When SOLIDWORKS crashes, it is often hard to diagnose exactly what is upsetting the application. A very common reason is due to the graphics card and driver. It is well known that there are certain cards and drivers that work best with SOLIDWORKS based on the computer, SOLIDWORKS version, and other characteristics. This information can be found using the following site: https://www.solidworks.com/support/hardware-certification. Out-of-date drivers and unsupported graphics cards are common reasons for SOLIDWORKS to become unstable.
Another cause for crashing in SOLIDWORKS is due to dueling graphics cards. SOLIDWORKS can only run successfully using one single graphics card. This is not a very common problem as most computers generally are only equipped with one. Every now and then, however, a laptop will come with an integrated graphics card and cause SOLIDWORKS to crash. According to Solution S-049646, when there are two cards present, the program tries to find the common ground between them and will generally crash or create a very unstable environment. SOLIDWORKS Rx crashing is a suitable indicator that multiple video cards are present and is the cause for instability.
An easy way to test and solve this issue is to follow these steps:
1. Open the Device Manager on your computer and show all the Display adapters
2. If there are more than one, right-click on the integrated graphics card (most likely the card that was not certified for SOLIDWORKS) and click “Disable device.” DO NOT do this if there is only one graphics card listed.
3. Restart your computer and run SOLIDWORKS to see if that solved the issue.
4. If disabling the card solved the problem, you can right-click on the desktop screen and go to the NVIDIA Control Panel. From there go to “Manage 3D Settings,” “Program Settings,” and change the Dassault Systèmes preferred graphics processor to “High Performance NVIDIA Processor.” This should allow you to enable the second graphics card and still run SOLIDWORKS.
If you are unable to choose “High Performance NVIDIA Processor” or doing so and enabling the graphics card caused the program to crash again, keep the unwanted card disabled and run SOLIDWORKS per usual.
Taryn Llorente
Application Engineer
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.
