By Dennis Collin
When AutoCAD exits ungracefully or crashes, settings can sometimes be lost or reset disrupting office productivity. This includes missing dialogue boxes and reset command behaviours.
If this happens frequently then I would recommend finding out the reason of the excessive crashing as this is often down to failing hardware or corrupted files, but if it is only an occasional issue then having a quick reset to default settings is always useful to minimise time resetting the software.
To fix problem drawings:
To ensure settings are preserved even after a crash, create a text file from Notepad or similar. Ensure it is saved as ‘ACAD.LSP’ and save it to the support location X:\Program Files\Autodesk\AutoCAD 20XX\Support
NB! Do not modify the reserved start-up file acadYEAR.lsp (acad2000.lsp, acad2000i.lsp acad2002.lsp, etc.). This file contains key AutoLISP defined functions that are required by AutoCAD. This file is loaded into RAM immediately before the acad.lsp file is loaded.
Below there are some useful items of code that can be added to a new or existing Acad.lsp file. This is just a small sample of what switches and default settings can be applied.
Now when starting AutoCAD, the software behaviour should be more in tune and suited to user requirements.