My 14-year-old son built his own PC two years ago and upgraded his graphics card last year. This Christmas, he decided to upgrade to an Intel i9-14900KF CPU and also got a new cooler. We followed all the instructions, updated the BIOS before installation, and updated the chipset drivers afterward. Initially, everything was fine with desktop games, but once he tried using PCVR, the image in his headset started stretching and pixelating. Subsequently, desktop games started crashing back to the desktop.
We've attempted every troubleshooting step we could find, including resetting Windows. In the end, we put the old CPU back in, reset the BIOS, and reinstalled Windows again, but the crashing issue persists. There are no shutdowns or reboots—just games crashing on launch. I'm starting to wonder if we accidentally damaged another component during the CPU and cooler installation. Since I don't have much technical knowledge, I'm reaching out for help before I take it to an expert for diagnostics.
4 Answers
Check to make sure the display resolution in Windows matches the resolution set in your graphics settings. Sometimes mismatched settings can cause weird display issues.
It seems possible that the game drive might be corrupted. If there are separate drives for Windows and games, consider formatting the games drive and downloading everything again. If the drives are the same, a fresh Windows install would wipe it out but you'd lose everything. Make sure to back up game save folders if you go that route!
Could you share the full specs of the system, like the graphics card, motherboard, RAM, and power supply? Also, what CPU were you using before? It might help to know if you've used DDU to clean out the old graphics drivers and installed fresh ones. Is the monitor plugged into the GPU? What about the VR headset—how's it connected? Have you tried running the system without the VR headset attached?
It sounds like your son should dive into troubleshooting this problem himself—it'll be a great learning experience for him! But if you're feeling lost, getting professional help could also save some time since the issue could stem from various sources based on your description.
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