Spinning Circle of Death

patrick_dingle648

I am running Onshape from Google Chrome on Windows 7.  The product seems great, except that periodically (once every 2 to 10 minutes), the model stops updating when I try to perform operations.  For example, I might click and drag an unconstrained line in a sketch, and the line will not move.  This is when I typically notice that there is a spinning circle of death in the lower center of the screen.  It sometimes resolves itself after 5-10 minutes, but most of the time I have to hit the refresh button on my browser, reload the model and pick up where I left off.  I ran into this problem about 3 months ago and I stopped using Onshape for a while.  I came back today to see if the product has improved, but I still run into this issue.

By the way, my internet speed is great -- 116 Mbps download / 16 Mbps upload.  No connectivity issues to other web sites while this problem occurs.

Is this a known issue?  Is there anything I can do on my end to resolve?

andrew_troup

@patrick_dingle648 

I had similar problems, which I eventually tracked down, with help from @lougallo from Onshape Support, to a Chrome add-on (some sort of downloader extension, IIRC in my case)

To force Google Chrome extensions to update, browse to chrome://extensions/ and check the Developer mode checkbox, then press “update extensions now” to force the download of the latest version. This also allows changing certain settings of certain apps

If still no joy, Try forcing extensions closed.

To set up a shortcut for opening Chrome without any extensions, modify a conventional shortcut to Chrome by choosing "Properties" then paste this into the "Target" frame, and edit to suit your installation :

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --disable-extensions

daniel_chow

Try this, its easy. Run Chrome in incognito mode where extensions are disabled by default (although you can enable extensions in incog mode, when you close the window, that setting will reset and opening a new window in incognito mode will disable extensions again). 

Also try this, start a new user in Chrome. Extensions are attached to the user. 
Settings > People > Add Person

andrew_troup

Just one more thought: when I first used Chrome on my Win7 laptop with a workstation graphics card, I had slowdowns of the sort you describe, which eventually I traced to "Hardware Acceleration" being turned on (Settings/Advanced).

This (perversely) can cause colossal deceleration, depending on your graphics card.

chrisjh777

I fixed my problem by setting up a new user account with Chrome with zero extensions.  I noticed that the AdBlock extension was the main culprit.

I now load Chrome, then switch users to the account with no extensions.

3dcad

I have just add cad.onshape.com in adblock settings (allowed sites) and have no problems. 

lougallo

We have noticed a number of issues with AdBlock but the issue seems to affect some and not others.

daniel_chow

I have a bit of a different view on ads than most ppl I think. 

The sites I like that offer me a service for free and depend on ad revenue, I make it a point to click on and view their ads which helps to support the site. 

Also wanted to say that Lou looks like a super hero.

andrew_troup

@daniel_chow
How often do you buy the advertised product, though?

daniel_chow

Actually Andrew, I often do because I do a lot of online ordering for my school as the tech guy there. 

Plus a lot of those online ads are targeted to me based on what I've been searching for on Amazon, Ebay and other online sources. 

I feel much of what makes the internet a great place to be is because some websites can support themselves solely from online advertising revenue rather than having to charge the end user a fee. 

andrew_troup

@daniel_chow

I would agree whole-heartedly if everyone did what you do, but it concerns me that many people currently consider that clicking through (with no intent to purchase) is sufficient support to sustain the desirable state of affairs you describe.

Obviously that only appears to work, rather than sustainably working in the long term, because it exploits the fact that clicks are the wrong thing to measure

... and yes, I realise it's hard to measure actual purchases, particularly where cookies are disabled, because they may not happen immediately.

And I also acknowledge that intent is not the same as behaviour, and that a small capture ratio may still be enough to sustain a lean business model....

But at present, those who DO make purchases after clicking through are cross-subsidising free internet services for the many who never do, and I wonder how healthy and sustainable that is, in the long term.

3dcad

@daniel_chow I work a bit different than you considering marketing behavior. If I see add, I don't click that but I rather write the direct address on another tab - I don't wan't my visit to cost them anything since I don't want things getting more expensive because of add costs.
In google, I never click paid links - and when I do, I'm usually feeling betrayed because keywords doesn't match the content of the site.

And secondly, I tend to think I overpay for product if there is a lot of marketing around since I know it's all implemented in product pricing. That's why I often go with 'smaller dealers' with lower cost base.

I truly understand your support for sites who live through adds, it is amazing world we live in.

daniel_chow

I think we all take for granted the free nature of the internet. I think that we forget that these services we use for free (Youtube, Google, Hotmail, Facebook, Craigslist) incur costs to run the services. That includes onShape. 

We're lucky, its hard sometimes not to take things for granted.

andrew_troup

chrisjh777 said:

I fixed my problem by setting up a new user account with Chrome with zero extensions

......

I now load Chrome, then switch users to the account with no extensions.

Does doing it this way confer advantages you don't get from simply opening Chrome (from a dedicated shortcut) as the other user?

chrisjh777

Thanks to this thread, I think I have access to drawings.  Right now, I am on a crappy internet connection, a long way from any city, so OS is unusable.  I haven't had time to test more thoroughly but, here are my observations so far:


1.  I observed that whenever I tried to access a drawing, a popup on the lower left hand side of the screen alternated between "Adblock" and Onshape, and that the "drawing Initiated" popup on the top left hand side of the screen would never appear. Using Chrome without AdBlock gives me access to drawings, provided I am on a reasonable internet connection.


2.  Whenever the "Spinning Circle of Death" was in motion, my CPU usage maxes out and the cooling fan goes into overdrive.  This happens on all 3 high end workstations that I use.  I don't understand why this happens, as my understanding is that all processing is done in the cloud.  I guess it could be the GPU that maxes out as well.


3.  When I am back in the Brisbane (next week), I need to try 3dcad's "I have just add cad.onshape.com in adblock settings (allowed sites) and have no problems."  I don't know why I didn't think of this. 


4.  I response to Andrew's question "Does doing it this way confer advantages you don't get from simply opening Chrome (from a dedicated shortcut) as the other user? ", I have not tried this.  All I know I was so, so happy when access to drawings worked reasonably reliably.

andrew_troup

For what it's worth, Adblock Plus Chrome Extension also caused my browser CPU cycles to max out, when running Onshape.