Expert: Paul Jordan - 9/18/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi Paul,

My question has to do with my mouse. It behaves erratically when using AutoCAD. I thought it must be the batteries or signal strength, but it actually works fine in all other programs except AutoCAD. I threw my last mouse away for the same reason. The first one was a Microsoft Intellipoint Explorer. This one is a Logitech. It seems to work OK for awhile, but not for long. Basically, the cursor is "jumpy". At worst, it gets "stuck" for a second or so any time I cross over a line in the drawing. Obviously very annoying.

Thanks!!!

ANSWER: Can you tell me what version of Autocad you're currently using?  I know with 2009 there are a lot of things happening when you hover over a line (mini properties window pops up) and they might be slowing things down for you.

Does the cursor stop on each and every line as you go over them?

I can definitely see how that would be annoying.

Let me know what version you have and if you have anything like 3rd party software running as well.

Paul

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,

Thanks Paul. Sorry, I forgot to mention that I am running Autocad 2006. I called Logitech and they seemed to think that my Autocad program was hogging so much memory that even my mouse wasn't able to work properly. I don't personally think that is true, though. We checked the ram, etc. and I seem to have more than the minimum system requirements. Also, I should mention that this problem does not exist all of the time, only sometimes. I can't seem to understand why it happens sometimes and not other times. And the problem of the cursor getting stuck on a line is more of a side effect, I think. The real problem seems to be that the cursor will start acting very jittery. When I try to move the cursor, for instance, it will stutter along the screen. At its worst, the cursor will get stuck on a line and eventually freeze all together. But like I said, even when this happens, my mouse works fine on the desktop and in other programs. I looked at the autodesk forums but they were mostly talking about how to program mouse buttons for specific functions. At the moment, incidentally, it seems to be working fine. I will try to see if I can find a pattern, like maybe it only acts weird after a few hours of working, or only on particular projects. In the meantime, thanks for any advice you many have....

Shaun


ANSWER: A quick idea that popped in my head Shaun.. Do you have the palettes open on your screen and/or the properties toolbar?  Any other tool bars for that matter?  The reason I'm asking is to continue along those lines and see if you have any of them as being semi transparent?  I've heard that making toolbars transparent is a HUGE video hog and I'm curious if that's what could be causing the slowdown.  

While on the subject of video ram, how much do you have on your video card??

Keep me posted on what you find and I'll keep looking.

Paul

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Paul,

I upgraded to 2 gigs of ram. I tried to find my video card info, but could not. Here is everything listed under "View System Information":

Microsoft Windows XP
Media Center Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 3

HP Intel(R)
Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz
3.39 GHz, 2.00 GB of RAM
Physical Adress Extension

No mention of video card.

Oh, by the way, I don't use the transparent toolbars feature. I've had a suspicion that maybe my video card is not robust enough. Where would I find that info?

Thanks!!!!

Answer
You can probably look up the make and model of the computer on the manufacturers website to find the exact specs on your video card.  Judging by what you have for a processor, I'm leaning away from a video card issue.  Unless there's something physically wrong with the card that is..

Have you tried reinstalling your Autocad software?? There might be one of a million system variables that's been changed.  But, then again, you said it doesn't happen all the time.. Does it happen on any particular drawing?? Maybe after you run a particular lisp routine or something like that??


Paul