2014 Loading Problem

Today I was unable to open autocad 2014, which is the first problem I've had with an autocad program in 13 years. The message I got initially was as follows:

"Problem loading AcBrandRes.dll resource file". When I closed that message, the following message appeared immediately thereafter: "Fatal Error: unhandled access violation reading 0x0000 Exception@f1af 237aL" The drawing failed to open. I have not a clue what all of that means. Can anyone educate me by identifying the problem I am facing? Do I need to uninstall Autocad 2014 from my machine and reload it?

Thank you for any response you might offer.

Prior to acad not loading, I received a dialogue box asking (as I best recall) if I wanted some program (presumably autocad) to make a change to my computer. I may have clicked on "NO", and that's when the problem began. Is there an "undo" for that move? Would that prevent both 2002 and 2014 from working?

I would first shutdown my computer, wait 20 seconds, fire it back up and try to open AutoCAD. If that failed my next step would be to try a REPAIR of the installation which is NOT the same as an uninstall / reinstall.

Thank you Mark. I will research such a procedure and report my results.

There is one other possible step you could take before trying a REPAIR.

Start > All Programs > AutoDesk > AutoCAD 2014 - English > Reset Settings to Default

Worth a try.

Thank you Mark. I tried resetting settings to default. I received an error message stating no acad files exist on this computer. Evidently, my acad 2002 and 2014 files have been erased or deleted somehow from the machine. I have another computer that works for both of them quite well, so it is limited to this machine. Virus?? I guess "repair" is the only way, short of uninstalling and then re-installing acad from the original disc. The install takes quite a while so I have to consider that as a last resort.

I don't know of any virus that erases AutoCAD files. I sense a REPAIR may fail.

This is from a techie on the Autodesk support forum...

This dll is related to the Splash Screen shown on start up.

 

Try a repair, reinstall or activate the secondary installer via the Windows Registry.

 

Regards,

The Repair is quite simple to do. Have your original disk or download file handy. Go to Windows control panel, programs and features, uninstall or change. Select AutoCad 2014, and you will be asked, "Uninstall, or Repair". Of course select repair. The repair may or may not need the OEM disk depending on what it finds missing because some of the dll files are actually written during the install. It may just zip right through the process without asking for anything.

If you have to re-install, make sure you go to the Autodesk website to get complete re-install instructions. It is not as simple as just running the windows uninstall, and then re-installing from the OEM disk. There are some files that do not get erased or uninstalled by windows, and maybe there are a couple of registry values that have to be erased or changed, before the program will completely re-install cleanly.