I have an Alienware Aurora R10 Ryzen Edition with a Ryzen 9 5900, 32 GB of DDR4 memory, a 1 TB SK hynix NVMe drive, and an RTX 3080. The system has been used for around six years. The problem first appeared while playing modded Minecraft, which began crashing repeatedly. Now several other games crash shortly after loading into their menus, sometimes returning to the desktop or producing a black screen instead of a normal Windows error screen. Event Viewer consistently reports LiveKernelEvent 141 errors.
I have run System File Checker, which initially repaired a corrupted file, but subsequent scans were clean and the crashes continued. I removed and reseated the GPU, reinstalled Windows and NVIDIA drivers, tried lowering the GPU clock, and swapped the DisplayPort connection. The GPU is usually around 47°C when the crashes occur and has reached just over 60°C during testing, so overheating seems unlikely. There have been no power outages, and the PC is connected to a surge protector.
The issue started before I attempted a Dell BIOS update. That update appeared to cause pop-ups and severe system lag, so I had to hard-reset the computer, and I am unsure whether it is safe to try again. What is the best way to determine whether the RTX 3080, its drivers, the power supply, or another component is responsible before I reinstall Windows or remove my brother's GPU for testing?
1 Answer
Since the crashes began before the BIOS attempt, that update probably did not cause the original problem. LiveKernelEvent 141 generally points to the graphics driver or GPU failing to respond, but it does not prove the card itself is defective. A clean driver removal and reinstall, testing with stock GPU settings, checking the power cables and PSU, and running a GPU stress test can help narrow it down. If another known-good GPU works normally in the same system, that would be much stronger evidence of an RTX 3080 problem than temperature readings alone.
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