I need some help diagnosing an issue with my PC that's been acting up lately. A few days ago, while it was idle, I encountered a BSOD with a watchdog violation error. After rebooting, it worked fine for a bit while I was browsing or gaming, but after periods of inactivity, it would crash again. Yesterday, it froze completely, prompting a hard reset. I managed to boot into Windows once with only one stick of RAM, but that didn't last long, and now it won't boot at all. The PC hangs at the Windows loading screen and then reboots. I've attempted to run memtest, but it hangs too. I'm stuck and thinking the problem could be with the CPU or motherboard since my RAM works in another system. I have an NZXT 850W PSU, a 5900X CPU, and an ASRock X570 Taichi motherboard. Any ideas on what might be causing this?
5 Answers
Have you checked your minidump files? They contain crash logs from the BSODs and can provide insights on what went wrong. If you can access Windows or Safe Mode, look in C:WindowsMinidump for those files. If you find any, zip them up and store them somewhere like MediaFire for easier sharing. More dump files could help narrow down the issue, too!
It sounds like there might be a compatibility issue between your RAM and motherboard. If you have multiple RAM sticks, try using just one at a time to see if that helps. Also, check for any BIOS updates for your motherboard that might improve RAM compatibility. Motherboards can sometimes be picky about RAM speeds at higher capacities.
From what you're describing, the motherboard could be the culprit here. It's not uncommon for Taichi boards to have odd voltage quirks that can lead to stability issues.
You might want to try creating a Hiren's Boot USB or something similar. That could allow you to boot your PC and run some troubleshooting tools like chkdsk to check for any underlying problems.
Did you have XMP enabled before the issues started? It might help to clear your CMOS, which can sometimes reset any problematic settings.
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