Connecting the laptop power adapter can resolve WSCAD performance issues and crashes
If a laptop is powered exclusively via the docking station’s USB-C cable, performance limitations and crashes may occur when using the WSCAD software, especially if one or more high-resolution external monitors are connected to the docking station.
It is possible that an additionally installed external graphics card may be detected correctly but cannot be used to its full extent, due to insufficient power supply. This can lead to malfunctions of the graphics card driver and crashes in the WSCAD software.
This problem can also cause the well-known NVOGL64.dll error in the NVIDIA graphics card driver.
High-performance laptops or laptops with an external graphics card require more power under load (e.g., 130 watts) than the docking station can supply via the USB-C cable (e.g., 90 watts). In this case, performance is reduced and the system switches to the internal graphics card. This sometimes happens without a visible warning message and causes instability.
Possible problems:
- GPU utilization remains at 0–5%
- Applications only use the external GPU sporadically
- Applications only use the internal GPU
- Poor CAD performance
- Stuttering
- Unstable OpenGL/DirectX performance
The Solution
We therefore strongly recommend that, if you encounter such problems, you also connect the laptop’s power adapter and restart both the laptop and the WSCAD software.
In addition, the following can be checked:
- Is the original power adapter connected?
- Is the docking station’s power output sufficient?
- Does the BIOS recognize the power adapter correctly?
- Is the NVIDIA GPU actually active?
- Is the power plan set to “High Performance”?
- Is the Thunderbolt/dock firmware up to date?
- Are the NVIDIA Studio drivers (instead of NVIDIA Game Ready drivers) installed?
- How many external monitors are connected to the docking station?
Support Assistance
If you have any questions or need assistance, our technical support team is happy to help:
Phone: +49 8131 3627-99
Email: support@wscad.com
We appreciate your attention to this matter and strongly recommend updating early to avoid potential issues.
