Troubles with SIGNAL names in EAGLE .brd

Question

Hi to everyone,

recently I noticed an excessive dimension of the .brd file, a "ratsnest" time-to-execute too high (20 seconds or more) and a complete freeze of EAGLE when importing the file into a bigger schematic (and I need to import blocks for the job).

To give some numbers, in one case the schematic have less than 40 components, less than 20 net wires, and the .sch file is 350kB. This is acceptable.

Obviously the schematic and board are consistent, and there are no errors showed in DRC and ERC.

So, what is the problem? The problem is that the corresponding .brd file is over 12MB and it contains about 350'000 rows of "signal" which are NOT used by the schematic, therefore every operation in the board editor takes a looong time with respect to "normal" files!

There is a way to clear "unused" signals from the .brd file without loss the consistence with schematic?

Many of it are power signals...for example I see thousands of VDD, like "VDD1, VDD2, VDD3...VDD19561" and so on, when in the schematic there is no VDD nets or signal...nothing named "VDD".

The ULPs I found do not rename signals neither it delete unused elements. Nothing of useful on my desk.

The older files works fine with the same software, even if there are hundreds of components and nets, no problems of speed or funcionality or importing.

The problem seems to be in that files full of unused signals.

Despair is taking the place of hope: I have several .brd files with this problem, important projects fully routed, months of work...

Can someone help me? Thank you for the attention.

autodeskguest · Accepted Answer

Am 05.07.2019 um 16:28 schrieb Rajko Marcon: Thanks for the reply. You're right. EAGLE 7.7 (licensed) but the issue is confirmed with other versions, too. Attached here, a couple of the files. The "older files" I mean are project made with the same software before May 2019. They works. Rest assured, there are no viruses, I use Linux and I control everything happens on my computers. Ehm...not in the EAGLE behaviour, it seems... I opened the .brd one with a file editor and found that there are many lines containing inactive signals. A lot of inactive signals. Even if I leave only three components, as you see, the problem remains. Any idea? -- To view any images and attachments in this post, visit: https://www.element14.com/community/message/277080 Attachments: Troubles.zip Hi Rajko, because of your very little sample, I could not made out the cause of the giant size You have plenty of in-official layers in your drawing which I have removed but the were not the cause. (Use Help layers to see the official list of layers) What did work in this example was to switch on all layers, group the components copy and insert them into a new file with a new name of course. Since this must be done separately for .brd and .sch you must close each one before you actually can do that. So, before you go to work make a copy of your project! Attached you find your files "reworked" (as an example) and a little script that shows all the layers used. This must be run in .sch and .brd separately (goes in libraries as well). Look at the script with an editor because I work with windows (and eagle-6.6) and I dunno if the script runs on linux. -- Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With best regards Joern Paschedag 
 Attachments: troubles-new.zip

omega-5 · Answer

Am 07.07.2019 um 10:40 schrieb Joern Paschedag:

But wait, I remember an ulp by Andreas Weidner that exports a whole
project as a file which can be imported into an existing project.
Unfortunately I have not used in years and I don't remember the correct
name, but it is something like "import-export.ulp", or
"import/export.ulp", or "importexport.ulp"

Maybe Andreas is reading this (be greeted) and he or someone else can
provide the correct name

You can find the ULPs here:

importexport.zip

http://eagle.autodesk.com/eagle/download/2277

Friedrich

autodeskguest · Answer

Am 05.07.2019 um 13:43 schrieb Rajko Marcon: Hi to everyone, recently I noticed an excessive dimension of the .brd file, a "ratsnest" time-to-execute too high (20 seconds or more) and a complete freeze of EAGLE when importing the file into a bigger schematic (and I need to import blocks for the job). To give some numbers, in one case the schematic have less than 40 components, less than 20 net wires, and the .sch file is 350kB. This is acceptable. Obviously the schematic and board are consistent, and there are no errors showed in DRC and ERC. So, what is the problem? The problem is that the corresponding .brd file is over 12MB and it contains about 350'000 rows of "signal" which are NOT used by the schematic, therefore every operation in the board editor takes a looong time with respect to "normal" files! There is a way to clear "unused" signals from the .brd file without loss the consistence with schematic? Many of it are power signals...for example I see thousands of VDD, like "VDD1, VDD2, VDD3...VDD19561" and so on, when in the schematic there is no VDD nets or signal...nothing named "VDD". The ULPs I found do not rename signals neither it delete unused elements. Nothing of useful on my desk. The older files works fine with the same software , even if there are hundreds of components and nets, no problems of speed or funcionality or importing. The problem seems to be in that files full of unused signals. Despair is taking the place of hope: I have several .brd files with this problem, important projects fully routed, months of work... Can someone help me? Thank you for the attention. -- To view any images and attachments in this post, visit: https://www.element14.com/community/message/277078 Unfortunately you don't give precise information for your problem. At first glance I'd say you have a ground plane with a very fine (polygon) wire width which results in huge files. Your VDD1,VDD2 etc. points to a lot of imported files without adapting the nets. You talk about "older" files but no one knows what you mean with that, nor did you say which version of eagle you use. Fastest way to solve your problem is imo to place your files here so other users can check them. -- Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With best regards Joern Paschedag

jarko · Answer

Joern, you saved me :-) Your approach is the most logical: instead of removing "strange things" that are not easily recognizable, I can select and put out those with which you have to work ... simple and ingenious. It works. I opened the files (one at a time), started the script, selected with a "copy group" command, then opened another EAGLE instance creating a "new" file, pasted the selected objects and saved with a certain name. The same with the other file, obviously with the same name, and then I closed all the instances. At the new opening, EAGLE recognized the files: synchronized and very light (a few kB). Everything seems to work with medium files, now I'm going to check what happens with the larger multisheet files full of thousands of components ... but I think everything will be fine. I owe you one ;-) Rajko

autodeskguest · Answer

Am 06.07.2019 um 13:20 schrieb Rajko Marcon:

Joern, you saved me

Your approach is the most logical: instead of removing "strange things" that are not easily recognizable, I can select and put out those with which you have to work ... simple and ingenious.

It works. I opened the files (one at a time), started the script, selected with a "copy group" command, then opened another EAGLE instance creating a "new" file, pasted the selected objects and saved with a certain name.

The same with the other file, obviously with the same name, and then I closed all the instances.

At the new opening, EAGLE recognized the files: synchronized and very light (a few kB).

Everything seems to work with medium files, now I'm going to check what happens with the larger multisheet files full of thousands of components ... but I think everything will be fine.

I owe you one

Rajko

--
To view any images and attachments in this post, visit:
https://www.element14.com/community/message/277083

No sweat that works with multi sheets too... and multi boards.

In case other boards are involved you cannot grab the sheet(s)

reflecting the board and copy it into a different project because the

board is falling apart into its components.

Again you must copy .sch and .brd separately.

But wait, I remember an ulp by Andreas Weidner that exports a whole

project as a file which can be imported into an existing project.

Unfortunately I have not used in years and I don't remember the correct

name, but it is something like "import-export.ulp", or

"import/export.ulp", or "importexport.ulp"

Maybe Andreas is reading this (be greeted) and he or someone else can

provide the correct name

--

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With best regards

Joern Paschedag

autodeskguest · Answer

Thanks for the reply. You're right. EAGLE 7.7 (licensed) but the issue is confirmed with other versions, too. Attached here, a couple of the files. The "older files" I mean are project made with the same software before May 2019. They works. Rest assured, there are no viruses, I use Linux and I control everything happens on my computers. Ehm...not in the EAGLE behaviour, it seems... I opened the .brd one with a file editor and found that there are many lines containing inactive signals. A lot of inactive signals. Even if I leave only three components, as you see, the problem remains. Any idea? -- To view any images and attachments in this post, visit: https://www.element14.com/community/message/277079

autodeskguest · Answer

Thanks for the reply. You're right. EAGLE 7.7 (licensed) but the issue is confirmed with other versions, too. Attached here, a couple of the files. The "older files" I mean are project made with the same software before May 2019. They works. Rest assured, there are no viruses, I use Linux and I control everything happens on my computers. Ehm...not in the EAGLE behaviour, it seems... I opened the .brd one with a file editor and found that there are many lines containing inactive signals. A lot of inactive signals. Even if I leave only three components, as you see, the problem remains. Any idea? -- To view any images and attachments in this post, visit: https://www.element14.com/community/message/277079

autodeskguest · Answer

Am 05.07.2019 um 16:28 schrieb Rajko Marcon: Thanks for the reply. You're right. EAGLE 7.7 (licensed) but the issue is confirmed with other versions, too. Attached here, a couple of the files. The "older files" I mean are project made with the same software before May 2019. They works. Rest assured, there are no viruses, I use Linux and I control everything happens on my computers. Ehm...not in the EAGLE behaviour, it seems... I opened the .brd one with a file editor and found that there are many lines containing inactive signals. A lot of inactive signals. Even if I leave only three components, as you see, the problem remains. Any idea? -- To view any images and attachments in this post, visit: https://www.element14.com/community/message/277080 Attachments: Troubles.zip Hi Rajko, because of your very little sample, I could not made out the cause of the giant size You have plenty of in-official layers in your drawing which I have removed but the were not the cause. (Use Help layers to see the official list of layers) What did work in this example was to switch on all layers, group the components copy and insert them into a new file with a new name of course. Since this must be done separately for .brd and .sch you must close each one before you actually can do that. So, before you go to work make a copy of your project! Attached you find your files "reworked" (as an example) and a little script that shows all the layers used. This must be run in .sch and .brd separately (goes in libraries as well). Look at the script with an editor because I work with windows (and eagle-6.6) and I dunno if the script runs on linux. -- Mit freundlichen Grüßen / With best regards Joern Paschedag 
 Attachments: 5125.troubles-new.zip

jarko · Answer

autodeskguest ha scritto: On 05/07/2019 15:27, Rajko Marcon wrote: Thanks for the reply. You're right. EAGLE 7.7 (licensed) but the issue is confirmed with other versions, too. Interesting. There was a report of some later versions (v9.2?) creating "thousands of fake traces" in the board, which sounds similar to your symptoms, but I don't think I've heard of it with V7 before. What is your procedure for importing blocks? The "design block" feature wasn't available in V7 so presumably you are using File->Import->Eagle drawing? Yes, I'm using File->Import->Eagle drawing. It worked...until few days ago, when the files was free from thousands of fake traces. The issue is now solved thanks to Joern!

Troubles with SIGNAL names in EAGLE .brd

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