Render fails, render locks, process open after exit

I have been using Resolve for at least 6 months with no issues, but in the last 2 the following occurs:
In renderring a group of 3-10, 3-5 min native 4K clips in H265 MP4, the render randomly fails usually within the first 3 clips. The render tab becomes unresponsive, and I have to hit "exit resolve" and select option "save and close". If I restart Resolve, it will then open a 2nd instance in process manager and tell me that files are locked. Instead of immediately restarting, I must first open task manager and close the Resolve process, then I can restart Resolve. If I then cancel the resolve status and requeue the clips, the same thing will happen, usually on render at a different point. I have tried every combination of "render cache", "fusion render cache" and "optimized media" to no avail. The clips are very simple each with 2 fade transitions, an image, video and title.

Hardware is I9 processor, 64 GB RAM, GE Force GTX 1660 w/6 GB RAM, 2x M.2 drives + 2 SSDs'. I reached out to support, but since I have the free version, they declined and sent me here. Occasionally free space on C drive is as low as 40 GB, but this happens with much more free space as well, All other drives have over 100 GB free. I have tried alocating media storage to different drives, but it makes no difference. I order to work , I have to keep restarting, deleting failed renders and re-adding them untill I finally finish. This all takes about 3X longer than it should. I have no issues with Premiere, but up until now I have preferred Resolve. I don't need the features of the studio version, but I feel like I am being kind of trapped into buying it so that I can get support? I can provide memory dumps, or anything else necessary - Please Help

it will then open a 2nd instance in process manager

That is unusual. Normally you can only have one instance at a time. If it fails to close, Resolve will not open again until you close it.

Sooo...not sure what to make of this. You have installed Resolve in it's default location on C:? You're not running any 'hacks' to have both Free and Studio?

Thanks for your response Jim.
I run no hacks anywhere. Installtion is default C: drive. I am always current with Win 11 & Resolve builds and I don't run any extensions or addons or custom software. I could screenshot the Resolve process open twice in device manager when it randomly crashes during render (Monday latest). I could also post a condensed video the crash/render failure from start to finish. This is with at least the last 3 Resolve builds.

Note that 3-4 months ago, everthing worked perfectly.

Well, I'm not sure seeing it would help. I'm at a loss to explain how it's even possible.

On the locked files issue, the best solution might be to simply make sure Resolve is closed before you re-open.

On the render crash, I think I would solve that one with a new GPU. Any nVidia RTX with at least 12 GB of VRAM would be a good choice.

2 instances open

Screenshot 2024-05-10 165439-davince-2 instance.png (308.9 KiB) Viewed 263 times

Normally you can only have one instance at a time. If it fails to close, Resolve will not open again until you close it.

Here is a screenshot of the 2 instances of Resolve open at the same time. I continue to have randon unrecoverable hangs when renderring.

Thank you for your response Jim. Can anyone else offer a suggestion as to why I am having these crashes? If one instance does not close and another is able to open, is there not something else going on here? I apologies to admin for not obfuscating the logo in the snapshot. I will remember next time.

Please help.

That is strange indeed. This is what I see in Task Manager.

Resolve in Task Manager.jpg (100.28 KiB) Viewed 238 times

It might be worth uninstalling Resolve in Control Panels/Programs and Features, and then reinstalling it. Export a copy of your database before doing so just to be on the safe side.

Uninstall Resolve in Windows.jpg (146.19 KiB) Viewed 238 times

Thanks Charles for going into detail with the snapshots. I probably will have to do as you suggest.

It does seem like some kind of uncaught application error in BlackMagic coding so I was hoping one of the developers might chime in and ask to see the crash logs. If I'm not mistaken, it appears that only Studio Version users can get that kind of support, so if reinstlling does not work I may be forced to upgrade, and chances are the studio version will not exibit this errant behaviour. I'm dissapointed, but I can't complain about a free product that works well when it's not crashing.

I'll post back here Charles and Jim, but it may take a while because of my schedule.

I reinstalled Resolve and still the same issue.