(Reference)

Many models have inside or re-entrant corners which can cause high stress concentrations

High Stress Concentrations are also caused by incorrect boundary conditions (aka loads and restraints).

Example 1 – Tensile Test

The video on the following page compares Hand Calculations to SimulationXpress and SolidWorks Simulation with Reference Geometry restraints, for a tensile test of a steel cylinder.
Simply putting a “Fixed” restraint on a face (which a lot of people just do) is a blind and often an incorrect approach and can cause high stress concentrations. A better method involving using a “Sliding” restraint combined with a Reference Geometry condition can be used to overcome these high stress concentrations.

Putting a "Fixed" restraint on a face may cause high stress concentrations.

 Example 2 – Use a Soft Material

The following article proposes to use a “springy foundation pad” with a low youngs modulus and low poisson’s ratio, attached to the part you want to secure. The springy material will absorb high stress concentrations when a force is applied. Link -> http://www.capinc.com/2011/04/06/imaginary-materials

Use a springy foundation pad part or body attached to the part being loaded

Note: Archived originals

Error: The database file ‘C:\SolidWorks Data\lang\english\swbrowser.mdb’ is not the expected version.

Typically you would see this error if you have recently upgraded your SolidWorks install to SW2010 or SW2011. SolidWork should have updated your HoleWizard/Toolbox database, or maybe it installed a new one, and the wrong path is listed in Tools -> Options -> Hole Wizard / Toolbox.

Checklist

1. Using My Computer, look for C:\SolidWorks Data, C:\SolidWorks Data (2)
2. Open SolidWorks, Tools -> Options -> Hole Wizard / Toolbox. Check that the path is correct and if different paths were found above, try browsing to them.
3. If you have another computer running the same latest version of SolidWorks, copy their C:\SolidWorks Data to your computer.
   OR
   Browse to: “C:\Program Files\SolidWorks Corp\SolidWorks\Toolbox\data utilities” and run UpdateBrowserData.exe Browse to the swbrowser.mdb file inside C:\SolidWorks Data\lang\english and click “Update”. That should do the trick.

Diagnosis

The SolidWorks Installation Manager provided a link to the Installation Logs ( C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\SolidWorks\Installation Logs\2011 SP0 ). Looking at the latest txt file ( SummaryIMLog_20110.txt ) I saw “Installation Error 1719″ and “Installation Error 1603″.

I also looked at the Windows Event Viewer, and saw the failed installation and the Error 1719. See image below.

First Attempted Solution

• As Windows Installer v5 is part of Windows 7, it would not show up in Add/Remove Programs to do a repair (as I would have done for XP).
• Make sure that the Windows Installer service is running  (Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Services)
• As on the SW KB, I had tried registering and reregistering Windows Installer.
  Command Prompt:
  msiexec.exe /unregister
  msiexec /regserver
  C:\Windows\Syswow64\Msiexec /regserver
• I even browsed directly to the SolidWorks setup (bypassing the Installation Manager), but it immediately threw up the 1719 error and stopped.

Final Solution to 1719 Installation Error

1. Start, then Run, then type regedit 
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENT CONTROL SET\SERVICES\MSIserver\WOW64            
3. Right click on WOW64, then select Modify      
4. Set Value Data to 0 (mine was set at 1) and Base should be Hexadecimal
   (see below image for screenshot)
5. Close the Registry Editor
6. Reboot the PC
   OR
   Command Prompt: net stop msiserver    and net start msiserver
7. Install SolidWorks 

Reference

Background

If you have done a clean re-install of SolidWorks and are still getting strange errors (such as missing dlls, or “unknown file types”), it may well be Microsoft .NET Framework at fault. Most of the time, looking in the Windows Event Viewer will confirm this if there are .NET Framework errors showing up.

The first step is to do a repair of .NET Framework, by going to Add/Remove Programs, right-clicking on .NET Framework (choose 3.5 or 3.1 if present) and going Repair. This should work, however sometimes it doesn’t.

You can also try:
Exploring the SolidWorks DVD and in the prereqs folder run “dotnetfx3.exe” (or dotnetfx3_x64.exe). I tried this however I got strange errors about “mscoree.dll” etc.

Download and usage

If all else fails, you can use a “.NET Framework Cleanup Tool“. It works really well and has worked for me every time. You can download this Executable Tool (in a Zip file) from: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/astebner/archive/2008/08/28/8904493.aspx

• Just run the exe file and go “Cleanup Now”.
• It takes around 5 minutes to process and at the end you will be prompted to Restart the Computer. Restart the Computer/
• After the reboot, look in Add/Remove Programs. If its Windows XP, you will see the original .NET Framework 1.1 listed. Thats perfect.
• From the prereqs folder of the SolidWorks DVD run “dotnetfx3.exe” or “dotnetfx3_x64.exe”.
• Once this is installed, you should be able to start SolidWorks. (No need to go reinstalling SolidWorks)
• Fingers crossed the dll errors or strangeness in SolidWorks will have gone.

Notes:
This worked fine on SolidWorks 2009 and SolidWorks 2010
Search the SolidWorks Knowledge Base for the dll error messages or for errors regarding the feature you are having issues with (such as property tab builder etc.) It will typically tell you if its a .NET issue.
Link to dotnetfx3.exe and dotnetfx3_x64.exe
After running the cleanup tool, rebooting, installing dotnetfx3.exe SolidWorks will work fine.
Installing .NET Framework 3 (the dotnetfx3.exe linked above and on the SW prereqs folder), will install .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0.
I suggest you run Windows Updates, several times. More than likely a .NET 3.5 will have to be installed. Note also, until you run Windows Updates and install all .NET Frameworks that were in place (in Add/Remove Programs in the very begining), some other installed programs on your computer may give out.
Lastly, use at your own risk!