Sorry this is happening as I know how stressful it is. Can you please follow the steps here to run the DxDiag test and attach the results here? That's the quickest way for us to help.

You can also try producing with the Fast video rendering technology box unchecked on the Produce page. It will take longer, but may avoid the crash.

Thank you for responding so quickly. After restarting it several times and trying to install it on another machine (nope) I've set it as producing a lower quality - suitable for a "pocket computer" or whatever that is. It's producing at the moment. if that is good enough quality I will send that to him so he gets his birthday video on his birthday then set about doing a proper decent copy for him and I will do the diagnostics you have asked for. Of all the times! Thanks again, fingers crossed...

OK. It may only take a few minutes to get things working correctly, but I'm glad you may have found a way to get a lower quality version produced quickly.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

The low res one worked but it looks rotten so I went to try again. The "fast rendering" box is unticked. I'm trying with a slightly higher res and if that doesn't work then I will go through the diagnostics. My thinking is if I get a half-decent one sent over to him within 20 minutes or so I can then spend time diagnosing the fault and doing it properly.

I am also starving as I've been working on this since about 1630! Thank you again for replying, it is reassuring to know someone is out there!

This only gets better. I spend ages doing another rendering, which is audio only. But it's OK - he's just told me an old friend has died so if I have a surprise for him (which I had told him I did) would I mind putting it off.

I feel like crying. But hey at least that gives me time to do this...

Oh I am so sorry to hear that! My sincere condolences to you and your friend for his loss.

As for your laptop, it looks like it came out circa 2009, and the video driver you have installed (which appears to be the final version) was released in 2013. Overall, I think you're lucky that PD18 will run at all on your system, but I think it's also why you've had so much trouble.

In all honesty, any used laptop or desktop that's only a few years old will run circles around this laptop, and any newer system would be a far better choice for video editing.

In the meantime, I'm happy to produce a full quality version of your video and send it back to you. You'll just need to use Pack Project Materials under the File menu and upload the contents to Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, etc.

Please send me a private message if you're interested, and I can give you an upload link if needed.

Wishing you peace

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Thanks so much again. I did fear the ye olde laptop was the problem although I've been able to produce other movies - eventually! I am going to invest in a new one as soon as lockdown is over. I do have a newer one which is smaller and flimsier, but I'm unable to put the PD software on it and I figured until I got a new one I shouldn't make a big hooha about trying to move the software onto the other one.

I really appreciate your offer and help. I will PM you now.