My PC unexpectedly powers off while playing Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, and Skyrim. The screen goes black and the computer restarts by itself, rather than showing a blue screen. My system has 16 GB of RAM, a Ryzen 5 5500, an RTX 5050, and an 800-watt power supply. Other demanding games, including Cyberpunk 2077 and God of War, run normally. I play at 1080p, 60 FPS, and 60 Hz. What could be causing this, and what should I check first?
2 Answers
When a PC goes completely black and restarts without displaying a blue screen, that usually points to a hardware protection event rather than the game simply crashing. Check CPU and GPU temperatures, inspect the power connections, and test the system with overlays, mods, and overclocks disabled. It would also be worth checking Windows Event Viewer for a critical Kernel-Power entry and running a memory and stability test.
Since newer, more demanding games work, the issue may be specific to the older games' engines, mods, or configuration files rather than raw performance. Try launching each game completely unmodded, verify the files, reset its configuration, and reinstall or clean-install the graphics driver. Also disable any CPU or GPU undervolt/overclock temporarily.
It is a full shutdown with a black screen, then the computer starts again on its own. There is no blue screen.