Crashing application has been blocked from accessing the graphics hardware

I’ve been a Zwifter since 2015/16.

Used the same computer since then. It’s not used for any other activities.

Ive been plagued with crashing this year.

I have updated to windows 10. Fresh install Zwift & Nvidia drivers each time using DDU to hard remove the old ones.

Thought I’d fixed it this week as managed 2 rides of 90 mins each with no issues.

I see there was an updated pushed 6th May.

Bang Zwift crashes today after 15 mins riding Yorkshire. Nothing special going on.

Game freezes for 3 seconds then straight to desktop and no error message given.

It’s not my hardware, it’s entirely Zwift side with little updates.

I’m running an i5, 8gb ram, Nvidia 970 GTX with whatever the latest drivers are (April 2021). Tacx Neo v1 connected using ANT+ with dongle attached to a shielded extension raised off the ground.

What can I do besides go ride a competitor? Is the 4k Apple TV a more stable option?

Restarted after my rant. 30 minutes into Innsbruck. Same deal. Crash straight to desktop no error.

Load the file into Zwiftaliser.

Ant paired just once, one TCP attempt at the start of the ride. Everything looks perfect.

Nvidia drivers are 466.11

I’m running using directly connected Ethernet to router. Virgin media.

I’d say it’s broken again Zwift side because of stupid updates.

What do the Zwift log files say about the cause of the crashes?

Nothing that I can see. I’ve just done an update and reinstalled to a 1 week newer Nvidia 466.29 (latest, this wasn’t available last time) driver.

Windows shows a error “the application has been blocked from accessing the graphics hardware”

Google suggests to increase TDR delay in the registry, which I already had set, but have now increased this to 60.

Zwift log files say absolutely nothing at all about crashes once the game is running. It’s a massive red herring that Zwift support continue to perpetuate.

I would try rolling back the launcher, since this is probably the only change of note on the OP’s system in years. His specs are absolutely fine.

In fact given it’s a dedicated PC I’d just clean install Windows 10 and start over. Default Nvidia driver takes no effort whatsoever since it installs itself, and performance/stability is literally no different to being on the latest version. Then install Zwift with the 1.0.50 launcher.

1 Like

Two things to consider is to check ALL drivers for updates, and install them if available (all means not just NVIDIA, but also chipset, audio, etc.). With NVIDIA, of course you thought about it, you want to uninstall the driver and then install again. Do not keep the driver preferences, have the installer reset them to default. Alternatively, you could experiment with older NVIDIA drivers (new is not always the best) if you can download them. Windows, at default settings, automatically updates drivers, including graphics, and you may not even realize that it was updated at some point.

I am so much frustrated with Windows updates which keep on reinstalling junk apps which took me hours to remove that I disabled Windows updates altogether. After endless history of Microsoft fixing security glitches on a weekly basis, I have no trust that updated version of Windows is any safer than the old one.

The error clearly means that your graphics card stops talking to Zwift for whatever reasons. You could also try to remove the card and install back and unplug and plug back in power connectors (if any) - you know, just in case if there is a poor connection at the graphics card which gets worse when it heats up. I assume, you have a desktop. If it is a laptop, you may consider vacuuming heat exhausts, this will also remove dust from fans. Does your computer behave normally right after the Zwift crash? Or does the whole computer reboot, or slow to respond, or anything like this?

Haven’t had a single problem relating to Windows updates on my Zwift PC in years, personally.

2 Likes

That probably implies that you never clean the programs which Windows come with! This is very personal, of course. I had and have no issues with security updates, but now every year or so Windows updates to a new edition, many customizations get reset, and cleaning has to start over again. I just do not like to have programs which I did not decide to install.

The first thing I do when I get a new PC is uninstall all the unwanted software … which is generally put there by the vendor (HP, Dell, whoever) rather than by Microsoft. I am struggling to think of any of the inbuilt stuff that comes as part of Windows that I have ever felt the need to remove.

If you uninstall software that comes as part of the OS itself, it seems logical that an updated version of the OS will put them back.

1 Like