Are you experiencing random crashes in "Ghost in the Machine" and unsure what might be causing them?
Are you experiencing random crashes in "Ghost in the Machine" and unsure what might be causing them?
Motherboard: MSI B450 A-Pro
CPU: Ryzen 7 5700x
GPU: Radeon RX 6750 XT
PSU: brand new EVGA 80+ white 700w, previously an Apevia power supply unit.
RAM: G-skill 2666mhz
I've experienced occasional random crashes and troubleshooting efforts have yielded nothing. A few weeks ago, the computer suddenly began malfunctioning without any major update. It started freezing with looping audio or crashing entirely, sometimes blue-screening. Boot issues were frequent, with peripherals failing to power on. Blue screen codes pointed to memory problems—page faults and kernel traps. The bluescreen viewer in minidumps showed ntoskernel.exe failures, suggesting a possible driver issue rather than a hardware fault. I replaced the RAM modules thoroughly, cleaned the internal components, ran Memtest86+ and Windows memory diagnostics, both passed. I reinstalled Windows with new drivers, but the behavior remained unchanged. This points to a potential power supply problem. I had previously replaced the PSU and it worked, so I assumed that was the cause. Now I’m considering another possibility.
I’ve also heard the new AMD drivers can be unstable. Although I didn’t update them right before the issues began, I reverted to version 23.11.1, which is considered stable. No improvement. Performing a chkdsk on all drives confirmed they were clean. Disconnecting nonessential peripherals, setting the CPU to eco mode and underclocking RAM didn’t help. Running a stress test showed the CPU handled it well—temperatures staying below 80°C before crashing again after a few hours of normal use. This is really frustrating.
There seems to be no consistent pattern behind these crashes. It could be game-related, or the system might be idle entirely. It’s possible I’m in safe mode, with nonessential services disabled and no change in behavior. My power supply and surge protector appear to be functioning normally, as other devices with similar setups don’t have issues. I’m feeling really confused and stuck.
Here is the complete specification sheet for your system, including details about RAM and storage capacity, along with any personal assumptions you might have.
my PC was down when i first typed the OP, but right now it's chugging along, so here's a more "complete" system spec:
Code:
OS: Windows 11 Pro V 10.0.22621 build 22621
Motherboard: MSI B-450 A-Pro with SMBIOS version 2.8 (dated 8/8/2022)
CPU: Ryzen 7 5700x, 8 core 16t. PBO and other OC disabled, eco mode on.
GPU: Radeon RX 6750 XT
RAM: G.Skill 2666 MhZ, 16 gigs DDR4 (F4-2666C19-8GNT x2 in slots 3 and 4)
Storage:
OS Drive (C: SPCC M.2 PCIE SSD (2TB size, 482GB in use)
Secondary drive (G: PNY CS900 240G SSD (30.8GB in use; this mostly stores backups and some games that are very disk intensive)
Bulk Storage (E: WD Black 4tb drive, currently disconnected. Mostly stores games and media files.
sorry for putting it in a code block, emotes were popping up
i also have some external PCIe devices, an elgato HD60 Pro and a USB 3.0 hub, but both of those have been for the most part removed from the system since troubleshooting began a couple weeks ago
hard up for cash r/n and actually between jobs. i figured EVGA's been in the game for a long time though, a bit more of a trusted name than Apevia etc and the likelihood of having 2 PSUs broken in the same exact way sounds pretty low, though apparently it's happened to a few people here over the years? I don't have access to a multimeter to test the thing properly. should i get in touch with a shop, see if they can test the new PSU and possibly RMA mine?
EVGA sells some good quality PSUs. This isn't one of them. The W1 series would be the worst product ever released by EVGA if the N1 series of PSUs didn't exist. It's not broken; it's simply dirt-cheap, group-regulated junk that should never be turned on with the hardware of a modern gaming PC, even a budget one. There's nothing to test and most local PC shops aren't going to have a load tester and oscilloscope. A multimeter does nothing here as it doesn't measure voltage regulation and ripple on load. An RMA, if accepted, would just result in you having another identical inappropriate PSU that needs to be replaced. This is a problem if you *weren't* having these random crashes.
I understand that budgets are an issue, but it's way more economical to buy a quality PSU once rather than a junk PSU two or three or four times (and possibly new components). You have crashes that suggest a power issue and a really poor quality PSU. It may not be the direct cause of the problem, but the first thing to do in a situation like is to get a junk power source out of the mix.
that product is really bad, isn't it? well, when i have the budget for a new PSU again, i'll try another higher quality one after some research. if i keep crashing afterward, i'll run the same diagnostics on memory, OS storage, RAM and CPU, and if that doesn't work, i'll consider replacing this one. what do you think i should aim for, especially with a 700-800w supply?
I bought and set up a Corsair RM750e. At first things seemed okay but crashes persisted. I thought it might be linked to the CPU, so I explored various BIOS settings. Surprisingly, when running at runtime, the BIOS language changed abruptly to Chinese just before another unexpected crash. It’s likely the problem is with the CPU or RAM. I’m unsure if a CPU issue could cause such a sudden language switch, since it usually leads to data corruption during entry rather than just a change. Recently I ran prime95 for 18 hours without any errors. The system generally behaves normally—CPU light at startup, crashes when loading the OS, and very rarely crashes while in use, often throwing kernel or memory management errors if they occur.