Troubleshooting
Licence and sign-in
| Problem or message | Cause | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription not active | The account has no active subscription or trial. | Go to https://meridiancad.app/account/ and start the subscription. |
| Device limit reached | The account already uses 3 computers. | On the account page, remove a computer that you do not use. Then sign in again. |
| Confirm your email address first. | The email address is not confirmed. | Click the link in the confirmation email. If the link expired, send a new link from the account page. |
| A banner tells you that the lease ends soon. | Less than 2 days of the lease are left, and Meridian could not renew it. | Connect the computer to the internet and start Meridian. Or click Renew. |
| Only the licence window shows. | The lease expired. | Connect to the internet and click Renew. |
| Meridian asks you to sign in again. | The sign-in token is older than 30 days. | Sign in with your email address and password. |
| The lease shows as expired, but it is not old. | The computer clock was set back by more than 10 minutes. | Set the correct time. Then renew the lease. |
| Update required | This version is too old to get a new lease. | Click Update. The current lease stays valid until it ends. |
| "Meridian cannot start: ..." on the command line (exit code 3) | There is no valid lease, and the renewal failed. | Run meridian license status. Then run meridian license sign-in --email <address> or meridian license renew. |
For more data, refer to Account and licence.
Updates
| Message | Action |
|---|---|
| Sign in to get updates. | Sign in with your account. |
| This account has no active subscription. | Start or renew the subscription on the account page. |
| Confirm your email address first. | Confirm the email address. |
| Meridian cannot reach the release feed | Check the internet connection. Try again later. |
To see why an update does not work, select Help > Check for Updates.
If an update waits for Meridian to close, make sure that no AI agent session keeps meridian-mcp running. Stop the agent, then update.
Installation
| Problem | Action |
|---|---|
Windows SmartScreen stops the .msi installer. |
The installer is not signed. Click More info, then click Run anyway. |
| Meridian does not start on Linux. | Make sure that X11 and fontconfig are installed: libx11-6, libice6, libsm6 and libfontconfig1. Also make sure that libicu, libssl and ca-certificates are installed. |
| The install script stops. | Make sure that curl, tar and sha256sum are installed. |
The meridian command is not found after the script install. |
Make sure that ~/.local/bin is in your PATH. |
To check the installation, run meridian check.
The 3D view
| Problem | Action |
|---|---|
| The view is slow or does not draw correctly. | Go to Tools > Preferences > Viewport. Select a different Graphics processor, or clear Use hardware acceleration to use the software renderer. |
| You do not know which renderer Meridian uses. | Select Help > About. |
Modeling
| Problem | Action |
|---|---|
| A sketch does not make a profile. | Make sure that the curves make a closed region. Construction curves do not make profiles. |
| A rule stops with an error. | Read the line number in the message. Correct that line. Meridian removed all changes of the rule. |
| "The expression gives an area. Enter a length." | The units of the expression are not correct. Correct the expression so that it gives a length. |
| A count value is refused. | A count must be a whole number from 1 to 2500. |
| A component of an assembly does not load. | Read the warning banner. Find the missing file, or update Meridian if a newer version wrote the file. |
| A banner says that a newer version of Meridian wrote the file. | Update Meridian. Or use Save As to save a copy. The copy does not have the data of the newer version. |
Simulation
| Problem | Action |
|---|---|
| A study gives no results after you open the file. | Results are not saved. Click Run. |
| The stress increases each time you make the mesh finer. | Look for a sharp inside corner or a support on an edge. These points are singular. |
| A body has no results, and a warning shows. | The body has no support and no contact. Add a support, or make sure that the body touches another body. |
| The study says "Shell elements are not used". | The part shape is not supported for shell elements. Meridian used solid elements. Read the reason in the warning. |
| The flow drag looks too high. | Check the mean y+. If it is more than about 300, make the grid finer. Above Re of about 1,000, the drag is indicative only. |
| The internal flow has a resolution warning. | There are fewer than 6 cells across the smallest opening. Select a finer mesh preset. |
| The flow study runs on the CPU, not on the GPU. | Read the reason in the result. Refer to GPU compute. |
AI agents and the MCP server
Refer to the troubleshooting section of MCP server for AI agents.
Log files
| System | Folder |
|---|---|
| Windows | %LOCALAPPDATA%\Meridian\logs |
| Linux | ~/.local/share/Meridian/logs |
Report a problem
If you cannot correct the problem, send a report:
- In Meridian, select Help > Report an Issue. Or click Report an issue in the footer of the website.
- Write a title and a description of the problem.
- Send the report.