I've been struggling with my PC shutting down programs unexpectedly for over a year now. It happens mostly with my browsers, like Opera and Google Chrome, but even simple apps like Notepad will crash on me—I'm not talking about heavy usage here! My memory usage stays at about 20-30%, and I have 32GB of RAM, so it shouldn't be an issue. This leads to frequent 'Page Crashed, please refresh' messages and sometimes my PC will just BSOD and reboot, at least once a day. I've tried to make sense of this pattern, but sometimes it occurs every few minutes, and other times, it doesn't happen at all. I'm really at my wit's end and need help figuring this out. What could be causing these random crashes?
5 Answers
Try running a stress test on your CPU with Prime95. It sounds extreme, but it could reveal if your CPU is malfunctioning. Just make sure to monitor temps closely during the test!
First off, you might want to check for crash logs, especially if you're experiencing BSODs. Look for minidump files in C:WindowsMinidump. If you find any, zip them up and share them through a file-sharing site. We need those logs to analyze what's going wrong. Also, consider changing your dump settings to make sure you're capturing the right data.
Cooling could be a concern too. Check whether your cooling system is adequate. If temps are good but issues persist, the RAM might be defective. Definitely run some tests with memtest86 to see if anything turns up.
It sounds like overheating could be an issue or maybe faulty hardware. Check your CPU and GPU temperatures while running intensive tasks. You could also run a memory test using memtest86 to rule out RAM problems. Removing the GPU might help identify if it's part of the problem, but I understand if that’s a hassle.
Have you considered doing a clean install of Windows? Sometimes fresh OS installs can resolve lingering issues that just won't go away otherwise. It might take some time, but it could help eliminate the crashes you're seeing.
My temps are actually fine, hovering around 30°C, and I ran mdsched.exe with no issues. I'm hesitant to remove the GPU, though.