Minecraft fails to launch because the driver performs a null access when starting the game.

[hanhy06]

Minecraft crashes during startup on my system when using Intel Arc A350M Graphics, making the game unplayable.

This issue has been consistently reproduced on the following versions:

26.1
26.1.1
26.1.2
26.2 Snapshot 1
26.2 Snapshot 2
26.2 Snapshot 3

The crash occurs during the game startup and rendering initialization process. Based on the available crash data, this appears to be a native crash inside the Intel graphics driver rather than a Java-level exception.

In the OpenGL crash path, the generated hs_err log records an EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005) and identifies the faulting module as igxehpgicd64.dll, which is an Intel graphics driver DLL. The stack trace suggests that the crash happens on the render thread during the window creation / early rendering initialization stage.

In the Vulkan crash path, logs confirm that the Vulkan backend is being used correctly, that Intel Arc A350M is detected, and that driver version 101.8629 is active. The game proceeds further into initialization, including early resource loading, before crashing shortly afterward. In this path, no hs_err file is generated.

Although the exact visible behavior differs slightly depending on the rendering backend, both paths fail during startup on the same GPU and driver environment. Because both rendering paths crash on the same hardware while another Intel GPU on the same system does not show the same problem, this strongly suggests a driver-related issue specific to the Arc A350M configuration involved here.

Environment Information

System

OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Home x64
OS Version: 10.0.26200
CPU: Intel Core i7-1360P
RAM: 16 GB

GPU and Driver Information

Affected GPU

GPU: Intel Arc A350M Graphics
Intel Graphics Software Version: 26.4.2155.3
Graphics Driver Version: 32.0.101.8629
D3D API Version: 12.0
Shader Model Version: 6.7
Vulkan API Version: 1.4.340
OpenGL API Version: 4.6.0
OpenCL API Version: 3.0

Unaffected GPU on the Same System

GPU: Intel Iris Xe Graphics
Intel Graphics Software Version: 26.4.2155.3
Graphics Driver Version: 31.0.101.4502
D3D API Version: 12.0
Shader Model Version: 6.7
Vulkan API Version: 1.3.250
OpenGL API Version: 4.6.0
OpenCL API Version: 3.0

Runtime Information

Java: OpenJDK 25.0.1+8 LTS
LWJGL: 3.4.1+2
Crash module observed in generated native crash log: igxehpgicd64.dll

Additional Notes

The issue reproduces on Intel Arc A350M Graphics.
The same general problem was not reproduced on Intel Iris Xe Graphics in my testing.
The crash appears during startup, before normal gameplay begins.
This does not look like a normal Java exception or mod-level crash. It appears to be a native driver crash during graphics initialization.

Short Version

Minecraft consistently crashes during startup on Intel Arc A350M Graphics across 26.1, 26.1.1, 26.1.2, and 26.2 Snapshot 1 through 3.

The available crash data points to a native graphics driver failure rather than a Java exception. In the generated native crash log, the faulting module is igxehpgicd64.dll, and the error is EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xc0000005). Logs also confirm use of driver version 32.0.101.8629 on the affected Arc A350M device.

For comparison, the same issue was not reproduced on Intel Iris Xe Graphics on the same system, where the installed graphics driver version is 31.0.101.4502.

At this point, the issue appears to be related to the Intel Arc A350M driver path used during Minecraft startup and rendering initialization.