My PCB layout editor refuses to load?

bob · March 14, 2020, 5:50pm

I have just started using Kicad and produced a board that I am getting some very useful help with. How do I add links to the PCB layout?
I closed the computer down last night and started it up again this evening only to find that I can get the schematic but if I click on the PCB file on the left side or open the schematic and click on Tools/open PCB editor nothing happens. I waited a few minutes and then dragged the mouse into the centre of the screen and clicked on the left button again, at this point the mouse pointer turns to a rotating circle and just sits there rotating. I left it for 15 minutes and then clicked again, the title along the top had (not responding) added to it. I waited for the rotating circle for five minutes then closed down the program and did the same again a few times with the same results.
This did happen to me yesterday afternoon after closing down and switching on again later. I had to start my project again.
Any ideas?
edit. If I click on the PCB layout editor symbol at the top of the control panel my PCB loads correctly. I can then click on the .sch at the left side of the control panel and get both pages. If I shut down and try to load the PCB editor from within the schematic I get the same problem as above?

davidsrsb · March 15, 2020, 2:26am

Please report your OS and the KiCad version for us to start trying to help you

bob · March 15, 2020, 5:50pm

Thank you David,
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.4
libcurl/7.66.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1d (Schannel) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.2.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.1.1) nghttp2/1.39.2
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Boost: 1.71.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.66.0
Compiler: GCC 9.2.0 with C++ ABI 1013

Build settings:
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON

eelik · March 15, 2020, 7:19pm

You cut off the actual KiCad version number from the version information text.

bob · March 15, 2020, 7:46pm

So I did, sorry

Application: Pcbnew
Version: (5.1.5)-3, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.4
libcurl/7.66.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1d (Schannel) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.2.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.1.1) nghttp2/1.39.2
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Boost: 1.71.0
OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
Curl: 7.66.0
Compiler: GCC 9.2.0 with C++ ABI 1013

Build settings:
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=ON

eelik · March 15, 2020, 8:04pm

If you open the Windows task manager or use Process Explorer, does it show processor activity for kicad when pcbnew is stuck?

bob · March 15, 2020, 8:44pm

If I open Windows task manager and then open Kicad it appears on the list of tasks as running.

Either way I try to open the Pcbnew now it holds for 3-4 seconds then the Kicad line in task manager says ‘Not Responding’.

If I open the Eeschema first it appears in the tasks and when I use any of the methods for opening the Pcbnew they both change to ‘Not Responding’ after 3-4 seconds.

davidsrsb · March 15, 2020, 11:43pm

There are some rare reports of corruption of files in \users\yourname\appdata\roaming\kicad

bob · March 16, 2020, 12:45am

do you know which files and what I can do about them?
If I go to local Disk\Program Files\Kicad\bin and double click on pcbnew.exe
The pcb editor opens. If I then pull down load and load my file it works perfectly so it is not the pcbnew.exe file that is corrupt.

paulvdh · March 16, 2020, 11:08am

A simple experiment with possible positive results is to rename the whole “roaming” directory to some weird name and then start KiCad and start a new project. This will probably restore those files to some default.
If this goes wrong then simply rename the directory back to it’s original name.

davidsrsb · March 16, 2020, 11:15am

Try changing …\roaming\kicad to something else, not …\roaming

eelik · March 16, 2020, 12:11pm

Or should we remove all ambiguity and say “Try changing …\roaming\kicad, not …\roaming, to something else”

paulvdh · March 16, 2020, 12:45pm

I don’t use windoze.
That roaming stuff probably is not safe either with all those viruses lately.

Edit: Added smiley to avoid confusion. I just had one of those weird moods this afternoon.

SembazuruCDE · March 16, 2020, 3:43pm

That “roaming” folder is what MicroSoft baked into Windows for a location for application settings. I don’t know why they called it “roaming”, but they did so that is what us Windows users have to use.

EDIT: I found this website explaining the windows settings folder hieararchy, and it actually does explain a little why it is called roaming:

Please don’t spread FUD for something that you admit you don’t know anything about.

eelik · March 16, 2020, 3:47pm

Maybe it was a joke about staying at home because of a certain virus… roaming isn’t safe.

SembazuruCDE · March 16, 2020, 3:50pm

Ah, I’m surprised at myself that I missed the joke. Especially since it sounds like a joke that I would make. Sorry if you feel I jumped down your throat there, @paulvdh

bob · March 16, 2020, 7:13pm

The file roaming won’t allow me to change it, even with my internet programs and everything else closed it says ‘The action can’t be completed because the folder is in use.’

qu1ck · March 16, 2020, 9:32pm

It’s a reference to home folders roaming between machines in a corp environment where users don’t have specific machines assigned and their appdata “follows” them around wherever they login.

As others suggested, don’t change roaming folder itself, rename kicad folder inside the roaming folder.

paulvdh · March 16, 2020, 10:17pm

Or rename or move (zip?) the the KiCad related files in that folder.

bob · March 16, 2020, 10:34pm

I changed the name of the Kicad file to kicard. The control panel opened when I clicked on the shortcut on my screen so I made a new project and called it testing.
It put a folder called testing in my documents file with
testing.keycad_pcb
testing.pro
testing.sch
in it.
It also put another folder in the roaming folder called Kicad with just
sym-lib-table
in it. The original Kicad has a load of files including an Eeschema one.
When I tried to open the sch file (clicking on the sch icon in the control panel) it just did the same as it has been doing with the PCB file, just hung up and stopped responding.
The Eeschema file is in the roaming\Kicard folder now so I suppose it can’t find it?
I deleted the Kicad folder it had made and changed Kicard back to Kicad.
I opened Kicad and my sch screen successfully and then pressed on the PCB icon, it came up correctly?
I closed it all down to try again and got the sch screen up again but it doesn’t matter which route I try to open the PCB screen it locks with ‘not responding’ as before.
I have tried to click on the icon on the control panel screen, click on the path in the left box, go into the sch screen and click on the icon or go to tools\open PCB editor it still locks.