Fusion 360 Crashes fixed by running NVIDEA Control Panel

[eric.arnsdorff]

Fusion 360 was constantly crashing on me.  I tried all the fixes I could find with no luck.  I'm running it on my Dell Inspiron 17 which has an NVIDEA GeForce MX150 along with an Intel UHD Graphics 620 with Windows 11 Pro OS.  I did find that when Fusion 360 would crash that the NVIDEA had also crashed.  I haven't been able to find which is at fault or if both are.  No matter what settings I tried based on all the recommendations I could find, Fusion 360 would still crash very often to the point that working on a design became extremely inefficient and I started looking for another modeler.

The crashes would require me to reboot the computer to get it to operating properly again.  I could restart Fusion 360 but it would give a warning the graphics processor wasn't adequate, and performance would be poor (I'd have  to let it crash again to get the exact wording).  I always submitted the error reports when it would allow that but never had any response on them. 

By chance I decided to leave the NVIDEA control panel running (on the "Adjust image settings with preview" option although I haven't tried another option since this worked) and there are no more crashes.  I was super surprised when Fusion 360 lasted more than 5 minutes but then it lasted for a couple of hours.  After a number or tries it appears to be the thing that is keeping Fusion 360 and my graphics card from crashing.  I haven't had a crash in nearly a week when I've run the control panel.

I'd hope the Fusion 360 developers would try to understand this but at a minimum maybe it will help someone else with the constant crashing issues.

[Phil.E]

Thanks for posting this. I'm asking if we can do more for this crash with this knowledge. Very much appreciated.

Just confirming, do you have to run the NVIDIA control panel the entire time Fusion is running? Or did you make a settings change in the NVIDIA panel and that solves the problem?

Also confirming, you haven't sent a crash report since Oct. 2, so it looks like your workaround is reliable. I'd like to get a clear set of steps for other customers to try (to avoid problems) in the mean time.

[eric.arnsdorff]

Thanks for checking on this. I start it prior to starting Fusion 360 and
leave it running on the one tab showing the Nvidia 3D logo rotating and
leave it running. I haven’t tried any other combinations since this worked
for me and is fairly easy to do.

I haven’t had it crash since discovering this and have used it several
times. I’ll be using it more this week as well.

Thanks,
Eric Arnsdorff
865-621-8736

[Phil.E]

If you know any easy way to make it crash (without losing your data) it would be interesting to confirm that by not running the NVIDIA control panel, but you've helped enough already. Thanks for answering. I've added this to the ticket for this crash (FUS-105448).

[eric.arnsdorff]

Phil that's easy to do - without the control panel running it routinely crashes.

I did this twice (crash reports - 331697951 & 331698994).

For some reason the crash report now says the fix is to update Fusion 360, however, it is up to date.  This is why I did it twice because I thought after the first time it may really need to be updated.  But that isn't the case.  I have version 2.0.14337 installed which matches the What's New Product Update link indication.

I don't know what triggers it because it will crash while exclusively working with Fusion 360.  If I'm working in Fusion 360 exclusively it will last a bit longer.  To make it happen even faster I put Fusion 360 in the background and do something else such as open my internet browser or such.  When I come back to Fusion 360 it will either be crashed or crash very shortly thereafter.

FYI - I have Fusion 360 currently running in the background while in my web browser responding to this along with the Nvidia Control Panel "3D Settings - Adjust image settings with preview" running and Fusion 360 continues to run properly.  I've left Fusion 360 in the background for extended periods working with other programs and browsing the web without it crashing as long as the Nvidia control panel is running.

Additionally, many times I've started the Nvidia control panel and then closed it before starting Fusion 360 and it will still crash.  Only leaving the control panel operating keeps the driver from crashing along with Fusion 360 crashing. 

[eric.arnsdorff]

I just thought I'd let you know Fusion 360 has been running in the background while I'm in other programs and in my web browser with no crashes (along with the nVidia control panel running).  Granted - I've not had it crash at all for much longer periods with the control panel running.  It appears certain this corrects the issue. 

[Phil.E]

See if this helps, it's a knowledge article about forcing your computer to use the NVIDIA card. 

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/autocad/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-to-f...

What we think is going on here is that when the NVIDIA panel is not running, the Intel GPU is running. You may need to take steps in the article to force your machine to always use NVIDIA.

[eric.arnsdorff]

Hi Phil,
I'm not seeing any attachment, link or reference that is being referred to.

Ahhh - there it is.  I'll take a look.

[eric.arnsdorff]

That is an article I had found previously and tried. 

I checked/verified all the settings in the article.  These settings are what I have been using for quite some time.  They have had no effect on Fusion 360 or the graphics driver crashing (in other words it crashes all the time unless I run the control panel).

[Phil.E]

Thanks for all the details and taking your time to reply. We're looking into it, but I don't have any insight if the team can address it soon. Sorry for any inconvenience in the mean time.