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Anonymous
May 17, 2025

After Effects crashes or freezes on launch — "GPU or graphics driver issue

  • May 17, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 1165 views

Issue:
After Effects crashes and displays the error message:
"After Effects can’t continue: Encountered a GPU or graphics driver issue."
This does not happen immediately on launch, but rather after opening a project and working on it for a few moments.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Open an existing After Effects project.
2. Begin interacting with layers — for example: moving a layer, applying an effect, or previewing.
3. The preview screen suddenly turns black.
4. After a second or two, the error message appears and AE shuts down.

Steps already taken (none resolved the issue):

1. Clean installation of the latest NVIDIA driver for GTX 1650 SUPER (using “Clean Installation” option).
2. GPU tested under full load with FurMark — stable temperatures, no crashes.
3. GPU acceleration disabled (Mercury Software Only) — issue persists.
4. Ran Windows Memory Diagnostic — no errors.
5. Deleted disk cache and user preferences.
6. Clean reinstallation of After Effects via Creative Cloud.
7. Ran sfc /scannow — no issues found.
8. Running Windows 11 Pro — fully updated.
9. Issue still occurs even with light projects and no third-party plugins.

What happened:
After minor interaction with a project (e.g., moving a layer), the screen turns black and the error message appears.

System Specs:

- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
- RAM: 32 GB (2667 MHz)
- GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1650 SUPER (4GB)
- OS: Windows 11 Pro (fully updated)
- Storage: SSD + HDD (AE is installed on SSD)
- PSU: 600W Redragon RGPS
- AE Version: 2025

Any help from Adobe or the community would be greatly appreciated, as this issue is severely impacting my ability to work.

    3 replies

    David.Arbor
    Community Manager
    David.ArborCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 29, 2025

    Are you using any third-party effects or all native effects? What's your comp resolution and the pixel dimensions of the media you're working with? Are you by any chance creating massive frames by using an effect like Motion Tile or CC RepeTile? 

     

    The error specifies "this frame," so does it only appear once you playback or scrub over a certain frame? The best thing you can do is idenfity when the error is appearing and narrow down what may be causing it. One way to do this is to make a copy of your comp and delete layers until the error goes away.

     

    Thanks,
    - David, After Effects Engineering Team

    A
    Anonymous
    May 27, 2025

    Hi David,

    Thanks for your reply.

    I’m currently using the Studio driver from Nvidia, not the Game-Ready one. I’ve also installed After Effects version 24, but unfortunately, I’m still encountering issues.

    Now, I’m getting a new error message saying:

    “After Effects has encountered a failure related to GPU-enabled effects on this frame. This is likely because your GPU is out of memory…”

    It suggests switching to "Mercury Software Only" rendering, which temporarily solves the problem — but it significantly slows down my workflow.

    Any further suggestions would be highly appreciated.

    Best regards,

    David.Arbor
    Community Manager
    David.ArborCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    May 19, 2025

    Hi @43214177,

     

    Sorry to hear you're having issues. You said you installed the latest Nvidia driver, but was it the Studio or Game-Ready driver? The Studio driver is recommended for AE, but either way, sometimes those drivers cause issues with AE and other apps. Can you try rolling back one or two versions?

     

    Thanks,
    - David, After Effects Engineering Team

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