SolidWorks Professional 2016 x64 SP02 - has been running stably on this computer for a month, but graphics suddenly went corrupt tonight.
ISSUE (Hopefully resolved): in assembly mode, sudden black screen of Feature Manager and Viewport within SolidWorks GUI; toolbars still appear before/after opening files, but FM and VP are un-clickable and appear totally blacked out. Disabling RealView and enabling "Use Software OpenGL" did not resolve the issue - and both became grayed-out after closing and reopening SolidWorks. Visualize Pro still functioned/rendered without issue.
Computer configuration
Workstation: HP Z440
Processor: Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3 @ 3.5GHz
ROM: Seagate 2TB SSHD
RAM: 64 GB DDR4-2133
GPU: nVidia K5200
OS: Windows 10 Pro v1511 (10586.164)
Long-and-short: had to perform "Clean install" of latest SolidWorks-approved nVidia drivers (354.56) - followed by repair-installation of SolidWorks 2016 x64 SP2.0
Solution: multiple iterations were attempted unsuccessfully, but the following seemed to correct the issue.
1a) Open the desktop folder "Graphics Fix"
1b) Double-click on the file "NEW 354.56-quadro-grid-desktop-notebook-win10-64bit-international-whql" - these are the newest SolidWorks approved nVidia graphics drivers for the K5200 graphics card in this computer.
1c) A window will open and ask you if you want to extract the install files - click "Ok"
1d) A new window will open regarding the 'NVidia software license agreement" - select "AGREE AND CONTINUE"
1e) The window will now prompt for "Install Options" - select the "Custom (Advanced)" install option
1f) At the "Custom installation options" prompt, check the box that says "Perform a clean installation"
1g) Wait for the install to complete - this will take approx 2 minutes and the screen will go blank at least 2 times
1h) Once the installation has fully completed, select the "Close" button
1i) Perform a *complete* shutdown of the computer - not a simple restart
2a) Power the computer back on and wait for Windows 10 to completely load
2b) Open SolidWorks 2016 and check if the issue has resolved - if not, proceed to the steps below.
3a) Select the Windows button in the lower left of the screen (formerly the "START" button)
3b) Select in the following order: Settings --> System --> Apps and features
3c) Scroll down through the apps and left-click "SolidWorks 2016 x64 SP02" - then select "Modify"
3d) A new window will pop-up - again select the "Modify" button
3e) When the SolidWorks Installation Manager window loads, select "Repair the individual installation (on this computer)."
3f) The next prompt will ask which "Products to Repair"; because this process can take a while, you may want to deselect all products other than "SolidWorks 2016 SP2.0"
3g) Select the "Repair" button
3h) Go for a long, long walk - approx. 10-15 minutes
3i) Perform a *complete* shutdown of the computer - not a simple restart
4a) Power the computer back on and wait for Windows 10 to completely load
4b) Open SolidWorks 2016 and check if the issue has resolved - if not, retry process 3 above BUT WITH ALL PRODUCTS SELECTED IN STEP "3f"
If the above doesn't work for you - please add to the instructions above to assists others with the same potentional issue.
Driver locations online:
Check for latest SolidWorks-approved drivers based on configuration of computer
https://www.solidworks.com/sw/support/videocardtesting.html
SolidWorks recommended graphics drivers for HP Z440 with nVidia K5200 on Windows 10 x64 (as of 2016MAR27)
This is one last option to try if the above does not work: these HP Z440 drivers fix SolidWorks 2015 graphics instability issues with the HP Z440 w/ K5200 graphics card.
http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?swItemId=wk_157704_1#tab4
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