Altium Stopped working

[ProFPGA]

Hi All,

I was working on my PCB design project using Altium and To make matters worse my Altium Designer 10 has stopped working at all , i was getting some error messages in the past like memory location violations , but i ignored them , and now it has stopped working at all . It loads up and shows my last project , but when i click on any of my files i get a message that DXP.exe has stopped working .

My OS is windows 7 .

Please any clues , as i dont want to uninstall it and go through installation procedure again .

 

[alec_t]

You may not want to do a reinstall, but that looks like the only option .

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Search for "DXP.exe has stopped working"

 

[blueroomelectronics]

Is it a pirated copy?

 

[ProFPGA]

Yes it is a pirated copy ....

 

[MikeMl]

Yes it is a pirated copy ....

Ah, there is some justice in this world...

 

[ProFPGA]

I cantt afford its license , is there some free PCB CAD tool with little or no limitation , like i want to finish my 8-layer board which one is the best ???

 

[ronsimpson]

That version of Altium is all over the world. I think I paid $3.00 for it in China. I used it to review work done in China.

I use the $1000 version of Eagle.
There are some PCB houses that offer a free CAD tool. (8-layer......that maybe too many for free) If you are using a ball grid array you might have troubles with free.

 

[Flyback]

I think kicad and designspark are free, but iver never used them, I am also an Eagle Pro person.....I am pretty sure there is nothing easier to use than that...as long as the boards aren't having multiple diff pair busses, I am not sure if eagle could handle that...never tried.

 

[ronsimpson]

PCB123
https://www.sunstone.com/

 

[DerStrom8]

Try KiCAD. Free, powerful, relatively intuitive.

That or Eagle (what I use personally, though the free version has limitations).

 

[SneaKSz]

Were you making a PCB library?
Making a PCB library (3D shapes?) and at the same time making a PCB sometimes gives scenarios in which Altium crashes.
Just make sure you only have the proj open that you are working on.

 

[throbscottle]

10 free pcb programs reviewed here: **broken link removed**
Personally I use DesignSpark - I just checked, it does up to 14 layers

 

[Flyback]

its so unhelpful there being so many different pcb layout programs.....can you imagine if there were millions of different "Microsoft word" type programs...and whenever you wanted to use one, you had to figure it out.................thank goodness there is just one "Microsoft word", and lets hope soon there will be just one pcb layout package.
...or maybe one for motherboards and one for simpler work....

Germany is the engineering excellence centre of the world, and for non computer motherboard type pcb's they use a certain pcb layout software which I cant mention as I will be accused of advertising...I wonder why Germany uses that certain software...could it be because its the best?

Of course, it always helps to use that package that offers the complimentary golfing weekend when you buy it...not.

It would just make everybodys life easier to do it like the Germans.

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

Flyback: Your paranoid. Most people can tell the difference between advertising. If yout that paranoid, also post a disclaimer. i.e. I have no financial interest in the company.

 

[throbscottle]

Flyback, I couldn't disagree with you more.
If there were only one program, it would have to do all the things that all the people who might want to use it need to do, from absolute beginners, who would find 90% of the functions mysterious, not useful, distracting and in the way, to people who might find it does not do everything they want, or people who just don't like the way it works or does a certain thing.
MS Word tries to be all things to all people, and as a result it's awful. Far better to use the tool (or toolkit) suited to what you want to do and your level of understanding and preferred workflow, than an entire workshop kitted out for mechanics and builders and electronicists and carpenters and... you get the picture.
Personally I'm glad there are so many programs out there - it's meant I could try a few and settle with one I like. I just wish there was so much choice of word processors!

Oh and BTW, you mention Germany, and "they use a certain..." Is this all Germans (who design PCB's) you refer to? I rather suspect the German proletariat are more like the rest of the world and use whatever they are happy with - I'm sure not all German companies have agreed to use the same software!

 

[Flyback]

pcb layout packages are causing electronics companies to loose lots of money through project delays...there's no need for this, a pcb layout program should be as simple as a pcb....in one case, considering a particular package, it is that simple. I haven't named this package, but many who already know its benefits will have heard of it and will know which one i mean.
The Chinese are also major users......and China isn't doing so bad in electronics....having closed down virtually 70% of uk electronics companies because they do the work at better value for money.
Germans talk to each other, they recognise that to operate a capitalist society most successfully you actually need to help one another along to a certain extent......then all reap the benefits....instead of everybody being heads down self centred.

 

[Flyback]

The problem with engineers is that they never admit to something being too difficult for them...so they all just lock horns with overly difficult pcb layout programs and carry on with them....to the detriment of the company....its high time engineering managars saw through this and turned to a pcb layout package which is "as simple as a pcb"...I know of a pcb layout package which really is that simple.....I won't name it, as I will be accused of advertising.

Considering the proliferation of 100's of different pcb layout programs, and whether or not this is helpful....

Consider the labview program, probably the industry standard program for data monitoring and capture.......would it be really helpful if there were hundreds of different data monitoring programs in use?.....supposing that you had just learned labview fully, and then you go to another company and they are using something else, and you have to start all over again.......how useful is that for your countries engineering industry?..........I am not speaking about to an individual, because any engineering individual may be quite enthused at learning and experiencing another software package....rather, I am speaking of the effect on the company, and on the wider economy, and the effect on the general population in terms of the decline in revenue that such ineffienct work practices bring.......how does a decline in the productivity of engineering companies effect the poorest of your society?

I am trying to convey that we need to make pcb layout programs "as simple as a pcb"...because they can be, and the effect for our economies is very beneficial.
We need to make our working practices efficient, whether or not this is personally pleasing....because other peoples well being depends on it.

 

[Cicero]

That version of Altium is all over the world. I think I paid $3.00 for it in China. I used it to review work done in China.

I use the $1000 version of Eagle.
There are some PCB houses that offer a free CAD tool. (8-layer......that maybe too many for free) If you are using a ball grid array you might have troubles with free.

Please explain!!!

 

[ronsimpson]

One of the versions of Altium has the key broken and is for sale. ( not through Altium)
Any time you see a $10,000 program for $3.00 with no support you know it is a copy.
I could get Windows for $3.00. With no upgrades.
Micro Soft Office (old version, no support, no upgrades) Not from Micro Soft.

You can search for this on the internet but I almost guarantee you will get a virus.