entered demo-mode (that is the usual behavior on VectorWorks, when no key is found).

Just for what it's worth...
--- stefan boeykens --- bim-expert-architect-engineer-musician ---
Archicad27/Revit2023/Rhino8/Unity/Solibri/Zoom
MBP2023:14"M2MAX/Sonoma+Win11
Archicad-user since 1998
my Archicad Book
Anonymous
Not applicable
i have the same computer/specs as you have and have not had any of these problems. I got the g-5 in october, 03.

the only poblem i have with the g-5 is after a couple of hours o non-use, and not necessarily in the sleep mode, the fans will all go on full blast. It sounds like a jet engine. you have to shut it down via the power button and restart. its very unsettling.

donald mac donald