Cannot save project under Windows 7 64bit with FS4.5.2

Hi all,

yesterday i got my brand new shiny notebook with windows 7 64-bit Enterprise edition. I installed Flexsim 4.5.2 right away and created a simple model. Running the model went well but when i tried to save it, Flexsim crashed. The windows inside FS were still responding (Library, Ortho view, etc.) but no Save dialog came up and the Main menu was frozen/did not respond.
So i tried to do the same as an administrator but to no avail. Then I used the Windows 7 compatibility feature but that did not help either.
Are there any know issues regarding this problem? Is there a workaround or are there any hidden setting to get FS work with Windows 7?

Thanks,
Stephan

Hi Stephan,

have you changed the installation directory to >>C:\<<. You haven't any writing privileges under the folder programs.

Jörg

Thanks Jörg,

I tried installing FS under C:\Flexsim, but that did not solve the problem. I'd suggest that this error is not related to access rights but to something else. The file save dialog does not even come up. FS crashes as soon as I click on "Save..." or "Save file as...".
Does anyone know if FS 4.5.2 does run under Windows 64-bit at all?
Update: Version 5.0.2 shows the same error!
Imporant Update: This problem is not related to saving files! FS 4 and 5 do not open the following windows: Help, Load Project, Save Project and maybe a few other ones as well. Instead FS hangs and has to be terminated via the Task Manager. Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Stephan

Did you try to compile entire session (Build / Compile Entire session)?

Have look into the tree and how the model nodes looks. Does the node look normal?
I remember that some people had issues in the past that the model node changes. Solution was to copy the whole tree in a new model and save.

I am not sure if this is helpful, but this is what comes to my mind.

Just to confirm - normally Flexsim 4.5.2 and 5.0.2 both run fine under Windows 64bit (including Windows 7). The default installation directory will be "C:\Program Files (x86)" which is for 32 bit applications.

You could try deleting the prefs.t file -which for vanilla Flexsim (no additional ProductID) in windows7 is found under: C:/Users/<yourname>/Appdata/Roaming/Flexsim/Flexsim5

or more generally: %Appdata%/Flexsim/Flexsim5

but the fact that you have the problem in both versions suggests something else is happening.

Thanks Tom,

I checked the model tree, it looks pretty normal. By the way, I am not trying to open saved models as this works fine (but only through the startup wizard). But instead I am creating a new and very simple model (a blank workbench without objects or just a source and a sink) and trying to save when FS hangs. I'd say this issues has something to do with FS opening dialogs belonging to Windows itself (such as file dialog or the help dialog).

I would suggest to close this thread as I've opened a new thread "Flexsim 5 hangs while opening Help/Save/Load windows" with deals with this problem and describes it more detailled.
A short summary: The issue is graphics related and has nothing to do with saving or opening files as suggested in this thread. Thanks for the replies anyway.

All the best,
Stephan

Hi Ralph,

the bad news was actually good news. I double checked the Product ID of my Lenovo W500 notebook and found that it had an ATI FireGL graphics card. While being pretty puzzled why Windows 7 insisted on an Intel graphics chipset I googled and found that this machine has indeed two graphic cards. There is the Intel chip for low-power tasks and the ATI chip for 3D and other demanding tasks. Of course they cannot be active at the same time. Under Windows XP there is a tool (though I've not seen it) where you can switch between the two cards. Under Windows 7 this tools was not installed and therefore Windows found no ATI card. The solution was quite simple. I activated the ATI card in the system BIOS, Windows 7 found the new card, installed the appropriate driver and Flexsim worked like a charm.
Many thanks for your support.
Stephan