My PC first started having problems while I was gaming. It began lagging, then the display froze, although Discord continued working. After shutting it down with the power button, the motherboard started cycling through orange, red, green, and sometimes white debug LEDs before failing to display anything.
At first, it eventually booted after around 15 restart attempts and worked normally. The same issue returned the next day, followed by random freezes after anywhere from 20 seconds to a few minutes. By the third day, the computer would often freeze during startup or shortly afterward, and now it only boots successfully after repeated attempts.
My hardware is a Radeon 9070 XT, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and an ASRock X870 Steel Legend motherboard. I have checked the cables and components visually. What should I test first, and is this more likely to be the RAM, GPU, power supply, or another failing component?
4 Answers
The fact that it first failed during gaming and then became harder to boot over several days makes a degrading hardware problem more likely than a one-time software crash. A failing PSU is worth testing, especially if the issue appears under load. Borrow a known-good PSU if you can and use the correct dedicated power cables for the GPU.
The LEDs are probably the motherboard's normal POST sequence: memory, CPU, boot device, and graphics/display stages. They are only an error if one stays lit and the system stops there. Since the computer freezes after apparently completing POST, the problem may be occurring while the operating system loads rather than during the initial hardware check.
Remove the dedicated GPU temporarily and connect the monitor to the motherboard's video output, since the 7800X3D has integrated graphics. If the system becomes stable, the GPU or its power connection is a strong suspect. If the freezing continues, focus on the RAM, motherboard, storage, or PSU.
Start by reseating the RAM, the 24-pin motherboard cable, and the CPU power cable. A marginal connection can cause inconsistent boot attempts and progressively worse behavior. If possible, test each memory stick individually and run a thorough MemTest86 or MemTest86+ pass. Also reset any overclocking or memory tuning in the BIOS to default settings.
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