diff --git a/fastvideo/models/encoders/minimax_h3_qwen3_vl.py b/fastvideo/models/encoders/minimax_h3_qwen3_vl.py
index 896717a7f..a67273195 100644
--- a/fastvideo/models/encoders/minimax_h3_qwen3_vl.py
+++ b/fastvideo/models/encoders/minimax_h3_qwen3_vl.py
@@ -622,7 +622,14 @@ class MiniMaxH3Qwen3VLConditioner(TextEncoder[torch.Tensor]):
                              f"tokens={int(mask.sum())}, features={features.shape[0]}")
         return mask
 
-    @torch.inference_mode()
+    # no_grad, NOT inference_mode: with text_encoder_cpu_offload=True (the
+    # FastVideoArgs default) the loader FSDP2-shards this conditioner, and
+    # FSDP2's wait_for_unshard reads tensor._version via
+    # _unsafe_preserve_version_counter - inference tensors do not track
+    # version counters, so inference_mode crashes the first encode. no_grad
+    # frees the same activation memory and keeps prompt_embeds ordinary
+    # tensors (safe for any future backward through the conditioning).
+    @torch.no_grad()
     def encode_ids(
         self,
         input_ids: torch.Tensor,