Zwift freezing Windows 11

I have been using zwift for a month now on the zwift ride and running it through my laptop with 12 gb ram and really only zwift on this laptop. I have had 4 freezes in that month which feels high. It has happened twice when I continued after workouts , once during a ride with a robopacer after getting to the 2.0 drops, and once on a group ride. It is getting very frustrating to have to keep finding the .fit file to upload and losing progress/ drops.

Since you have a 10th gen CPU, video screenshots are enabled by default so I would turn that off in Zwift settings. Your CPU is pretty slow so it will pay a price for that feature.

Assuming it is using Intel Iris XE integrated graphics, you should probably also install the latest video driver from the Intel website.

Let me know if this helps.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/785597/intel-arc-iris-xe-graphics-windows.html

I’ve genuinely been issue free till v1.78

I’m expecting next update will stabilise things but I don’t know this. I’ve had 3 freezes since 1.78.

Could you check your logs for the presence of these lines?

[GFX]: loading shader GNLightPass[0][0].4
[GFX]: loading shader GNViewBeginLightBits[0][0].2
[GFX]: loading shader GNViewBeginLightBins[0][0].2

It may be unrelated but some time ago I had issues due to gn_deferred_lighting, this feature is enabled server side, depending on the GPU I believe. Around version 1.73 I had it enabled and it caused issues. Some people with integrated GPUs had worst issues (crashes, glitches in underwater tunnels). Then it was disabled and the issues were gone. Now I have it enabled again, it looks stable for me (GeForce GTX 1050) but maybe it’s enabled for others and still causing problems.

I reset my laptop and deleted one drive, only installed zwift, turned off screenshots and videos, made any necessary updates and just had another crash. I know this laptop isn’t top specs but it seems insane to me that this can’t be run with any consistency.

By reset, did you do the most onerous reset? There are a couple versions within Windows. Do the one complete strip and reload Windows. That redoes the Registry and any residuals in there that can cause issues.

Check your framerates by loading the log file in Zwiftalizer. If under 20 fps you run the risk of crashes.

The other thing(s) to do is to run hardware trouble shooting stress tests. Your PC mfr should have some and there are some on the web (memtest? might be one). Sorry I do not know them all but maybe someone will chime in. You can also join the Facebook group ZPCMR - Zwift PC Masters & Riders, read the files…read them again. I think there are system stress programs linked or listed. If not, after reading the files, ask within the group.

If all that checks out, it might be the low-powered nature of your CPU. Zwift will never admit it but each release is getting more onerous to systems. Even the baseline systems listed in ZPCMR are showing signs of slowing down. With low-powered laptops (portable, long battery life systems) more and more complaints are popping on this forum. With laptops I do not know what you can do…maybe increase the voltage in the BIOS but Google to see if that is safe.

Well I have had 2 more crashes in the last week. I have no idea what to do but buy a new laptop or tablet to try to run this. Sucks since I love the bike itself but this is unbelievable to me to have this many crashes. Is there any idea of something that I can buy to reliably run Zwift? The idea of spending more on it besides what Iv spent on a subscription and the ride bike isn’t great but I have no idea what else to do.

Apple TVs are inexpensive and seem highly reliable

Iv had a few people tell me they run it on apple tv and it works consistently for them so I just ordered one. I’m not bothered by any graphics dip at this point just being able to complete my rides and workouts would be amazing.

1 Like

Since rthe fielding of the last two updates I am getting crashes 3 in 4 rides! I have had no issues for the last two years, can’t help but feel it might be a buggy release issue as the Fit files are being corrupted and unrecoverable