Hey everyone, I've been having a frustrating issue with my PC where it just shuts down completely while I'm gaming. There are no BSODs (blue screens of death) or reboots; it just powers off. Here's what I've tried so far:
1. Ran Memtest about 8 times with no errors.
2. Performed multiple successful OCCT power and stress tests on both the CPU and GPU.
3. Did a full system check using sfc scannow and chkdsk, and found no issues.
4. Even reinstalled Windows 11 completely.
The only clue I have is a critical error showing up in the event viewer which says there's a kernel-power error due to the system not shutting down properly. I haven't been able to find any dump files related to this issue. It seems to happen only when I'm playing more demanding games, sometimes right away, other times it can take a few hours. I'm really stuck here; any insights would be super helpful!
4 Answers
You might want to check for overheating issues. Make sure your gaming area isn’t too hot and that your components aren’t running too hot either. Sometimes even if the numbers look alright, if there's a sudden spike in temperature, that can cause a shutdown. But if you say everything stays in the 70s-80s, that might not be it.
Could be a short somewhere in the motherboard, or like others said, a dying PSU. If the internal circuitry is tripping off as a protective measure, that could be your culprit. Just something to consider!
Very likely a power supply issue indeed. Sometimes stress tests don't capture everything, especially sudden spikes that can lead to crashes during actual gameplay. If you can, try using a different PSU to see if it resolves the problem.
I suspect it could be a power supply issue. If the PSU isn’t supplying enough power or if it’s starting to fail, that could explain a hard shutdown without warnings. It might not show in stress tests since they might not mimic real-world usage perfectly.
That’s interesting! I’ve stress tested both the CPU and GPU under maximum loads for an hour and they performed fine, but I guess transient spikes can happen.
I keep my room cool, and my CPU and GPU are steady in the 70s-80s max, so I think my temps are fine.