External Reference Problem

I am having an issue with an external reference. It is basically a 3D drawing of a few trusses with truss bracing installed. I include it with almost every set of drawings. Problem is it often causes my AutoCAD to lock up for 30 seconds to 10 minutes. The problem occurs when switching from paper space to model space or when I load the drawing file. Can't find anyway to fix the issue. Am wondering if I simply need more RAM or a better video card. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

My computer details are up to date but will post them for simplicity

Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64 bit

Computer: Pro Data: Performance Design

CPU: Intel® Core™2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66Ghz

RAM: 4 GB

Graphics: ATI Radeon 5400 Series 1 GB RAM

Primary Storage: ST3500418AS ATA 466GB

Are these xrefs standard details, or are they part of your actual plans? We have several standard details we insert as xrefs (IG wiring details, litghing control detaisl etc.). We simply unload the xrefs until they are needed for plotting. Same idea with the engineers stamp. This isn't a "fix" but a temporary work around until you can find this root of the problem.

In terms of 3-D modelling, I would say 4GB of ram is a bit low (I wouldnt go anywhere below 8GB personally). Also, your graphics card does not seem to be in the "certified" list of cards listed by Autodesk (see the link here for details). This typically doesn't cause issues with 2D drawings, but I have heard of issues when getting into 3-D. I may be wrong though.

Yeah, it is a standard detail. I have unloaded it from the drawing as well and that does fix it. Only problem is when you plot the whole set without remembering to load it back in again. But I may have to go that route anyways.

And yeah, I might have to talk to my IT guy about getting me more RAM and possibly a video card.

Thanks for the reply