AutoCAD 2013 :: SNAP Doesn't Run Parallel To X Axis

I'm looking for comments here- Was this a "bug" in AutoCAD 2013 or what?

I teach AutoCAD to high school kids via "cyber school" and one of my students was sending me drawings on which the SNAP was NOT "snapping" parallel to the X axis and the GRID was not present at all-

Here's what I discovered (This is what I wrote to the student):

Your software is AUTOCAD DESIGN SUITE Ultimate 2013 (Student Version)

Your LIMITS are correctly set to 0,0 and 12,9

GRID and SNAP are both set to .25

The problem:

1. The GRID does NOT display no matter what settings are chosen under the GRID command or within the Drafting Settings dialog box on the Grid and Snap tab.

2. The SNAP function does not create VERTICAL and HORIZONTAL lines.

(The SNAP function is not alignning with the X and Y axes.)

When I opened your latest drawing (9.1) and drew a 12 by 9 rectangle using coordinate input (L <enter> 0,0<enter> 12,0<enter> 12,9<enter> 0,9<enter> c<enter>), the resulting rectangle was a bit “off-SNAP”.

That shouldn’t happen.

I Googled “AUTOCAD GRID OFF” and any other combination I could think off.

Though I was able to read dozens of queries about various SNAP and GRID issues, NONE that I found addressed this issue.

I confirmed that SNAP was on and started the LINE command.

As I moved the mouse I watched the coordinates displayed next to the crosshairs.

As I “snapped” from point to point the coordinates SHOULD have always displayed increments of ¼ (.25, .75, 1.0, 1.25, etc) but they did NOT.

As I moved away from the origin (0,0) the ever-growing error could be seen in the coordinate display at the crosshairs.

It was as if the SNAP function was NOT following a “perfect” vertical/horizontal orientation as it moved.

To confirm that I drew a line using coordinates: 0,9 as the start point and 12,9 as the next point.

I restarted the line command and “picked” a start point guided by “snap” that was “close” to the first start point (It wasn’t perfectly on the first line’s start point due the anomaly mentioned in my first paragraph.) and then picked a second point that was “close” to the first line’s endpoint.

The 2 lines were not parallel.

The line drawn with SNAP to dictate its start and endpoints was simply not “horizontal”.

The “Y” coordinate of the start and end points on that line were slightly different.

Somehow the SNAP function was not “snapping” in alignment with the X and Y axes.

After experimenting with settings I found a solution.

But why the solution worked I DO NOT KNOW.

It isn’t “LOGICAL”.

As I typed the command SNAP I saw that command “suggestions” were displayed next to the crosshairs.

I selected these snap options one at a time and through this experimentation I stumbled onto the solution.

The command which “worked” was a command called SNAPANG. In 30 years of working in AutoCAD, both 2D and 3D, I have never used the command SNAPANG.

However, nothing ventured, nothing gained:

I typed the command SNAPANG <enter> then typed 1 <enter>.

Nothing changed.

I reentered the command SNAPANG and then entered the previous value 0 (zero) thinking that I was restoring it to its previous setting and suddenly the GRID appeared and the SNAP followed with perfect alignment with the GRID and in perfect alignment with the X and Y axes. As I entered the LINE command and watched the coordinates displayed at the crosshairs they were now in perfect increments of .25.

As I said initially, since the two command-driven settings that I entered should have simply reversed one another, I have gone into this great detail because I will send this on to AutoCAD’s support people and see if they have any comment. It must be a “bug” in the new version of AutoCAD.