PC Freezes, Buzzes, and Restarts When Playing Games From External SSD
Asked by
MellowCedar42
My PC only freezes, makes a buzzing sound, and suddenly restarts when I play games installed on my external SSD. I'm not sure whether the SSD is actually the cause, but I've been told it could be a faulty USB port, cable, enclosure, or the drive itself. What should I check first, and would moving it to another USB port help?
Answers
The external SSD is the most likely place to start, especially since the crashes only happen with games stored on it. Try a different USB port, preferably a high-speed port directly on the motherboard rather than a hub, and replace the USB cable if possible. Then test the same game from your internal drive. If the problem disappears, check the SSD’s health and temperatures, verify the game files, and consider that the drive or its USB enclosure may be failing. The buzzing could also be coil whine or audio getting stuck during a system lockup, so it doesn’t necessarily identify the exact failing part.
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MellowCedar42: I’ll try another motherboard USB port and test one of the games from the internal drive. If it still crashes, I’ll check the drive health and cable next.