screen share causing freezes

[ELW]

I've developed a recent issue when I attempt to screen share: my zoom interface freezes while screen sharing or as soon as I stop screen sharing (people on the other end can still hear me, but I can't click on the interface or write in chat, and the interface often looks distorted). The only way to resolve the issue is to use my task manager to quit out of zoom then to go back to the meeting (which I am hosting) to re-enter. This is a big problem, because I am using zoom to instruct college students.

I have been using this computer with zoom for over a year, and this is a new issue, so I don't think it's because my hardware is insufficient.

My computer is using the windows 10 home edition 64 bit OS. My processor is an Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8700K CPU @ 3.70GHz 3.70 GHz, and my video card is an NVIDIA GeForce 1070Ti. My ISP is Xfinity with over 450 Mbps download speed and 12 Mbps upload speed.

[Creola]

Hi @ELW ,

Did you check to see if there is any updates pending on your Windows computer? Is there any other applications that might be consuming a lot resources while you are running Zoom? Is the Zoom application up to date? You might benefit from this article by removing entirely the Zoom application by using the cleanzoom.exe file https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360062306851-Troubleshooting-screen-flicker-when-sharing-a... then reinstall it from www.zoom.us/download.

Thank you,

[ELW]

Thanks for the reply. Everything should be up to date on my computer at the moment. I will certainly try to reinstall the zoom application. The issue I have been having isn't flickering, though, it's a complete freeze of the zoom interface. I can still hear people and they can hear me, but nothing on the interface works when I click on it.

One thing I have tried to do is modify the video rendering as outlined below in the screen shot, but when I click my portrait on my zoom client, I don't get the settings option coming up. My name and "sign out" are the only things linked there. There is a settings link to click to the left of my screen, but that doesn't take me anyplace where there is a video tab, just to a long list of boxes to check to scroll through (nothing there to alter the video settings I can find).

[ELW]

I did finally figure out how to fix it, at least for now. I had to uninstall zoom and reinstall it. This gave me access to the settings I needed below my portrait. Maybe zoom needed to update but couldn't for some reason, or a file was corrupted?

Hoping it continues to work better.

[ELW]

The issue kept recurring, and it turned out replacing my web cam solved the issue. It was a cheap one I purchased 2 years ago, and I am not even sure what brand it is now (Amazon no longer even sells it).

Could be the device driver can't be updated, or maybe the camera doesn't work well with Windows 11 (which I recently updated to). Or maybe it was just a cruddy camera. It was the only one that wasn't backordered on Amazon when I purchased it two years ago at the beginning of the Covid closures.

So another avenue to explore for people with persistent crashing issues would be to turn off the web cam while screen sharing and see if this helps. If so, it may be the webcam causing it. Note, I zoom from a desktop without a built-in webcam, so I had to purchase an accessory one.

[-Devin]

This helped. Thanks!

[bigblueapple]

Check out https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201512326-Troubleshooting-log-for-Windows and see if there's any crash files generated.

[CatLark]

 having the exact same issue, but intermittently. It seems to happen most often towards the end of the day if I have had 2-3 zoom meetings. then when i share screen - I freeze, they can still hear me, but I am locked out of the controls. But for me - I was NOT able to access event the task bar and end the Zoom process, I had to use the power button to hard reboot my computer.  Most often the other people see just a black box. Luckily I had assigned a co-host, they were able to kick me out of screen sharing and keep the zoom meeting going while I rebooted

[BartB]

Same here, but even when someone else is sharing screen. Whole system freezes, I can hear the voice of other people, but:

- the screen is frozen

- ctrl-alt-delete does not work

- laptop does not sleep/ hibernate when close the lid

- the only way out is hard-reset via power button

It happened twice in a row within 10 minutes. No camera (neither external nor internal), and same accessories as for the past 9 months (mouse and keyboard) - so it is very unlikely to be their fault.

It does not happen with any other program - only zoom

[bigblueapple]

Try upgrading your display driver if possible.

[CatLark]

One trick I have learned - if you have another partner, or student you can trust, you can asign someone as a co-host and they can stop your screen sharing, and kee the meeting going while you jump out of zoom - just an idea

[ELW]

Oh, I made sure my display driver was to date and all that. Didn't help until I replaced my web cam. That seems to have done the trick, thankfully. The constant freezing was very disruptive!

[bigblueapple]

System freezes are normally related to device drivers like camera, display, audio devices etc.