Freeze when trying to create footprints

[Christopher Stolworthy]

I am having an issue where KiCad freezes entirely when attempting to create a footprint. When I try to create a footprint, the window will launch and before I can interact with it, it freezes. This locks KiCad entirely, and I have to force close the application. I can work just fine on Layouts and Pcbnew works as well. This is my KiCad version info.

Application: kicad
Version: (5.0.2)-1, release build
Libraries:
    wxWidgets 3.0.4
    libcurl/7.61.1 OpenSSL/1.1.1 (WinSSL) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.6 libidn2/2.0.5 libpsl/0.20.2 (+libidn2/2.0.5) nghttp2/1.34.0
Platform: Windows 8 (build 9200), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
    wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
    Boost: 1.68.0
    OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
    Curl: 7.61.1
    Compiler: GCC 8.2.0 with C++ ABI 1013

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

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Hi Christopher-

We are very close to releasing v5.1. Would you try the latest nightly build from https://kicad-downloads.s3.cern.ch/index.html?prefix=windows/nightly/ and see if the issue remains for you?

[Christopher Stolworthy (paranoiabots)]

I tried installing the latest nightly (kicad-r12377.d15876595-x86_64.exe), it did not fix the issue. Where can I find the log files?

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Are you able to add footprints to an existing board layout?

[Christopher Stolworthy (paranoiabots)]

I only seem to lock up when I hit this button (or the same button in layout view):

https://i.imgur.com/oj21DmO.png

When I hit that button, it shows a progress screen of it loading libraries, then pops up the window for me to create a new footprint. Almost as soon as that screen appears and renders, it goes unresponsive. Like this:

https://i.imgur.com/W3zIdnL.png

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Can you open a board, select a footprint and press Ctrl-E (Open in footprint editor)? Does it also freeze when you do this?

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Also, can you post your Windows Information? (Version/build)

[eelik (eelik)]

(I'm not a KiCad developer.)

I would suggest renaming your %appdata%\kicad\ configuration folder and starting KiCad from scratch and creating a new empty project. Does it still happen? If it makes any difference it's caused by something in your configuration. (The newly created config folder can of course be replaced with the old one afterwards if you like.)

[Christopher Stolworthy (paranoiabots)]

Trying to open a footprint using Ctrl-E also froze.

Deleting the %appdata%\kicad\ folder as eelik suggested has resolved the problem

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Would you mind making an archive of your %appdata%\kicad\ folder and either attaching it here or e-mailing it privately? I'm glad to hear that your installation is working again. I'd like to know why it wasn't to begin with and see if we can avoid those types of freezes.

[Christopher Stolworthy (paranoiabots)]

I have attached a zip of the old appdata folder that had the issue.

My OS is Windows 10, version 1809, build 17763.316 for reference. If there is any more info that would be helpful, let me know. Thanks for all the help!

[Christopher Stolworthy (paranoiabots)]

It seems I spoke a little too soon. Now it will randomly lockup when placing a symbol. I have had it lock immediately after opening a brand new project, after killing and relaunching I can open the same project just fine. I can't seem to find a specific cause to the lockup, other than it seems to always be triggered by placing a symbol.

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Anyone have the latest Win10 to see if they can reproduce this?

[Jeff Young (jeyjey)]

Setting priority to High at least until we find out how reproducible it is....

[Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw)]

I just tested this using the attached configuration setting and I could not get the footprint editor to crash with either 5.0.2-1 installed using the installer from the website or with my latest build (5.1.0-rc2-7-gc77031842) on my windows 10 pro system at work. I did get a few warning about missing libraries but this is to be expected.

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Possibly another video driver issue.

@Christopher, can you test the latest nightly build to see if the issue still occurs?

[Christopher Stolworthy (paranoiabots)]

I tried kicad-r12473.16b3c80a7-x86_64.exe and it didn't seem to resolve the issue. I then uninstalled completely, ran DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) and rebooted. I installed the latest video drivers fresh, rebooted, then installed the build again. Now everything seems to be running great.

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Thanks for reporting back with the details!

Was this an AMD driver?

[Christopher Stolworthy (paranoiabots)]

No problem :)

It is a NVidia GTX 970