I've been experiencing some frustrating crashes on my gaming PC after moving it to a new house. Normally, I'm pretty good with tech troubleshooting, but this one has me stumped. Here's the scoop:
**The problem:**
- While gaming, my system occasionally crashes, showing a black screen with no signal, but the audio keeps going in the background. The system becomes partially unresponsive, allowing me to mute the audio, but I'm otherwise locked out.
- During these crashes, the CPU and fans ramp up significantly and hot air is expelled from the case.
- This happens irregularly every couple of hours, especially with graphically intensive titles.
- To recover, I have to force shut down using the power button, and while most times it restarts fine, there have been instances when it wouldn't boot up (just a black screen) until I tried power cycling again.
- Everything outside of gaming seems to work fine, even under heavy loads.
**System Specs:**
- Ryzen 9 5900X
- ASUS TUF RTX3080
- MSI MAG B550M Mortar Wifi
- 4x16GB DDR4-3600 CL16 RAM
- Running Windows 11
- Power Supply: be quiet Straight Power 11 Platinum 750W
**Troubleshooting I've Done:**
- The system was built at the end of 2020 and has performed well until now.
- After the move, I suspect something might have happened to the CPU cooler, but temperatures are normal during both idle and load.
- I've done stress testing with Prime95 and OCCT, where everything seemed okay except for consistent WHEA errors during CPU tests.
- Checked Windows Event reports and found several warnings, including DistributedCOM errors, but can't pinpoint anything that directly correlates with the crashes.
- I've tried adjusting the DRAM voltage slightly and ran multiple tests, yet the WHEA errors persist.
Any ideas on what could be causing this or what else I could test? Thanks in advance for your help!
3 Answers
Since your CPU ramping up hard sounds suspect, make sure there’s no thermal throttling going on. You might want to check your CPU cooler and ensure it’s seated properly. Additionally, remove any dust buildup from the case. This can often lead to overheating, particularly if the airflow is restricted.
Also, have you tried monitoring your voltage outputs with HWMonitor? It might shed some light on potential power issues.
It sounds like your issue could be linked to the power supply or GPU since the crashes are occurring during gaming. Try reseating the GPU and ensuring all the power connectors are solid. If the problem continues, testing with another PSU could help rule it out. Also, consider monitoring your GPU temps and usage with software like MSI Afterburner to ensure it's not overheating during those intense gaming sessions.
Good call on checking the power connectors. If you have a spare PSU, swapping it out could definitely give you some insight into whether that's the root of the problem.
You might want to check the integrity of your RAM as well. Sometimes, issues with RAM can lead to instability during gaming. Running a tool like MemTest86 could help you identify if your RAM is causing any problems. Also, consider removing the RGB RAM sticks temporarily to see if that's causing any conflicts too.
I’ve had similar issues with mismatched RAM sticks before! It's worth the test to see if that clears anything up.
Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely check the cooler and airflow. Overheating could definitely be an issue.