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Labview freezes while editing large VIs

While editing a VI, after adding 2-3 elements (wires, subVIs, build array etc.) LabVIEW freezes for around 10 seconds. The cursors turns into the loading icon and after it works again for another 2-3 elements. This happens generally on larger VIs. But also opening a new blank VI takes >10 seconds. When I then close the VI to go back to the project, freezes again.

 

I have a fresh install of LabVIEW 2020 SP1 with the default NI add-ons (https://www.ni.com/it-it/support/downloads/software-products/download.labview.html#411240) + OpenG and nothing else. I installed it on a new PC https://www.hp.com/it-it/laptops/envy/envy-15-laptop.html. The CPU never goes >10% usage, nor does the SSD. RAM is around 8.5/16GB. I did a reboot of the PC which didn't solve the problem.

 

LabVIEW is pretty much unusable at this point. Any ideas? 

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When you say "large VI", what do you mean?  Is it a VI with a Front Panel bigger than a single Screen?  [If so, how will you see everything at Run Time?]  Is it a VI with a Block Diagram that requires > 2 monitors to see everything, with wires and structures in a tangled mess?

 

During CoVID, I'm mostly developing on a Laptop with a 15" screen.  All of my VIs have Block Diagrams and Front Panels that fit on a single Screen.  Things load quickly (even in Projects with several hundred VIs and TypeDefs),

 

One of my first LabVIEW tasks involved a project where the DAQ Block Diagram took about 20 sheets of paper to print out.  Needless to say, it was almost impossible to understand, let alone debug and "improve", so I "started over" and when I was finished, it fit on a single screen (with lots of "structured" sub-VIs that hid the messy details).

 

Bob Schor

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I'm quite confident that the VIs themselves, while not fitting on one screen, are not the problem. On my workstation at work, or my personal desktop at home, I have not problems, no lags whatsoever. Only on this new laptop with a fresh install.

 

Just opening and closing VIs causes massives freezes. Even blank VIs.

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Can you try to see if editing a new project on your main drive (C:) and in offline mode helps?  Just to rule out some simple causes.

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Are you running a Project from a network drive with an aggressive anti virus? Start by moving code to C:, then try to handle it as library parts.

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Sometimes a project with a huge amount of VIs (regardless of individual VI size) will have this issue.  I think it's because the project has to keep track of all the dependency changes and stuff.

 

The project file is just an xml file, and if you have lots of VIs, it can take a while to update all the dependencies and the list of VIs.  Library files (lvlib) files are the same, so if you have a project with lots of VIs and libraries, it could very well have delays even adding new VIs.  Take a look inside with an XML editor for this project - you'll be shocked at how many things are being kept track of.

 

Curious to see the result of this exercise:

Create a new VI using File --> New VI.  I believe this makes a VI "outside" the project.  If it's created instantaneously, then maybe you are having the issue I outlined above.

Bill
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I have the project and all of its files on the C:\ drive, which is an NVMe SSD.

 


@billko wrote:

Curious to see the result of this exercise:

Create a new VI using File --> New VI.  I believe this makes a VI "outside" the project.  If it's created instantaneously, then maybe you are having the issue I outlined above.


Creating a new VI is instant. Though when I close it (without saving) it freezes for a few seconds while the project window is active.


And yeah, the project file is quite large at ~500 KB.

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Maybe your hard disk does not have enough space? or SSD became slow over a lot of cycles?

 

How does your free RAM and free HDD space look like?

Santhosh
Soliton Technologies

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@santo_13 wrote:

Maybe your hard disk does not have enough space? or SSD became slow over a lot of cycles?

 

How does your free RAM and free HDD space look like?


I literally bought the laptop last week. 800GB free space on the SSD. 8GB out of 16GB RAM free.

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  • I've noticed that new computers are sometimes very sluggish due to a lot of system update happening in the first few days. Also, if you have cloud storage (google drive, OneDrive, etc.) there could be gigabytes if synchronizations going on. This will quiet down. What is your connection speed? How much network traffic is there?
  • Check for driver updates. (Windows updates ... additional updates ...optional updates ...driver updates)
  • The idea of "antivirus/security software, etc." mentioned earlier is also good. New computes sometimes come with "bloatware", i.e. installed trial software that nobody wants. Most are poor and can be intrusive if they don't understand LabVIEW. The plain security that is built into Windows 10 is typically sufficient.
  • What is the CPU (Model, # of cores, etc.).
  • What are the power settings? (e.g. it will be slower if optimized for battery life)
  • Is this your own computer or managed by IT?
  • Of course it could be that the hardware is faulty. You can check the drive for errors. Some computers also have other hardware checks in the BIOS (RAM, etc.).
  • Are you using LabVIEW 32bit or 64bit? (should not make a difference unless you need large dataspace).
  • If things are fast on other computers, the VIs are probably fine. Check for excessive overlapping objects on the front panel. Also remember that all VIs you load will probably get recompiled on a new system (I assume you use "separate compiled code"), so this will slow down loading the first time. What are your compiler optimization settings? (Menu...options...environment...Compiler).
  • ...
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