DaVinci Resolve Freezing when Mousing Over / Adding Transiti

Hi,

I've been using DaVinci Resolve (free) for a few months now and all has been working well. However, the 18.1.1 update has brought a problem - I cannot add ANY transitions to my edit without the whole programme crashing.

Either when mousing over the transitions, or when dragging a transition to the timeline, the entire screen freezes within a few seconds - I cannot interact with ANY of the buttons in Resolve and I have to force quit the app, open it and enter my project again before I can continue editing.

I've tried downgrading to 18.0.4, checking drivers, Windows Updates, restarting and all but it's the same problem.

I'm using:

- ASUS Laptop
- Windows 11
- Intel i7
- 8GB RAM
- 500GB SSD
- Intel Iris Graphics (≈3.9GB)

I'm aware my RAM is half what is required / recommended, but what I don't understand is why I'm only having problems now after updating to 18.1.1 - surely RAM isn't the problem as Resolve would've failed to start with?

I've been faffing with this for a few days now and it's a touch frustrating because I have some time critical videos that need to go out ASAP.

Thanks, awaiting your suggestions on what I can do.

[Peter Chamberlain]

Which specific model Iris Graphics?

you might need a graphics driver update.

if no luck, see faqs for next level of assistance with logs

In my experience, every new version of DR got a bit more demanding on the hardware, and 18.1.1 may have kicked your computer over the edge. You are definitely below specs, both in CPU RAM and on the GPU side.

After trying Peter's suggestion, it may be time for a new machine if that doesn't help. Or use on older version, if those were stable for you.

Thanks guys, I'll give those suggestions a try and get back to you. Unfortunately a new machine is out of the question as it was brand new in August.

Hello again,

There is good news!

First of all, I installed the Intel Driver & Support Assistant to update the drivers for my Intel Iris Plus Graphics GPU, and I also ensured once again all Windows Updates, Drivers, and Asus Drivers were fully up to date / installed. However, the same problem - freezing when adding transitions, on both 18.1.1 and 18.0.4.

So as suggested, I decided to back to an earlier version than 18.0.4 - my plan was to just keep going version by version until I found one that ran on my computer fine. Luckily, 18.0.3 was the one - no more freezing when adding transitions! I don't mind being (permanently) a few versions behind as the editing I do is extremely simple.

Resolve is now running perfectly on my (albeit way underpowered, but hey, it works!) laptop. Thanks for your help!

Congrats!

I'm aware this is a few months old now but I shall continue explaining my woes as it is still the exact same problem. The long story short is that the problem of adding transitions kept occurring. I tried many different versions of DaVinci and there was still no difference - in fact it was worse as playing video and adding text was starting to crash DaVinci as well!

So I went down the route of upgrading my RAM - bought a 16GB stick to make a total of 20GB, the max my laptop can take. Tried running and editing in DaVinci, same story. Nothing but crashes. I did a full reset on my PC. And DaVinci has been running fine - I did some test transitions / text on a 30s video clip, no problem. Spent a few days editing a massive 1hr 30min video, no issues whatsoever.

I come to edit a video today, and, would you guess, it's freezing when adding transitions. Sometimes I can get away with adding 1, but anything more than that and it freezes and closes within about 5s. I'm at a complete loss - my machine meets the specs (DaVinci says my GPU has 7.9GB memory since adding the RAM, I understand RAM and GPU memory are shared for inbuilt GPU's?) and it's still not working. Does this mean that it is a DaVinci problem?

Please help as this is all becoming very frustrating - I'd be more pleased if Resolve crashed consistently! I didn't mind so much faffing about over Christmas getting things to work but regular video production for YouTube is once again something that is on the agenda.

I've added a file with some performance stats from task manager - nothing here (at least to me) that suggests a reason for a crash, we're ages away from peak usage on any of the components. GPU used to barely go above 25% when I was editing that 1hr 30min video, so this I assume cannot be the problem (besides I think it's sharing RAM memory as I mentioned earlier). I noticed that CPU usage jumps to 100% when DaVinci is closing itself, but ONLY when closing. Other CPU peaks are from other DaVinci start-ups / crashes.

Cheers, hope we can find a solution to this soon,
George

There's a point where some hardware/OS combinations are overwhelmed with lots of Resolve processing. Complex transitions would sometimes qualify. Using the Render Cache can help playback quite a bit.

What source material are you using? If it's H.264 (particularly on a laptop), that could be a potential source of trouble. If it's 4K, it'll be worse. Dealing with HD should be fairly simple on most laptops. What version of Resolve are you using? In most cases, Resolve Studio will run faster than the free version. What source drive are you using? An external SSD on a fast USB-C connection should do pretty well.

If you're dealing with 90-minute timelines, my suggestion is to chop the timelines down shorter and see if that improves overall system response.

Second that.
If you are working in UHD, try to set your timeline to HD and also convert incoming footage from H.264 to DNxHR.

Using the Render Cache can help playback quite a bit.

Cheers, I'll give that a go.

What source material are you using? If it's H.264 (particularly on a laptop), that could be a potential source of trouble. If it's 4K, it'll be worse.

It doesn't appear to matter what file type / encoding I'm using, the issues happen whether I'm using H.264, H.265, mp4 or anything else. Not and won't ever be using 4K files, just HD.

What version of Resolve are you using? In most cases, Resolve Studio will run faster than the free version.

18.1.3 (latest version). Unfortunately the $295 price tag is not justifiable for me.

What source drive are you using?

The generic Windows OS :C drive. Hundreds of GB space on it.

If you're dealing with 90-minute timelines, my suggestion is to chop the timelines down shorter and see if that improves overall system response.

It was working fine on this, and then died on a shorter one. AFAIK it happens randomly.

If you are working in UHD, try to set your timeline to HD and also convert incoming footage from H.264 to DNxHR.

I'll give that a shot but adding text was / is now again giving me problems.

So now I've replied to your messages, I can give a bit of an update. As you can probably tell, it's not good.

So, what I did was to try and up my VRAM of which I apparently have only 128Mb of. Ouch. But, Resolve is working on and off, so I really didn't and don't think this is the problem - how can it work fine (and I mean fine, perfectly smooth, no issues at all) on one day, then the next it freezes and crashes all the time?

Anyway, tried doing it the BIOS method. No luck. I had options of 128Mb or 64Mb. Changing it to either did not help and would be halving what it was anyway.


Then tried the Registry Editor method, and I did it as follows:

Click Windows Icon, search for "regedit" and open it.

Navigate to: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Intel”

Right-click “Intel” in the left hand panel and select “Key”, then "New.

Name your new key “GMM” (exactly as written). Open it.

Right-click in a blank area in the right hand panel and select “Dword (32-bit) Value” under “New.”

Name it “DedicatedSegmentSize” (exactly as written. Double-click it.

Select “Hexadecimal” on the right hand side and enter the following numbers depending how much dedicated VRAM you want (bear in mind how much RAM your system has).

1GB – type 128
2GB – type 256
4GB – type 512
6GB – type 1024
8GB – type 2048
16GB – type 4096

Click "Ok", close the Registry Editor and restart your computer.


This worked. For a day. I edited one video, around 15mins total length. Editing worked fine, adding text worked fine, transitions, rendering, anything was smooth and absolutely perfect. So, clearly not learning from my previous experiences, I thought my problem was fixed.

Came to edit a video today, cutting and trimming works fine. However, I come to add some text (and all that is in my timeline is approx. 10mins of audio) and it's the same old story again. Freezes, crashes, closes. Restart DaVinci and try again - same problem.

Any thoughts? I'm aware you're probably getting as annoyed hearing me moan on about this as I am having to deal with it - but I just haven't clue why it seems to be on a works / doesn't work rota! It seems as though when I change a setting it works for a video and then conks out until I do something else. I'm lost to be honest with you.

Thanks again for your help folks,
George

Another option, since you say your editing is pretty basic, is to roll back to a much earlier version that places less demand on your GPU.

I'm still running version 15.3 because it's rock solid and I don't need the features offered by later versions.

"If it works, don't fix it" is my motto

I did try this previously but I ran into issues with the project save folder, the database being "not supported" or similar and it wouldn't let me get into the editor as a result of this. I may have to dig deeper and persevere with this if I can't resolve issues with the current version / last few versions.

Most of the features as you say are way beyond what I use, although one that is incredibly useful and I could do with in the newer versions is the "chapters from markers" feature for YouTube that is so much easier than faffing about finding the timestamps in YouTube when I can just add a marker at a video split instead.

Thanks for the suggestion - it's not something I want to have to do, but may be what's necessary. Cheers.

New discovery. I can edit and spam text as much as I want as long as the play head isn't over the "block" of text in the timeline that I am changing - however as soon as I move my play head over the block of text and try to edit the text, I can only do it for about 5 seconds before everything crashes.

Logs after a crash are here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CUJhFxdOD17A1_IyXiA4D8YNH7DTEpEX/view?usp=sharing

GOOD NEWS!

As I did before (and as I have reported on before further up this post) I tried going back through the versions to see at what point all of this crashing nonsense didn't happen.

Been going back through each version today and 17.4.6 is the one for me - text editing works, transitions work, everything works, so I am pleased. The cherry on the top of the cake is that the "Chapters from markers" features exists which I didn't think it would!

No clue how long this "fix" will last (last time I rolled back to 18.0.3 when I was having these problems it didn't last long at all!) but, for now, it works.

I'll keep you all updated, and thanks for your help and suggestions everyone!