Computer freezes but sound still continues while gaming
Computer freezes but sound still continues while gaming
Greetings everyone, this is my initial post – please forgive any mistakes.
Let's address the issue I’m experiencing. Recently, I assembled a gaming PC and everything initially functioned perfectly. One week ago, my 1TB 7.2K HDD, which I used for all data, unexpectedly formatted to RAW instead of NTFS before failing entirely. Consequently, I purchased a new Sandisk SSD for Windows and applications and installed an older 250GB HDD specifically for games and personal files.
The original 1TB HDD operated without issue; I acquired *The Witcher 3* from GOG and played approximately 30 hours with no overheating concerns – the Seidon 120V cooler provided ample cooling, keeping my GPU at a maximum temperature of 70 Celsius. When switching to the SSD, everything remained stable. I reinstalled *The Witcher 3* and downloaded other titles such as *Mirror’s Edge Catalyst*, *DOOM (Reboot)*, and *Project CARS*. However, I've encountered a persistent problem that I haven't been able to resolve.
After launching these games for approximately 5-10 minutes, the screen freezes completely, while audio continues uninterrupted in the background. This isn’t due to insufficient RAM, as usage remains at around 60% during gameplay. Attempts to minimize the game with Windows+M or Task Manager fail; the mouse cursor disappears from the screen, and no controls respond. The only resolution is to power cycle the PC by disconnecting the power cord or holding down the power button for 10 seconds.
Initially, I suspected a fault within the Samsung 250GB HDD so I moved the games to the SSD one at a time to test but the issue persisted. I also experimented with different SATA ports without success. I ran *chkdsk* on both drives, updated drivers, and even performed a clean Windows installation – yet the problem remained. I disabled internet connectivity, added the game files to Windows Defender exceptions, but nothing changed. The issue continues. All components are new, which is incredibly frustrating as I’m eager to complete my games during breaks from college.
Please assist me.
PC Specifications:
Motherboard: ECS H110-C4P (Mini-ITX)
Processor: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7Ghz (Stock)
Memory: 8Gb DDR4 HyperX 2133Mhz
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 950 (Stock)
SSD: Sandisk 120Gb 550Mbp/s (Windows+Programs)
HDD: Samsung HD250HJ 250Gb SATA2 (Games+Personal Files)
Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120V
PSU: EVGA 400W
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130
It appears your NVIDIA graphics card driver is experiencing a failure, causing the video to halt while audio continues uninterrupted. My initial suggestion is to revert to the previous stable driver version or utilize Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) for a complete removal and fresh installation from the official NVIDIA/GeForce website. Alternatively, you can attempt playback using MSI Afterburner’s on-screen display to monitor your GPU's performance before a crash occurs; potentially requiring a slight reduction in clock speeds. Finally, consider examining your Event Viewer, though this method is often complex and challenging to pinpoint the exact source of the problem.
It appears your NVIDIA graphics driver is experiencing a failure, causing video playback to halt while audio continues uninterrupted. My initial suggestion would be to revert to the previous stable version of your NVIDIA drivers or completely uninstall them using DDU and reinstalling from the official NVIDIA/GeForce website. Alternatively, you could utilize MSI Afterburner’s on-screen display to monitor your GPU's performance before a crash occurs, potentially requiring a slight underclocking adjustment. Finally, examining the Event Viewer is possible but generally difficult to interpret for troubleshooting purposes. Thank you, I will investigate this further today. However, my drivers are currently at their most recent stable release... Perhaps there are traces of default drivers installed by Windows that may be contributing to the problem. I’ll share the outcomes of my attempts shortly.
That’s a really good point about the PCIe riser – I completely overlooked that! It’s possible that’s contributing to the instability, especially with the older drivers. Thank you for bringing it up and pointing out that potential cause. I appreciate you thinking through all these possibilities.
Adamjms3 :
lautrec-karim :
Adamjms3 :
sounds to me like your nvidia driver is crashing; stopping the video from playing but the sound running fine
my first recommendation would be to rollback your nvidia drivers to the last stable version or just use ddu to completely remove the drivers and install them again from the nvidia/geforce website.
You could also play using msi afterburners on screen display and monitor what is happening to your gpu before the driver is crashing and you may have to underclock slightly.
The last thing you should do is go through your event viewer but i do not recommend it as there it can be very hard to figure out which error is actually causing the issue.
Thanks man, I'll be looking for this later today. But as I said, my drivers are already the latest stable... Maybe the Windows have reminiscents of the generic drivers it installed I dunno. Soon I'll post here the results of my trying.
your not using a pcie riser right?
[/quotemsg ]
Nope. I'm not using a PCI-E Riser. My GPU is plugged as normal.
I did what you said earlier about reinstalling the drivers. The time improved, now the game freezes with 15min o gameplay but the problem continues ;(
lautrec-karim :
Adamjms3 :
lautrec-karim :
Adamjms3 :
sounds to me like your nvidia driver is crashing; stopping the video from playing but the sound running fine
my first recommendation would be to rollback your nvidia drivers to the last stable version or just use ddu to completely remove the drivers and install them again from the nvidia/geforce website.
You could also play using msi afterburners on screen display and monitor what is happening to your gpu before the driver is crashing and you may have to underclock slightly.
The last thing you should do is go through your event viewer but i do not recommend it as there it can be very hard to figure out which error is actually causing the issue.
Thanks man, I'll be looking for this later today. But as I said, my drivers are already the latest stable... Maybe the Windows have reminiscents of the generic drivers it installed I dunno. Soon I'll post here the results of my trying.
your not using a pcie riser right?
[/quotemsg ]
Nope. I'm not using a PCI-E Riser. My GPU is plugged as normal.
I did what you said earlier about reinstalling the drivers. The time improved, now the game freezes with 15min o gameplay but the problem continues ;(
Try ctrl+alt+deleting when the game has crashed, this can recover the driver if it has crashed, it worked for me. But in the end my issue was a faulty pcie riser
I apologize for my late post to this discussion; however, I’m encountering the same problem and was hoping someone might have discovered a fix. If so, could you please share your steps? Thank you.
I’m experiencing the same issue. The game freezes, my mouse isn't responsive, and audio continues to play. My hardware is less than a year old.
Tomawwk b350 artic recently released a BIOS update but this problem existed prior to that.
RX Vega 64
2x8gb corsair vengeance 3200mhz
850w corsair psu
Following the installation of an SSD and a Windows reinstallation, I experienced a similar issue. The problem stemmed from PCI drivers—specifically, a list of approximately eight PCI-related driver entries within Device Manager > Systems Devices. Updating these drivers resolved the freezes I was encountering.