Always have to reboot after Cura crash

[AnonyMouse 0]

Hi all.

I received Cura 15.04.2 with my Wanhao Duplicator I3 printer.

After working with Cura for a little while in the one session Cura invariably locks up (not responding), and I have to force it to shut down.

From then on it won't operate properly when restarted until the PC has been rebooted, so I'm assuming it loads some service or background process that needs to be manually stopped to prevent having to reboot.

My OS is Windows 8.1 64-bit.

Any advice welcome.

[AnonyMouse 0]

So no one at Ultimaker knows what background processes or supplementary programs Cura might load to run?

I can live with the eventual lock-up but I can't live with the necessity of having to reboot when it happens.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Guest

[AnonyMouse 0]

OK, so while waiting for a reply (???) I took the following action…

I downloaded Cura again, then did a thorough uninstall using Revo UnInstaller Pro, rebooted the PC, then reinstalled Cura.

RESULT: No improvement.

A check of Task Manager while Cura is locked up reveals "pythonw.exe (32 bit) not responding".

This is apparently a fairly common problem:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=cura+python.exe+not+responding&oq=cura+python&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0j69i57.8816j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8

So please, what's the cure?

[nallath 1,120]

Python not responding is very common as python is the language Cura is created in.

Are there specific actions you took which lead to the lockup? Very large models? Using lay flat? Split into parts? Just loading it and doing nothing?

[cloakfiend 995]

If its a massive polycount file then it maybe locked up due to thinking and its better to just let it think than restart, but i cant actually think of one time when cura has frozen on me, and if it did, it did not cause a problem. I use WIN7, WIN8.1, and WIN10. Also mac OSX YOSEMITE all appear fairly stable to me, and believe me I push them hard, and have very little patience.

[AnonyMouse 0]

Thank you both for your replies.

Just to provide some perspective, before I retired I spent many years in IT support, mainly to small business. I have used and am familiar with quite a few operating systems. I have been using this particular 64-bit Windows 8.1 PC for about a year and it has been trouble-free in all that time despite running numerous different applications. I'm not a gamer and I keep a good eye on the system's health. I only mention this so we can save time on the elementary stuff and hopefully indicate that this isn't some poorly configured, Malware ridden box of junk being driven by a beginner. However...

That said, clearly something is wrong and I have been unable to sort it out by myself. I have a passing familiarity with a number of languages, but Python is not one of them.

In answer to your questions...

1. Are there specific actions you took which lead to the lockup?

A: There were a couple of times I was able to take an action or two within Cura immediately after starting it, but for the most part any action at all, even just a mouse click on a blank area, brings up the blue doughnut (busy icon) which cycles forever. The application must be forced to close.

ALSO: The Cura User Manual shows a "print bed" image loaded into the cell on the right-hand side of the screen. For me that cell is always just a blank square when Cura starts:

2. I use WIN7, WIN8.1, and WIN10. Also mac OSX YOSEMITE all appear fairly stable to me, and believe me I push them hard...

A. Are any of them running on a 64-bit machine?

[nallath 1,120]

The old Cura only runs in 32 bit, due to library dependencies. You could try the new version on http://software.ultimaker.com/Cura_closed_beta/15.10/

[cloakfiend 995]

I run everything on 64bit only. win and mac. i run cura 15.02.01 for everything.