Troubleshooting AutoCAD Graphics Issues

Randy Young, the Graphics System Software Quality Assurance Engineering lead guru for the AutoCAD Team wrote an excellent article on solving the worlds troubles, well at least AutoCAD Graphics related ones. Tom Stoeckel of AutoCAD Support posted it to the Without a Net Blog. Checking Your AutoCAD Graphics

I am also publishing the article here due to the value it has in troubleshooting AutoCAD crashes that could be graphics related.

Every year AutoCAD configurations get more complex. For example, one large jump in complexity happened in AutoCAD 2007 when we introduced Hardware acceleration.  As new features are introduced – such as the new Advance Material Effect, and Smooth line display in AutoCAD 2011 – we become more and more dependent on the support of our hardware partners.  Prior to AutoCAD 2007 we only had a dependency on the operating system, but since then we have also become more dependent on graphics cards and drivers.   Each new level of dependency brings new potential for interoperability issues.  To cut down on the complexity of these dependencies and improve user experience we have created a hardware certification program within the AutoCAD team that is located at this site:

Graphics Hardware List

Reason:

As we find drivers that have issues such as the ones in this posting, we have begun blocking hardware acceleration for them to protect users from losing productivity or, worse yet, unsaved data. 

Process:

To check if you have the latest certified driver you can either go to the AutoCAD certified hardware web page (http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-graphicscard), and/or you can check in-product.

To check in-product see the steps below:

Note: You must be an administrator for Microsoft® Windows Vista® & Windows 7 operating systems, and have User Account Control (UAC) disabled.

1. Type “3DCONFIG” at the command line and hit “Enter”.

2. Click the “Check for Updates” button (Highlighted in blue in the image below)

Note: This button checks for updated versions of the graphics card and driver database that is used for performance tuning.

3. If there is an available update it will ask you if you want to replace it by clicking “Yes”.

4. After it is updated you will get a message that says “Your Performance Tuner File is Up to date”, then click “View Tuner Log” button.

5. The View Tune Log will show you if you hardware is certified, it will also show you your current application driver, an example is shown below. If your current driver says anything other than Software or AcadDM10.hdi, i.e., nvgl10.hdi, please see these links (Link1 & Link2) and switch your driver back to the Autodesk Driver.

6. If your system shows you do not have the latest certified graphics card driver, you need to go to the certification site (http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-graphicscard) to download the latest version. To download the latest version click the little blue arrow next to the corresponding driver for you hardware and operating system.

By keeping your system up to date with the latest driver you will avoid losing both productivity and potentially unsaved work.  If you have any questions see the FAQ site and if you have any issue not on the FAQ please feel free to send us a message at the feedback link. 

Good luck on your next project,
Randy Young
AutoCAD Test Development