PC Freezes and Resets Displays During Basic Browser Use
Asked by
MellowHarbor42
My PC runs games smoothly for long periods, but it becomes unstable during ordinary tasks in Chrome or Firefox. At random times, the screens briefly reset and all connected peripherals make the Windows disconnect sound before returning to normal. This can happen repeatedly while browsing. Afterward, launching a game—especially Overwatch—causes a major drop in frame rate, and restarting the computer is the only reliable way to restore performance. The system has an Intel Core i7-10700K, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060, a Gigabyte AORUS Z490 Elite motherboard, 32 GB of DDR4 memory in a 2×16 GB configuration, and a Corsair 850W power supply. What could be causing this, and what troubleshooting steps should I try?
Answers
It may be the Windows desktop shell or graphics driver restarting rather than the entire operating system crashing. Reproduce the problem, then check Event Viewer—especially Windows Logs under System and Application—for display-driver, explorer.exe, or hardware-related errors. Those entries may help identify whether the GPU driver, Windows shell, or another device is triggering the resets.
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This sounds more like a graphics or hardware problem than a normal browser issue. As a quick test, disable hardware acceleration in Chrome or Firefox and see whether the display resets stop. If the behavior continues, check the GPU drivers and connections, and if possible test with another graphics card. A component can still be faulty even if it is relatively new.
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MellowHarbor42: I’ll reproduce the issue and check the Event Viewer logs immediately afterward. Hopefully there’s an error that points to the cause.