I bought this second-hand PC less than a month ago, and it has been shutting down completely while I'm gaming. After some restarts, the BIOS itself freezes and the keyboard stops responding, so I can't navigate the firmware setup. Windows only reports that it was not shut down properly, and no crash dump is created.
The system has a Ryzen 7 7700, RTX 5070 12GB, ASUS PRIME A620M-K-CSM motherboard, 16GB DDR5-4800 memory in two 8GB sticks, a 1TB Gen3 TLC SSD, a Cougar 750W 80+ Bronze power supply, a Cooler Master Hyper 212 3DHP Black cooler, and Windows 11.
Because the failure can happen outside Windows, I'm concerned about hardware or power rather than drivers. What should I test first to determine whether the problem is the PSU, motherboard, RAM, GPU, or CPU?
4 Answers
Start with a clean baseline: clear the CMOS, load default BIOS settings, and test with only one RAM stick installed. Run the system in the BIOS for a while to see whether it becomes unresponsive even without Windows running. Then test the other memory stick by itself.
After that, check CPU and GPU temperatures, reseat the RAM and all power connectors, and make sure the graphics card is fully supported and seated in the slot. An abrupt power loss usually won’t produce a Windows dump; it often means the system lost power or suffered a severe hardware failure.
The Ryzen 7 7700 has integrated graphics, so remove the RTX 5070 temporarily and connect the monitor to the motherboard video output. If the shutdowns stop, focus on the graphics card, its power cable, its seating, or the power supply. If the problem continues in the BIOS with the dedicated GPU removed, the motherboard, RAM, CPU, or PSU becomes more likely.
Find the exact model number of the Cougar power supply rather than relying on the 750W rating. That brand has both decent and poor units, and the specific model matters. If possible, test with a known-good, high-quality PSU. Also reseat the motherboard 24-pin connector, CPU power connector, and GPU power connector.
If the graphics card is mounted vertically or supported by a riser, check that it isn’t being pulled out of the slot by its weight or by a misaligned support. You can test with the case lying on its side and the card installed directly in the motherboard slot. A POST diagnostic card may also help identify where the system is hanging, since the board does not have a built-in debug display.
Unstable memory settings can make the BIOS appear frozen too. Clearing CMOS and leaving the RAM at its default speed is worth trying before enabling any memory profile.