Autodesk - Hot Issues - AutoCAD 2000

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Hot Issues

Last updated - June 17, 1999

Welcome to the AutoCAD® 2000 Hot Issues section. This page will be updated regularly to highlight any AutoCAD 2000 Product Support issues—including newly available patches, utilities or drivers, or specific technical information for AutoCAD 2000 customers.

Unhandled Exception… or Access Violation or Fatal Error working with dbConnect
AutoCAD 2000 may unexpectedly shut down or issue an “Unhandled Exception”, “Access Violation” , or “Fatal Error” message if you select the dbConnect Menu> View Data> View External Table.

All database and drawing information that was not saved is lost as a result of this error.

This problem does not occur if you use the dbConnect Manager window (also called Project Workspace and Data View) for database connectivity. To use the dbConnect Manager window for database connectivity:

From the Tools menu, choose dbConnect.
Double-click on jet_dbsamples
Double-click on Data Source.

Problems using the dbConnect Manager
Problems with the dbConnect Manager in AutoCAD 2000 have been reported
as follows:

The dbConnect window and the dbConnect pull-down menu do not display after entering DBCONNECT on the command line, after choosing the dbConnect toolbar bar button from the Standard toolbar, or after selecting dbConnect from the Tools menu.
The Data Link Properties dialog box does not display, and the Configure a Data Source dialog box remains on the screen. This occurs after selecting Configure from the dbConnect pull-down menu (Data Source > Configure), or right-clicking on Data Source in the dbConnect Manager window, followed by selecting a data source in the Configure a Data Source dialog box and choosing OK to exit.

These problems with the dbConnect Manager occur as a result of installing products that use only part of the Microsoft Data Access Components prior to installing AutoCAD 2000.

These problems may occur after you install Microsoft Internet Explorer 5, Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft SQL Server 7, and any other product that installs a new version of the Microsoft Data Access Components and replaces the files that were installed during the AutoCAD 2000 installation.

In order for the dbConnect Manager to function correctly, Jet drivers must be installed by updating the Microsoft Data Access Components. The solution is to manually install the Microsoft Data Access Components. These steps show how to do this.

Locate and load the AutoCAD 2000 product CD.
Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the Data folder.
Double-click on the mdac_typ.exe file.
Accept the defaults to install and update the Microsoft Data Access Components.

WARNING: Reinstalling these files from the AutoCAD 2000 CD will resolve the AutoCAD 2000 problem but may affect the functionality of other applications.

AutoCAD 2000 Heidi driver GDI6.HDI update
Some AutoCAD 2000 users have experienced fatal errors that crash AutoCAD when performing plot-related operations. These errors most typically occur while using the Plot and Plot Preview dialog boxes, when switching layouts, and when toggling between model space and paper space. The problem occurs when printing to certain Windows system printer drivers. If you are experiencing fatal errors when plotting to Windows system printer devices you can correct the problem by downloading an updated version of the gdi6.hdi driver.

This file should only be used with English language versions of AutoCAD 2000. Localised versions of this file will be made available in the near future.

You can obtain this file at:
http://www.autodesk.com/support/filelib/acad2000/gdi6_hdi.htm

AutoCAD 2000 shuts down unexpectedly after DesignCenter starts
AutoCAD 2000 shuts down unexpectedly when AutoCAD DesignCenter(ADC) starts and an abrupt exit to the Windows Desktop occurs without displaying an error message.

This error occurs because the ATL.DLL file is not registered correctly.

To register the ATL.DLL file:

From the Windows Desktop, choose the Start button > Run.
Type the following in the "Open:" field.
Choose the OK button. A Windows message should display, indicating a successful registration of the DLL.
Restart AutoCAD.

This will register the ATL.DLL in the Windows Registry.

A damaged CD-ROM can cause installation problems for AutoCAD 2000 & Learning Assistance
A small number of customers reported installation problems due to damaged AutoCAD 2000 and AutoCAD Learning Assistance CD-ROMs. This damage is a nearly undetectable warping of the CD-ROM and in few cases, visible scratches.

A damaged CD-ROM can cause an installation error such as:

Installation hangs during the check for free drive space,
Installation hangs at 98% complete, sometimes with a message "error copying msc42.dll"
Installation hangs at any point, sometimes with a "CD is Dirty" message
Installation appears successful but missing dll's, missing fonts or other problems occur when starting AutoCAD 2000.

Customers in the USA can request a media replacement from the Autodesk Customer Service Center at 800-538-6401. Customers outside the USA can request replacement media through their Authorized AutoCAD Dealer.

"A required .dll file, AC1st15.dll, was not found" error message
This error message occurs when you start AutoCAD 2000 on a computer where both the following conditions exist:

The path statement in autoexec.bat (added during the installation of AutoCAD 2000 ) was later removed or modified.
The number of characters in the AutoCAD 2000 path statement exceeds the limit allowed for characters in a path in the Windows 95 or Windows 98 Registry, as explained in the "Additional Information" section in this article.

Note: This error message does not occur on computers running Windows NT.

There are several ways to correct the path statement(s). For example, implementing either of the following options will avoid this error:

Correct the path statement in autoexec.bat to point to C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\AUTODE~1
then reboot your computer before starting AutoCAD 2000.
Shorten the directory names for AutoCAD 2000-based products and/or AutoCAD Release 14 - based products during installation.

For additional information on setting path statements, see:

Additional Information
The path information contained in the Registry is not static. When you open AutoCAD Release 14, AutoCAD 2000, or products based on AutoCAD Release 14 or AutoCAD 2000, the path statement is rewritten, as follows:

When you open AutoCAD 2000 or an AutoCAD 2000-based product, it rewrites the path statement in the Registry key, APPATHS, by placing its path information at the beginning of the statement.

When you open AutoCAD Release 14 or any product based on Release 14 (such as AutoCAD Map 3.0 or AutoCAD LT 98) it also places its own path information at the beginning of the statement, displacing the AutoCAD 2000 path to the end of the path statement.

If the combined paths then exceed the maximum number of characters allowed in a path statement in a Registry key, the exceeded characters in the AutoCAD 2000 path are ignored.

AutoCAD 2000 then refers to the AutoCAD 2000 path statement in autoexec.bat. If the path statement in autoexec.bat was removed or modified, the error message occurs.

Note: Network login scripts can overwrite path statements in autoexec.bat. Please consult with your network administrator as to whether network login scripts should be modified to resolve this error.

New Utility for AutoCAD 2000!

'Using a VBA macro to Do User Prompting during S::STARTUP'
An example of an AutoCAD 2000 VBA macro for use during a startup function. This macro prompts the user via a VBA dialog, rather than using a lisp function to do command line prompting.

You can obtain this file at: http://www.autodesk.com/support/filelib/acad2000/prmtuser.htm


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