NITRO 16-41 SCREEN FREEZING PROBLEM DURING iGPU to dGPU SWITCHING. STILL NO SOLUTION OFFERED BY ACER

nemred

My laptop model is Nitro 16-41, equipped with an RTX 4060 and Ryzen 7 7840HS CPU. I am experiencing exactly the same issue as many others. This problem started at the end of January 2025. When you try to update your NVIDIA driver to a recent version, the issue immediately begins. Normal activities cause no problems, but as soon as you launch a game (or manually attempt to switch the GPU), the screen freezes during the iGPU to dGPU switching process, while the game continues running in the background. You can hear the game's audio, but the screen remains stuck. At this point, there's nothing you can do to recover the screen except performing a forced power-off (by holding the power button) or closing the lid and waiting for a while before reopening it to reach the login screen.

I have tried countless solutions to fix this issue, but none provided a permanent fix. I attempted DDU uninstalls and reinstalls in safe mode, memory tests, SSD tests, Windows health checks, reinstalling and updating Windows (including a hard reset), BIOS checks, AMD chipset version changes, altering power options in Windows, event viewer analysis, and more—but nothing worked.

The only thing that worked was installing the NVIDIA driver (version 556.29) provided on Acer's support page. As soon as I installed this driver, all freezing issues disappeared. However, the downside is that you are now locked into this driver forever—unless Acer consistently releases updated versions. While this might not be a big issue right now, in the long run, the driver will become obsolete for future games unless Acer provides newer versions. And of course we all know that they will not.

First of all I have to indicate that it is not a hardware issue. There is definitly a software problem. According to my researchs and tryings out comes there is nothing wrong with recent nvidia drivers. I am saying this because when I block all the Acer services that work on the laptop by msconfig then  windows 11 and Advance Optimus handles switching process flawlessly. No freezing at all.  But of course you can not use any of that Acer softwares like Nitrosense, Care Center e.t.c. The most critical software among them is Nitrosense, as it controls essential features such as battery charge limiter, fan speeds, RGB keyboard, power options, and more. If these controls are not a priority for you and using the latest NVIDIA drivers is more important, you can choose this option. If you say "No I want and need these controls" then another option is choosing dgpu default in BIOS settings and use your computer all the time with dgpu (in my case RTX 4060). This option also has side effects ofcourse. Your laptop would consume more power along with sort battery life and may face with heating problems. It is up to you. Unfortunaetly it seems that Acer is forcing you to choose one of two bad options atleast up to now. Either way you would lose something.!!!

I know it is a very long post but I wanted to share my experience and hassles for clearing the picture for those who suffering same problem that I have been through. Anyway finally : Actually the real cause of the problem seems is Nitrosense itself. It is the creator of confilicts between recent nvidia drives and system. Because, as far as I understand, it containes (or may recently added because there was no problem prior to 2025)  some codes and services that checks your laptop version and nvidia driver version than reacts accordingly.  When you uninstall Nitrosense you will see that no switching problem anymore.  But as I indicated above if you need to use Nitrosense without any freezing problem along with Advance Optimus benefits you have to stick with old nvidia driver provided by Acer Support.  YOU DONT HAVE ANY OTHER OPTION AT ALL. What a disappointment for almost  recently released gaming laptop. Congratulation Acer!!!!!

StevenGen

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/725477/nitro-16-41-screen-freezing-problem-during-igpu-to-dgpu-switching-still-no-solution-offered-by-acer

Thanks for all the great info on the ANV16-41 laptop that you have provided, as it will help allot of community users if they have the same freezing problems, but be aware that whatever drivers that Acer has on their ANV16-41support page for this laptop are all initial drivers that Acer tested and work with your Nitro ANV16-41 and that Acer recommends to work.

All driver updates that are done afterwards are done at the owners risk and that especially includes the Microsoft Win-11 24H2 updates and what drivers Microsoft windows installs in your laptop, as an updated driver does not mean that its the best driver for your laptop. This especially applies to the Win-11 optional updates > bios updates > that windows provides, which have bricked allot of PCs, so be aware of that and always only install Acer bios updates.

I've also had the same driver limitation like you are experiencing with the NVidia driver, its with a Bluetooth driver on an older Nitro laptop model AN515-56, where the 2021 Intel BT driver version 22.40.0.2 for the Killer AX1650i card was the only driver that worked with the Bluetooth, as any other driver the Bluetooth will not work, as its the same until today.

So having a specific NVidia driver applicable to work in the same way is not going to make much of a difference to your laptop graphics performance, as most of the newly released NVidia Game drivers are updating the new NVidia 50 series gpu chips in these laptops and any new driver will not have a great affect or make a big difference to your ANV16-41 laptops either 30 or 40 series NVidia gpu that you might have in your laptop.

Also, the ANV16-41 last listed Acer listed NVidia drive is the version 546.32 - dated; 2024/03/18, I don't know where you got the version 556.29 from, but as long as it work that is great that you found a work around for the freezing problems of the laptop. Good luck.

If this answers your question and solved your query please "Click on Yes" or "Click on Like" if you find my answer useful👍

eGomes

Unfortunately, Acer is a “real disappointment” when it comes to its laptops equipped with AMD Ryzen processors.

These laptops have a serious problem: the CPU microcode, AGESA and SMU haven't been updated.

As far as I remember, the firmware for the Nitro AN16-41 series has outdated AGESA microcode:

https://community.acer.com/pt/discussion/comment/1269134#Comment_1269134

AMD recommends that the laptops equipped with AMD Ryzen™ 7040 Series processors use the version PhoenixPI-FP8-FP7 1.1.8.0 (2024-09-19) to mitigate security flaws:

https://www.amd.com/en/resources/product-security/bulletin/amd-sb-7027.html

There's no point in contacting Acer support either, as they simply ignore the problem! 🫤👎🏻

As an alternative (silver tape improvisation), I suggest you try disabling Multi-Plane Overlay (MPO):

After updating to NVIDIA Game Ready Driver 461.09 or newer, some desktop apps may flicker or stutter when resizing the window on some PC configurations