Using a file I’ve worked on just last week, today Max suddenly freezes when I save that, even without doing anything in the scene.

The frozen Max process can’t be killed, neither with the taskmanager, nor with process explorer (kill process tree). This frozen process doesn’t cause CPU load.

Another Max instance I start (while the frozen one is still active) can save without problem.

The file saved (or being saved?) by the frozen Max cannot be accessed by the second Max instance, but after a complete reboot, it seems to be intact (can be opened).

While trying to kill that frozen Max and testing with the second Max instance, sometimes explorer crashes for no apparent reason, don’t know if that could be related?

Another suspicion I have is that I’m using a substituted drive (mapping a directory to a drive letter, using the subst command of Windows), becaues I have to mirror the directory structure of my client.

Is there a way to monitor what Max does when saving?

I’m using Max 2008 (english) on a notebook (ThinkPad T42p, 1.5GB RAM and enough free disk space) and German Windows XP-SP2 incl. all automatic updates.

Any hints and thoughts are appreciated. Also I’m hoping for official support here.

Best regards,
Chen

I did some more tests (which was painful considering I have to reboot a dozen of times, wasting half of my day), apparently Max doesn’t like my new harddrive I just bought for a new contract work. That file I’m working on “stopped saving” when I migrated to the new drive around Christmas. Yesterday was the first time I used Max after that. Moving everything back to my main drive seems to work now.

I’m wondering, what reason can it have for Max not saving properly on a certain drive? Plus the files turned out ot be intact after reboot, and a second max instance can save just fine. Too bad that first Max instance doesn’t crash “normally” to generate an error report.

It is still very unsettling because hardware upgrade WILL happen in our business, and if I can’t be sure that a new harddrive works with Max… I don’t know what I should do.

Chen,

I’m sorry you had problems.  Was it the physical drive that made the difference, or the “subst” command?  That’s a very old DOS feature, and might be part of the problem.

Official support comes only through your reseller; please call them for urgent problems.  This is a peer-to-peer discussion group (see the forum rules).  Welcome!

--Cy--

The physical drive made the difference, subst is working fine. I used it for the previous work with the same client. Now that I figured out the problem with the new harddisk, I moved back to my main drive AND subst without problems.

I already talked to my reseller but he couldn’t help me. Granted, it’s difficult to do this remotely, but I was hoping for possibilities to monitor Max or something along that line.

Thanks for your response though!

Hi,

I have experienced the same problem for a while now and it is really getting frustrated. Max freezes on save, both autosave and when I try to save myself. It happens about 20-30% of the times the saving kicks in. It is then impossible to exit 3ds Max, even the good old CTRL Alt Delete doesn’t stand a chance! Only way is to push the power button.

I just recently installed max 2008 and before that was using Max 9. Thought the upgrade would save me but it didn’t instead things are getting worse. Also, my problem is not related to any single file, it is happening to more or less all files, though larger files tend to freeze more often. (Not so large though less than 50mb)

FIles I am working on are simple architectural models, no animation etc

Since I just recently convinced my mgrs to buy this software it is a bit embarassing not being able to show the results due to technical problems....If there is anybody out there who has experienced the same, and have found a way to work around I would be very greatful to know.

btw, I am using a Dell Precision M70 workstation laptop with 2.26 Ghz Pentium M, 2 G RAM and an NVIDIA Quadro FX Go 1400 256 Mb.

Regards
Mattias

If you have multiple physical drives: try saving on another one. MThis was my problem as you can see from above. If that helps, maybe work on a USB drive for the time being.

Also in my case I could use a second Max instance (leaving the first one freezing), which could save. I managed to work like this for about an afternoon, before I decided the behaviour is too annoying and uncertain. But maybe it helps you to further isolate your problem.

Another thought: I once had something similar, but not drive-dependent. That was due to some buggy plugins (custom made by my client). So maybe try to unload anything not out-of-the-box.

Good luck, I know how big a problem this is. I mean… saving files!

YC_Chen, thanks for your tips! I only have one physical drive in my laptop. Furthermore, there are no plugins installed at this time. However I will try what you say and run it through a USB drive and see if this could keep my hair from getting grey to early. I have a feeling it has something to do with the stuff my company puts into the system...well, thanks anyways