error during gpu initialization on stage 1 on gpu on next trial / max 2017 sp2 - any thoughts?

Cpu gives me a hard crash too!

I would suspect that you are using 3rd party plugins that are not compatible with V-Ray Next. V-Ray Next has new API and plugins needs to add support for V-Ray Next.
But, without a scene this is just guessing. Does it happen on every scene? If not, can you mail a scene where it happens to the support?

Best,
Blago.

Ugh, thought I’d uninstalled everything, seems I’d missed something manually installed - much appreciated Blago, back to trialling!