I recently transported my gaming PC and now it's freezing during gameplay. Every 5 seconds, the audio and video will freeze for about 2-4 tenths of a second, which is super frustrating. When I moved it, I took out the GPU, put a pillow beneath it, and laid a blanket on top while keeping it upright, similar to how you would set it on a desk. I noticed a red light on the motherboard sometimes, but not always. I've already tried reseating the CPU, GPU, and RAM (both sticks and in different slots), but my PC won't boot with the RAM in the A1 and B1 slots. I even lowered the memory speed, but the freezing starts about two minutes into gameplay regardless. I'm worried I might have damaged my motherboard in some way and am considering getting a new one. Any help would be really appreciated!
3 Answers
It might actually be a drive issue. If you have an SSD, it’s less likely to be damaged from movement compared to a traditional hard drive, but it’s still worth checking. Try running a SMART test to look for bad sectors or problems with the NAND. You can use a bootable Linux USB to run those tests easily. Just keep an eye on temperatures and usage during gameplay as well, to rule out overheating.
It sounds like transporting your PC might have been the issue. You should really lay it flat next time. Keeping everything upright can put unnecessary stress on the components, especially if they aren't designed for it. Those heavy PCIe devices can sag and cause problems during transit. Definitely check those slots you mentioned too, since A1 and B1 usually need to be populated first, which sounds like a common oversight when setting up your RAM. Good luck!
Wait, are you saying computer parts aren't supposed to be upright? I thought they were designed to be that way now. I guess it varies by manufacturer? Anyway, learned something new!
Haha, I totally did the same thing when I first built mine! Did a lot of reading after that.
Curious about whether your OS is on a hard drive or an SSD. If you were using a hard disk, the vibrations might have caused some issues. Using software like MSI Afterburner could help monitor the temperatures and usage during games to see if things are getting too hot or weird. Just a thought!
I only have an SSD, so hopefully, that’ll make it less problematic. But good idea to monitor usage next time!
Good point! I don't think it's the SSD causing the red light, but checking is definitely worth it. Maybe there's an unrelated issue!