Data Panel and Activity panel issues

[JohnPeterman7845]

Hello All,

I have a current subscription of Fusion 360 Ultimate, 2.0.1350.  I am having a major issue with the GUI that impacts the use of the software.  The Data Panel and the Activity Panel show up as solid Black boxes, as if it is not rendering any graphics.  See attached photos.  I might add that this has happened under the previous version as well.

I have tried:

• Changing the Direct X from ver 11 to 9 under preferances and back again.
• Turn off the local firewall (thought it might be net driven content)
• The typical uninstall - reintall
• Turning off the Catalyst Control Center manager

The computer being used is:

• Dell Precision M6800
• 16 GB ram
• Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit
• i7-4900MQ
• Video: AMD FirePro M6100 Fire GL V
• Software: Autodesk Product Design Suite Ultimate 2015, and CFD 2015

Has anyone else had this problem?  Anyone have any suggestions on what to try next?

[Vijay.Ilavarasan]

Hi John,

Thanks for reporting this and providing the details. We are looking into this and will get back to you shortly.

-Vijay Ilavarasan

Autodesk | Fusion 360

[JohnPeterman7845]

If you need any addional information please let me know.

JP

[AlexPetak_Autodesk]

Hello,

The Fusion on Windows uses Chromium to render the UI of Dashboard and the Activity feed.

The fact You see these panel as black could be caused by malfunction of 2D graphic acceleration on Your notebook

I've found very similar issue described on Google Chromium 

http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=117371

The important detail which probably causes this is the Hybrid Graphic System enabled.

Try to disable it please.

Regards,

Alex

OS Version:Windows 7 SP1,64 bit
Exact GPU vendor/model:Intel(R) HD Graphics Family,AMD Radeon HD 6630M


What steps will reproduce the problem?
1.enable GPU compositing on all pages ,GPU Accelerated SVG and CSS Filters flags on Hybrid Graphics system
2.Select high-performance in GPU control panel
3.browse any site

What is the expected result?
site will be rendered as usual

What happens instead?
black screen appears.

Please provide any additional information. Attach a screenshot if
possible.

My pc is Sony Vaio C.this problem only occures when set Hygrid Graphics enabled and chrome set to high-performance mode.(which means chrome will have access to my dedicated AMD GPU along with intel graphics).

[jan.vonasek]

Hi John,

Thanks for precise report.

It may be graphics driver issue. Can you please try to update graphics driver and/or if possible install on different PC? It helps us recognize whether it is computer or account related issue.

-Jan Vonasek

Autodesk

[Vijay.Ilavarasan]

Hi John,

When Fusion is running, can you please check Task Manager to see if there are any references to AdCefWebBrowser.exe and whether they are consuming significant CPU.

Can you please try and exit Fusion, see if any of these processes ‘hang around’, if they do, then kill them and restart Fusion and see if the issue still exists.

Thanks,

Vijay I.

Autodesk

[JohnPeterman7845]

Added Notes:

• This is a New Laptop, only 2 weeks in service. Windows is up to date with all SP and KB updates.
• Using 3Dconnexion puck
• Part of a local Windows domain
• All network traffic leaving the office to the internet is going through a Cisco ASA.
• I have bypassed the ASA and connected directly to the internet via our ISP modem
• DNS2 is googles 8.8.8.8
• Firewall turned off
• 8 Cups of Coffee this morning…

@AlexPetak_Autodesk

Google Chrome is not installed on my laptop, and we would prefer it stay that way.  If this turns out to be the main issue…. Grrr

My system does indeed use a hybrid graphic card.  I am unable to find a software switch to turn this feature on and off.  I am working with Dell on this.

@jan.vonasek

The current software package is:

Driver Packaging Version: 13.352.1002-140402a-170382C-Dell

Provider: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

2D Driver Version: 8.01.01.1379

2D Driver File Path: /REGISTRY/MACHINE/SYSTEM/ControlSet001/Control/CLASS/{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}/0001

Direct3D Version: 9.14.10.01017

OpenGL Version: 6.14.10.12804

AMD Catalyst Control Center Version: 2014.0402.517.7586

I am going to install the updated drivers: Minor version .1009 (7-9-14)

@Vijay.Ilavarasan

Yes, AdCefWebBrowser.exe is running.  There are (4) instances running, all at 0% CPU usage.

They exit one by one as Fusion is exited

[JohnPeterman7845]

Update:  11-20-14 @ 10:41am CST 

After reading about the intigrated graphic card on my Dell M6800, I decided to take the unit off the docking station and try running Fusion.   Well it worked just fine.

I then placed it back on the dock and it did not work.

I updated the graphic card drivers to the latest rev.  I still have the same issue, works off the dock and not on the dock.

So I might have isolated the rendering problem to the graphic card and the way it interfaces with the docking station.  I am not sure how to go about and fix this...

JP

[JohnPeterman7845]

Update:  11-20-14 @11:24am CST 

I now have Fusion working on my docking station.  I have forced the laptop out of Hybrid mode, with a work around.  Under power setting, I have selected "Force power-saving graphics" when plugged in. see photo.

I call this a work around since there is no BIOS switch and no direct software interface switch.  I do not know if this will effect the performance of my other cad applications. ie Inventor & CFD.

Question:  Is this something autodesk can fix on their end so I do not have to do this work around?

JP

[Vijay.Ilavarasan]

Thanks John for isolating the issue and finding a workaround. We will look into this further to understand it better and see what can be done.

In the mean time, if you run into any limitiations with Inventor or CFD due to this setting, let us know.

Thanks,

-Vijay

[jan.vonasek]

Hi John,

Thanks for verification. Let me explain what happen. The Data Panel and the Activity is using Chromium to display content. Chromium is able to use GPU acceleration. Probably this acceleration fails in your case.

Generally it should be possible to switch between integrated graphics, discrete graphics and hybrid graphics. Hybrid graphics means that both graphics (integrated and discrete) work somehow together. I expect only hybrid mode fails in your case. As a short term solution you can try other available AMD Catalyst settings.

Note: It looks Dell notebook with same processor and NVIDIA graphics works well.

Thanks,

Jan

[innovatenate]

I want to add that there is also a Power Option setting in the Windows Control panel that may help:

Thanks,

[JohnPeterman7845]

11-28-2014

Having to downgrade the performance output of the video cards has in act negative impact on other applications running one my laptop.  Most of the MS office products have rendering issues when scrolling. The text will disappear.

Are there any other options on maybe changing the rendering options for Fusion 360?  I am pretty much unable to use the software as intended.

FYI: Iternally we will never use another NVIDA graphics card for a Dell laptop.  We have had 100% failure rate with them.

JP

[AlexPetak_Autodesk]

Hi JP,

I dont have Dell M6800 with ATi at hand.

But there should be option to disable the Switching graphics in the BIOS

The problem is hardware combination.

Autodesk Fusion 360 is not the only product which is affected by this problem

Here is citation from one particular forum, the hardware is also M6800 with ATi,

the bold underlined sentence could be helpful to navigate in the Dell BIOS.

Re: AMD FirePro M6100 Fire GL V locks up

Andrew Wanie Aug 20, 2014 10:06 AM (in response to Andrew Wanie)

All,

Problem Resolved.  The main solution was to go into the bios, go under video, and uncheck or disable video switching.  Basically the intel driver and the AMD were fighting each other and or not playing nicely.  Once you do this only the AMD driver will run. 

source:

https://forum.solidworks.com/thread/84565

Then try to return Your power settings as it were before and let us know please.

Regards,

Alex

[AlexPetak_Autodesk]

It could have different names in the BIOS.

"Hybrid Graphics"

"Switchable Graphics"

maybe also somenthing like "Use Intel Graphics"

[Muzzerboy]

I have an HP Zbook14 which has an ATI graphics card so I can run Inventor and other CAD. If I try to run Fusion for my own projects, I have to turn off "Hybrid Graphics" in the BIOS otherwise I get the black screens which prevent me from accessing the 360 portal etc and renders(!) a lot of the features unusable. Of course, this means that when I try to run "proper" CAD on my machine (ie what it was really bought for), the graphics is turned off and Inventor etc are trying to run with the Intel HD graphics. It's hardly a great solution - is this the best you can manage?

Seems that in the HP BIOS, you can only turn off the ATI graphics card and leave the Intel device running. There is no option to turn the Intel device off and allow the ATI card to do the work. Reading between the lines, it sounds as if the Intel device is required to drive the display and the ATI card is subcontracted to handle the heavy CAD work. But when this happens, rendering the Fusion panels is not successful.

This isn't a good outcome. Is there really nothing you can do to fix this? It's hardly a selling point, having to run Fusion with graphics disabled - and having to change BIOS settings between sessions / not being able to run "proper" CAD applications and Fusion in the same session.

Murray

[AlexPetak_Autodesk]

Hi Murray,

we can try following experimental settings, please add these new environment variables:

NEUTRON_CHROME_DISABLE_ACCELERATED_COMPOSITING=1

NEUTRON_CHROME_DISABLE_ACCELERATED_2D_CANVAS=1

(step by step guide how to add new environment variables http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000549.htm)

Go again to BIOS and enable back Your Hybrid graphics on and then please let me know.

Regards,

Alex

[Muzzerboy]

Hi Alex

I managed to set those environment variables and then went into BIOS to enable hybrid graphics again. On boot up, my Fusion still works (ie its not suffering black panels), although it reports that the Intel device is handling the graphics and if I have a higher performance graphics I should switch to that:

[GPU Information]
GPU Device: Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500
GPU RAM: 1071 MB (Integrated card)
GPU Driver API: DirectX 9.0
GPU Driver Verison: 9.18.7.5
GPU Driver Date: 03/27/2014

[Graphics Effects Settings]
Anti Aliasing: On
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Object Shadow: Off
Ground Shadow: On
Ground Reflection: Off
Selection Display Style: Normal
Transparency Effect: Better Performance

[Notes]
1. If you have another discrete GPU on your system it is recommended to run Fusion on it to get better performance.

etc etc

Catalyst Control Centre's "Switchable Graphics Applications Settings" (which wasn't available before with hybrid graphics disabled) are set to give Fusion and Inventor the high performance (ie AMD) graphics. Inventor is reporting the AMD graphics but Fusion is reportng the Intel device. I suppose that's got to be an improvement. Is there any simple means of telling if Fusion is in fact managing to use the AMD graphics alongside the Intel device?

Murray

[Muzzerboy]

Interestingly, I was finding that trying to print preview or print a 45 page document would cause Word to hang and crash. With the AMD card enabled, it is happy again. Pagination is obviously another function that requires half decent graphics or at least Word assumes it will have the extra power available from AMD in my machine when doing this sort of activity.

Murray

[AlexPetak_Autodesk]

Hi Murray,

I don't have any switchable graphics HP notebook at hand.

But accordingly to this HP guide http://support.hp.com/hr-en/document/c03048374

there should be option to use Fixed mode graphics.

This could help to tell Your hardware to offer the ATI card to the Fusion.

Alex