Experiencing unexpected PC shutdowns and a yellowing DRAM indicator.
Experiencing unexpected PC shutdowns and a yellowing DRAM indicator.
Hello fellow members, I've already attempted to join a German forum but haven't seen any progress. Last year around this period I assembled my current system, with detailed specifications listed below. Unfortunately, I frequently encounter freezes—either after a short period or sometimes after a month—which complicates troubleshooting. This Christmas my power supply failed, possibly due to excessive resets over the past year. This is the fourth PC I've built myself; previous models never experienced such issues. What's happening? Everything functions normally until suddenly: the monitor loses signal, mouse and keyboard stop responding (lights remain off), RGB lights freeze in motion, fans spin at the same speed, and the DRAM LED changes color—first red, then off, followed by white VGA, then green after reset. After restarting, the DRAM LED turns red again, switches off, and the system boots green before returning to normal. I haven't found any related errors in the Windows event log. I've tried everything: inspected physical connections, re-downloaded drivers (last in November 2021), reinstalled Windows 10, checked RAM with Windows MDSCHED, adjusted BIOS settings, and even used stress tests on Ryzen DRAM. I ran Memtest86 with full coverage for four hours without issues. All these steps eventually led to a freeze. Oddly enough, the official Crucial site confirms my RAM is 100% compatible, while Asus doesn't list it for my motherboard model. Thank you for reading through this.
Specs: Case – Enermax Starry Fort SF30 (glass window removed)
Board – Asus Tuf B550 Plus
CPU – AMD Ryzen 7 3700X (temperatures stayed below 70°C)
Cooler – Boxed cooler (AMD Prism Wraith)
RAM – Crucial Ballistix 2x16GB (RGB) with overclocked profile to 3600mhz
GPU – Zotac GTX 670 (from previous PC)
Power – BeQuiet! Straight Power 650W Gold (lost this Christmas) or 500W Gold (until replacement)
I handled that myself, though I actually did it before switching to the new PSU and cables around Christmas. We'll monitor if another freeze occurs. I also experimented with safe timing settings from the dram calculator for a 3600mhz RAM, and some values changed significantly, so I boosted the VRAM from 1.35 to 1.37.
To date, there have been no crashes or freezes. It seems too soon to celebrate, but it might be due to unusual default settings for RAM in the BIOS.