Forums >> Revit Building >> Tips & Tricks >> Debugging corrupt Revit 2011 linked model.

jfmonod

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Joined: Mon, Apr 23, 2007
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 Hi,

 Just wanted to share something that had us pulling our hair out.

 We have a large Revit project going in 2011 64 bit. It's got MEP linked in and worksets on. Recently the Architectural file started crashing when trying to load the MEP link. So obviously something got corrupted in the MEP file.

"A fatal error has occurred.  The application will be terminated."

-Opening the MEP file in MEP caused no crashes

-Opening the MEP file in Architecture caused no crashes.

-Deleting every visible object and every view out of the MEP file and linking the resulting "empty" file into Architecture caused an instantaneous crash.

- Auditing and purging the file did not help.

- Sending an error report to Autodesk and waiting for friggin ages for a response returned a whopping zero results.

Finally a meticulous review of the journal file generated in the error report returned the following interesting lines :

  ' 8:< System exception in generateViewSpecificGRep   ' 8:<  for element 903090 of class RbsFlexPipeCurve   ' 8:<  in dbview 1129355 of class DBViewPlan

Simply look for the line entries towards the bottom of the journal that detail the error messages:

4:< TaskDialog "A fatal error has occurred.  The application will be terminated.  You have the opportunity to save recovery files for all of your changed projects.Would you like to save a recovery file?."  'Id : TaskDialog_Unrecoverable_Error

and backtrack from there.

So the solution is simple:

 - Open the MEP file

 - In the "Manage" tab under "Inquiry" hit "Select by ID" and enter the ID number of the offending element. (In this case 903090.) Hit OK.

- Whatever is now selected is the culprit.

  *In this instance the offending object turned out to be an invisible piece of flex pipe which completely escaped scrutiny and which was unselectable by any other means. The only way to know that it was selected was the properties dialogue.*

 - Delete the m#$%@*!!!!er

 - Save to Central, Relinquish and Close.

 - Reload the link in Architecture.

 - Get on with life, business and other worthwhile pursuits.

 While returning the crash report to Autodesk and submitting the file for debugging etc... may be the accepted practice, this process at least allows the end user to stay productive while waiting for the weeks and months that the Lab takes to respond to trouble tickets.

 Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 Also never found out why the flex pipe was invisible in the first place and frankly don't care.

 keep drawing faster  !

 JF

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TomDorner

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Joined: Sun, Apr 25, 2004
1207 Posts

Thanks for the good post.

It is an excellent reminder to people experiencing crashes of Revit of a couple of things:

1.  There is usually an offending element that is expecting a logical connection to something that fails.  The logical failure is what kills Revit. 

2.  Journal files are your friend.  Autodesk always wants these as part of the support submission because they usually diagnose the problem and in this case the offending element ID number.

3.  Selecting things by element ID is something to always remember can be done.

4. With the growth of the Revit user base support requests take longer than you can usually wait for the answer.

5.  The journal file clearly reveals the database aspect that is under the hood of revit using terms like dbView and class.  It would be wise for all Revit managers to become more database aware in the near future. 

-----------------------------------

Tom

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juanosborne

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Joined: Thu, Jul 2, 2009
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Hi,

After a WHOLE day trying to figure out what was going wrong with one of our projects I found this post...

Thanks JF for sharing it with us.

I love Revit as much as I *sometimes* hate it.

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jfmonod

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Joined: Mon, Apr 23, 2007
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De nada.

Glad it was useful.

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albertiglesia

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Joined: Sat, Aug 29, 2009
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this is definitely a gem that my company is willing to pay what ever the price is just to know this. it seems that you prepare the ingredients and you cook but in the end we ate what you cook thanks for sharing

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