I've been playing Palworld through Steam for about two weeks, but it recently started crashing unexpectedly. At first only the game closed, then the entire computer crashed to a blue screen and restarted. Since then, crashes happen roughly every 30 minutes, either as a game crash or a BSOD. I've updated drivers, run System File Checker, tested the RAM, and tried updating, uninstalling updates, and resetting Windows. The reset and recovery options now loop until the system shuts down. My PC has an RTX 1660 Super, Intel Core i5-12400, 32 GB of RAM in two sticks, a 1 TB Samsung SSD, and an MSI 650 W power supply. What should I check next, and how can I determine which component is failing?
3 Answers
Since the computer is now stuck in recovery, disconnect unnecessary USB devices and try Safe Mode. If Safe Mode is stable, remove recently installed drivers or software and check the crash logs. If it is unstable even there, back up important files and perform a clean Windows installation. Continued BSODs after that would point more strongly toward RAM, the SSD, the power supply, or the motherboard rather than the game itself.
Don’t replace parts at random yet. First check CPU and GPU temperatures while gaming, and make sure the cooler is mounted properly. Also inspect power and GPU connections. If temperatures look normal, the next useful step is a clean Windows installation from a USB installer, since the recovery loop and failed updates could indicate corrupted system files or a storage problem. If crashes continue after a clean install, then hardware testing is warranted.
Test one part at a time rather than guessing. Run the system with one RAM stick at a time, check the SSD’s health, and use separate CPU and GPU stress tests to see which one triggers the failure.
The BSOD dump files can identify whether the problem is a driver, memory, storage, or another component. If you can reach Windows or Safe Mode, look in C:WindowsMinidump and copy any files there. Those crash logs can be analyzed together; if none are being created, configure Windows to create small memory dumps and reproduce the crash.
A single memory test pass doesn’t completely rule out RAM. Test each stick separately and try different motherboard slots, especially since one stick reported an error during the first test.
If it still crashes after reinstalling Windows, which component should I test or replace first?