Hardware Acceleration Troubleshooting Reference

Solutions to common problems with hardware acceleration.

After starting Netmeeting, hardware acceleration is disabled or unavailable. Is it possible to re-enable hardware acceleration?

To re-enable hardware acceleration, close Netmeeting. Then restart the AutoCAD-based product, hardware acceleration should be available once again.

After running a remote access application such as Citrix or any windows emulating software, hardware acceleration is unavailable. Is it possible to use hardware acceleration with these applications?

To use hardware acceleration, the application needs to be run locally from the computer. Hardware acceleration remains unavailable while any remote access application is running on the computer.

Why is hardware acceleration unavailable?

The most common reason why hardware acceleration is unavailable is that a graphics display driver cannot be located on the system. To use hardware acceleration, visit the video card manufacturer's website or the Autodesk Certified Hardware website (http://www.autodesk.com/autocad-graphicscard) to download and install the latest driver available for your system.

Why does hardware acceleration seem to disable on its own at times?

There are some situations when the AutoCAD-based product might drop out of hardware acceleration. The following is a list of the commonly known conditions when an error or driver failure might occur:

• You lock and unlock the workstation while the application is currently running.
• A screen saver was activated and the application is restored.
• You enable/disable the second monitor on the system.
• The system returns from hibernation or standby mode.
• The application runs out of video memory.

Why is the Autodesk driver unavailable to use with hardware acceleration?

To use the Autodesk driver for hardware acceleration, DirectX 9.0c or later must be installed on the system. To install DirectX, insert the product’s original installation media (DVD/CD) in your drive. Execute DXSETUP.exe from the 3rdParty\DirectX folder and follow the displayed prompts.

At times when I am using hardware acceleration, I encounter an error that prevents hardware acceleration from operating correctly and then it becomes unavailable. What should I do?

To help ensure that hardware acceleration operates correctly, verify that you are running the latest service pack of the product and video graphics card driver before attempting to re-enable hardware acceleration.

The Graphics Performance dialog box does not seem to have all the advanced graphic options which were previously in the Performance Tuner. Where can I access these options?

Some advanced graphic performance options and settings are available only when you enter -graphicsconfig on the command line.