Symptom : Occasionally the system seems to lock!, often resulting in
the user/demonstrator restarting the machine.
Cause : There seems to a 'race condition', or similar, that can
occur at which point the operating system loses track of a pop-up
window and does not display it. The most obvious occurrence, when
using ProE, is when a input window appears in the message window,
e.g. when adding a 'note' to a drawing - thus exercise nine:- 4 Holes
dia 10.5/Equi spaced on a 100 PCD. Normally the first pop-up window
(e.g. the first line) will appear perfectly but subsequent windows may
not appear, particularly if the user tries to enter values quickly.
It seems that the problem is only temporary and that forcing the
system to redraw the windows will bring the system to life, thus,
Solutions:
Minimise and maximise the ProE windows, to redraw the screen.
Selecting a second desktop, from the bar of four on a
standard undergraduate setup, and then re-selecting the original
desktop. -RECOMMENDED
In both cases there can be a minor problem with the stacking of
the windows after the redraw. But selecting the input window and
completing the text input operation should regain control. Normally
the input window has input status so simply pressing the Return key will
cause the operation to complete. This may result in a premature end to
the entry of the note, which will need subsequent editing using select
-> RMB -> properties.
Symptom : Appearance of the ProE clock indicating that the system
is going slow.
Cause: The most obvious cause is as a result of the first problem. However, similar
problems have sometimes been seen in previous years especially when
the clusters are heavily loaded.
There has been some indication that there may still be a minor
problem even with the menu disabled.
Solution: At present the problem seems minor, if it really exists at
all, but it would be good to keep a watch. If the clock does seem to
be appearing regularly please contact js138 who can monitor the
system. The basic network/disc access speeds have been significantly
improved in the last couple of years, but there may be some
modification to file locations etc that could be undertaken if the
slow operations can be identified.
