Freezing operations and shutdowns
Freezing operations and shutdowns
Recently, I acquired the EA for Baldur's Gate 3 and was puzzled by my inability to play for 20 minutes straight. My PC would restart unexpectedly or display a black screen, becoming unresponsive. This issue appears only with this game, though it could potentially affect others. In comparison, iRacing and Diablo IV don’t experience this problem, although I faced temperature issues that were resolved by limiting frame rates. For BG3, the graphics card never exceeded 70°C and the CPU stayed around 75°C, suggesting it isn’t the root cause.
At the same time, every few weeks my PC freezes during boot, with the Windows 11 loading icon becoming stuck. It takes about 20 to 30 attempts to get it to launch. Additionally, certain peripherals disconnect unpredictably depending on the USB port they’re connected to, especially the keyboard. While I can connect multiple devices at once, switching their order resolves the problem. This points toward power-related issues possibly linked to the motherboard.
I strongly believe the motherboard is failing. These symptoms seem consistent with my diagnosis. I’ve tested different PSUs—two high-quality 750W and 850W units—and the same problems persist. My system specs are: Ryzen 5800x @ 4.2GHz, Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120, Asus Prime Z570-P, MSI 3080 Gaming X Trio, 16GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz, AOPEN 32HC1QURP monitor, and Lian Li Lancool II Mesh case.
Thank you!
What is the post code or letter next to the CMOS battery display?
Here are some tools I used when I thought there was an issue with my PC.
Windows memory diagnosis will check RAM but won’t identify which stick is faulty.
FutMark will stress your graphics card as if it’s running a tough game.
Seatools tests the condition of SSD drives.
memtest 86 requires installation on a flash drive and runs during boot changes from ...; use an old drive to split the partition, which can be tricky but possible to recover, showing as one drive. It took two hours for four passes on my PC.
Cmos battery I replaced just because it was seven years old.
DISCLAIMER … this is just for your reference, and you decide whether to follow my actions.
Even though these tests won't fix the instability issue, I suggest executing sfc /scannow and dism /cleanup-image as outlined in the provided link. Windows has experienced frequent crashes, resulting in minor performance loss.
https://winaero.com/how-to-repair-window...-and-dism/
Concerning stability, if you're increasing your memory's speed with XMP/DOCP up to 3,200MT/s, consider turning those off and returning to 2,133 or 2,400MT/s. This adjustment could enhance system reliability.
If USB devices vanish, attempt disabling Power management for all USB Root Hubs in Device Manager. This prevents Windows from shutting down USB ports to conserve energy.
As MJS WARLORD mentioned, starting a test run on a MemTest86+ USB drive is a wise practice to evaluate your RAM health.
I managed to resolve it by using Whocrashed to identify the issue, and afterward the fix came from updating the BIOS.