[Chimera-users] Problem with Chimera under Windows XP

[Greg Pintilie]

I do have similar problems on my Windows XP laptop with Nvidia
graphics card. I've come to accept it as a graphics card/driver
problem, and the reason I'm pretty sure this is so is that the scripts
I run reliably replicate the problem on my laptop, but when I run the
same scripts on a computer with a different graphics card and same
version of Chimera the problem disapears. It tends to happen when
displaying very complex models; one possible scenario is that the
geometry overfills the graphics card memory and the graphics driver
doesn't handle it properly, but really who knows what is going on
inside the driver. So possible advice is to reduce the complexity of
the models if possible, or try using a different computer and see if
you have the same problem.

Greg



On Dec 17, 2007 1:17 PM, Greg Couch <gregc at cgl.ucsf.edu> wrote:
>
> On Sun, 16 Dec 2007, Peter Girard wrote:
>
> > I am running release 2304 of Chimera under Windows XP with service pack
> > 2 on a Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop.  The image disappears from the screen
> > for no apparent reason.  With the structures I am currently working on,
> > this has become frequent and often occurs after just a few seconds when
> > I click anywhere in the Chimera window.
> >
> > I have found that if I use Model Panel, I can get the picture back by
> > clicking the 'Shown' box to remove the tick mark, then clicking it again
> > to re-insert the tick.  But the picture soon disappears again.
> > Occasionally, it doesn't disappear completely, but part of it collapses,
> > or spurious long lines appear.
> >
> > I had the same problem with a previous release, 2184, and was
> > disappointed that upgrading didn't fix it.  I can find no mention of
> > anything similar in the documentation or email archive.  Can anyone
> > suggest a possible cause?
> >
> > Peter Girard
> > (University of Nottingham, UK)
>
> I am 99.99999% sure that this is not a chimera bug.  This is most likely a
> graphics driver bug, but it could also be a hardware bug or a BIOS bug.
> So you should first update the graphics driver.  There is also a newer
> BIOS, A05, that "addresses some NMI and blue screen issues seen by some
> customers using intensive 3D applications and games."  And please update
> your chimera as well to 1.2470.
>
>        Good luck,
>
>        Greg Couch
>        UCSF Computer Graphics Lab
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