I've been dealing with random instant restarts on my PC ever since I built it about six years ago. Initially, I could never pinpoint the problem, and various technicians and GPU tests concluded everything was fine since the restarts happen without any warning or error messages. However, I recently started playing Battlefield 6, and now the restarts have become 100% reproducible. They can happen in just seconds or after a few minutes of gameplay. Interestingly, synthetic stress tests like Cinebench and FurMark don't trigger any issues.
When the restarts occur, the PC shuts off immediately and then powers back on, but there are no blue screens or crash dump files to analyze. I've found one critical error in the Event Viewer, Kernel-Power Event ID 41, but that's about it.
My system specs are:
- GPU: Gigabyte RX 5700 XT
- CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
- Motherboard: ASUS Prime X570-P
- RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200 MHz
- PSU: Corsair RM650x Gold
- SSD: WD Blue SN550 1TB
- HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB
I've already tried a clean install of the GPU driver, updated all my chipset drivers, and the BIOS, disabled XMP, and everything checks out with MemTest86 and temperature monitoring. Interestingly, when I replaced the RX 5700 XT with an RX 560, the restarts stopped completely, leading me to suspect either the RX 5700 XT itself, the PSU, or the motherboard power delivery. I'm at a loss for what to check next, so any advice would be seriously appreciated!
3 Answers
Considering your Ryzen CPU, there have been multiple reports of similar issues. Maybe it's time to consider replacing the processor. Check out some reliability reviews; sometimes certain batches have hidden flaws.
You really need to check if you can obtain any crash dump files. Even though you’re not seeing BSODs, these files can provide key insights into what's going on. If you can boot into Windows, check the Minidump folder under C:Windows. If there are files, zip them and upload them to a file sharing site. That could help narrow down the issue.
Have you tried running Prime95 or memtest_vulkan? They could help you identify if the CPU or VRAM is failing under load. It’s worth a shot since the restarts occur only during gaming.
I ran both tests and they passed without issues. So that's not the problem.