[Gmsh] Problem meshing .STL file from CAD software

[David Gasperino]

First-off, this software is well designed and quite user-friendly,  
and I hope I can use if for some time to come to mesh my CAD .stl  
files.  But, I am having a problem:

I use Solidworks to generate my project geometries, and export the  
surfaces as .stl files.  Listed below is my procedure for attempted  
meshing of these files:

1.) open .stl files using GMSH
2.) click "remesh" in the Mesh>STL section of the GUI to generate the  
surface mesh
3.) Initiate the 3D mesh

I then receive an error, using all three different 3D meshers,  
relating to problems with the surface mesh.  I have a few questions:   
Is my procedure above correct for meshing an .stl file?  If not, then  
what is the correct procedure?  It seems like there isn't that much  
documentation on the .stl import feature, am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for your help-

David