My PC shuts off completely about a minute after I enter the multiplayer portion of games such as GTA 5 Enhanced or Red Dead Redemption 2. The games launch normally, but the system suddenly powers down with no blue screen or crash. Event Viewer records Kernel-Power Event ID 41. Synthetic tests including FurMark, Cinebench, and OCCT's power test complete successfully without a shutdown. My system consists of a Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Elite AX motherboard, Intel i7-10700F, 16 GB DDR4 memory, a 2 TB Gen4 NVMe drive, Corsair H100i Elite Capellix cooler, Cooler Master 750W 80 Plus Bronze power supply, and an MSI RTX 3060 12GB. I have already tried reinstalling the graphics driver, but the problem remains. What should I check next?
3 Answers
Stress tests passing does not completely rule out a hardware problem because different games load the CPU, GPU, VRAM, and power supply in different ways. Check motherboard BIOS settings, disable any overclock or aggressive memory profile temporarily, and inspect Reliability Monitor for a more useful error around the shutdown. The fastest way to narrow it down is to test the graphics card in another system or try a different PSU in this one.
A clean driver installation is still worth doing with a display-driver cleanup utility, followed by the latest stable NVIDIA driver. You can also temporarily reduce the GPU power limit or cap the frame rate. If lowering GPU power stops the shutdown, that points more toward the PSU, cabling, or the graphics card’s power circuitry than toward Windows itself.
Kernel-Power 41 only confirms that Windows lost power unexpectedly; it does not identify the failing component. Since the shutdown happens when a game changes from the menu to actual gameplay, I would first suspect power delivery or the graphics card’s power connection. Reseat the GPU and its PCIe power cable, and if the PSU has another suitable PCIe cable, test with that rather than using a loose or split connection. Also check CPU and GPU temperatures while gaming. If possible, test with another known-good PSU, even if 750W should normally be enough for an RTX 3060.
I already performed a clean driver installation, but the shutdown happens exactly the same way. I’ll try reducing the power limit and checking the cables next.