Windows 10 Shotcut Blue Screen with nVidia / OPTIMUS

Hello Everyone,

Hope you can help me,
I’m new to Shotcut and although I think its great neat software quite suitable for my needs, I regret to say I’m not really able to use it due to constant crashes. Shotcut in fact crashes whole Windows 10 and I always end up with blue screen:
DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE …

Bluescreen sometimes appears instantly but usually in following scenario :
Shotcut crashes during random functions I cannot pinpoint specific action but I always use timeline with few video tracks/channels sliced/split every few seconds with single unsliced audio track.
Windows closes application (but shotcut process is still hung and its not possible to kill it)
On 2nd run Shotcut won’t work properly and will crash pretty quick.
Within minute or 2 blue screen appears regardless if shotcut application is active or not (well its process is still hung), Also if I try to reboot or shutdown system after 1st Shotcut crash I will also end up with bluescreen instead of proper shutdown/reboot

It made me initially panic about my system but I have checked everything I could and my laptop is rock solid and I have never seen blue screen before installing shotcut. (also no blue screen when not trying to use shotcut)

My System:
Intel i7-6700HQ (skylake) quadcore
16GB RAM DDR3 Kingston
GPU: OPTIMUS technology: nVidia GTX960M / Intel HD Graphics 530
Windows 10 Pro 64bit
Shotcut version 17.04.02

What I’ve tried:
Shotcut reinstalled few times (with removing reg settings) in both 32 and 64bit versions
All GPUs drivers reinstalled and up to date…
I have tried running shotcut using both GPU’s Intel and nVidia, with or without GPU acceleration, Direct X and Open GL
Audio drivers updated - tried with laptop build in audio and USB interfaces I usually use (Focusrite Scarlett 1st and 2nd gen)
I have stress tested my laptop with Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, Other Video editors, Games etc and no problems at all… only after shotcut is used and crashed…

there are some missing dll in log file: but under INFO (example below dont want to post full file in here)
[Info ] plugin_mgr_get_object_file_plugins: error opening shared object file ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Shotcut\lib\ladspa/imp_1199.dll’: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Shotcut\lib\ladspa\imp_1199.dll”: The specified module could not be found.

Affected files:
imp_1199.dll
mbeq_1197.dll
pitch_scale_1193.dll
pitch_scale_1194.dll

I would really appreciate some suggestions as how to troubleshoot this further… I would really like to be able to use shotcut, it’s been best choice from editors I’ve tried (when it works that’s it)

thanks
CT

1 Like

While BSoD is a concerning error, I have never heard before of Shotcut specifically causing one either here on the forum or on github. From my personal experience using Shotcut as well, even when the program itself crashes unexpectedly, I have never had it cause a full on system error. I also have a lot of faith in the developers to responsibly handle the memory allocation and .dll management of the program, which are common causes for applications creating system errors.

With that aside, I think your issue is still due to drivers.

“Standard software shouldn’t be able to cause blue screens — if an application crashes, it will do so without taking the operating system out with it”.

The “DRIVER POWER STATE FAILURE” message is “most probably caused by driver issues. Outdated … or incompatible driver[s] can cause this problem”.

Since your graphics processor has a combined integrated and dedicated portion, it is recommended not to upgrade drivers with nVidia’s GeForce service, since they may override your Optimus settings/drivers. See this thread on Nvidia’s forums for more information and solutions.

Not only could your driver update be messing with your Optimus settings, due to its now delicate state, it could be attempting to access restricted portions of memory, which would cause the BSoD.

“if a driver erroneously accesses a portion of memory that is being used by other software (or not specifically marked as accessible to drivers), Windows stops the entire system. This is called a bug check or a crash, and Windows displays the popularly known Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)”.

The memory allocated for Shotcut’s usage could be in a predictable place (although not always/necessarily) where your drivers are likely to request/overwrite access, however this doesn’t make it Shotcut’s fault.

But after all that maybe there is a chance something about Shotcut is compromised too. If after reading the guides in the sources I’ve provided you still cannot target and resolve your BSoD, then it would help to know if you’ve made any modifications to your laptop and what it’s prebuilt state was (brand and model). In the end though, my experiences and reading other *users’ experiences as well give me doubts.

*Edit: “user’s”

Hi Lauren,

Many thanks for your comprehensive reply.
I think you are on right path as I have indeed updated GPU drivers from nVidia’s website and before thru GeForce service.
Also event log lists ‘bug check’ and/or ‘crash’ after BSOD, so most likely up to date nVidia driver don’t support OPTIMUS properly any more on my system.

I will try to go back to original drivers or check for updates directly from laptop manufacturer as instructed in provided link. Btw its UK company called PC Specialist, laptop model: OPTIMUS VII (which is in fact CLEVO N170RD)

I still find it bit bizarre that Shotcut its one and only application conflicting with nVidia/Chipset etc. drivers (if thats really the root of problem)
Anyway thank you for your assistance, I’ll report back when I got chance to reinstall all drivers… (after full system backup image)
Cheers

Hi Lauren

I have performed all suggested steps by downgrading GPU/Chipset drivers to original ones supplied by laptop manufacturer but BSOD still was present. I’ve done whole procedure twice with reboots etc to make sure there is no remains of old drivers on my system… Still no luck.

Problem its definitely caused by OPTIMUS technology which switches between 2 GPU to save power … and fact that Shotcut isn’t compatible with it.

Even when settings are set to run with Intel GPU only, Shotcut is triggering nVidia GPU and after while (random time depending on usage) OPTIMUS switches nVidia off which causes Shotcut crash and soon after BSOD.
It seems to me that Shotcut is not able to “maintain usage of nVidia GPU” or communicate with OPTIMUS.

I got to say, after spending hours troubleshooting this I have almost gave up on Shotcut…
Like I said laptop is rock solid and works perfectly fine with other video editors, DAWs, games, stress testers… you name it… laptop will can handle it.

but…
I’ve got good news :slight_smile:

I have managed to find workaround in nVidia Control panel settings… (wish I have thought about it earlier)

I have changed following settings for Shotcut.exe:

  • Power management mode => Prefer Maximum Performance
    also
  • Multi-display/mixed -GPU acceleration => Single Display performance mode

Not sure which setting is responsible, maybe both?, but Hurray! no more Shotcut caused BSOD anymore! :sunglasses:

btw all drivers are now updated back to most recent from Intel and nVidia so it wasn’t cause of problem but fact that OPTIMUS cannot communicate with Shotcut or other way round…

Probably something to look at it for your developers, if not then please suggest workaround to others with OPTIMUS systems

1 Like

Thank you for the response,I’m really glad it worked out! :slight_smile: And I also apologize if in my first post I sounded a little harsh, I just wanted to be careful/sure. It was something I had never run into before and I knew that there were a lot of difficulties involved/things that could go wrong.

As for the suggestion, I will change this post to the suggestion category and give likes for more visibility. Your solution was a good workaround so it deserves to be seen, thank you!

No worries, maybe you sounded a little bit harsh but at least you haven’t suggested its malware problem :smile:
so sorry, only joking, apologies accepted :slight_smile:

Yeah it will be great if my workaround can help others… perhaps there isn’t many users with OPTIMUS if that never been a problem before. Anyway I’m glad I can use shotcut for my projects now. :+1:

Generally the blue screen error is related to driver’s issue. So check the faulty drivers by making use of the Device Manager and if required then update it. To do so follow the steps:

  1. Utilize the Windows keys Win +X, > select Device Manager from the List.
  2. Now, expand the device entries > find out the exact driver that causes an error.
  3. Then, right click on the device > select Update Driver Software. Or else you can also Uninstall the driver and reinstall it from the Microsoft official website.

Hope this works…

Generally people read previous answers before posting comments :stuck_out_tongue:
Sorry could not resist :smiley:

As per previous posts: it wasn’t driver issue but OPTIMUS incompatibility, which can be solved by manual override settings in nVidia Control Panel…

Thanks for good intentions though! :+1: