Game crashes unexpectedly during play sessions.
Game crashes unexpectedly during play sessions.
I set up this account to seek assistance since I've been struggling for a week without progress. Problem summary: It began after switching from an Intel core i7 9th gen with an AsRock motherboard to an AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Gigabyte B550 VISION D-P. The issue appears across both Windows 10 and now Windows 11, indicating it's not related to the operating system version. Whenever I launch a game—like Cyberpunk 2077 or In Sound Mind—I experience a total crash that feels like a complete OS failure. Symptoms: The game freezes entirely, sound continues, and I can move the mouse. Pressing Win key opens the start menu, but nothing else happens. Opening Command Prompt or Task Manager doesn't stop the freeze; clicking icons on the taskbar highlights them without any effect. The start menu becomes stuck after a few seconds. The only solution is a hard shutdown. No clear pattern seems to cause the freeze except with Cyberpunk when it auto-saves, though not every save triggers it. The game can run for just a minute or even over an hour before freezing. Temperatures stay normal, fans don’t speed up, and no logs are recorded in Event Viewer, Application, or System. I’ve tried disabling background services, adjusting power settings, updating drivers, running SFC/SCAN, checking GPU profiles, limiting frame rates, changing user accounts, using MSI Afterburner to cap GPU power, ensuring the system boots normally, and more. The game files appear intact, and I’ve even installed Sysmon and Reliability Monitor, which stopped logging before freezing. What I need is advice on resolving this unexpected shutdown.
Looking at the details, it’s unclear where you got the information about keeping the OS between swaps. I also noted a switch to Windows 11 during that time. After the CPU and motherboard swap, I installed Windows 10 Pro again, followed by a fresh install of Windows 11 Pro about two months later. I didn’t test Cyberpunk alone—my post mentioned “In Sound Mind” as well. Cyberpunk seemed more consistent, while “In Sound Mind” was scattered throughout. Before the swap, Cyberpunk only crashed twice in over 130 hours, so it’s not obvious why that part matters for this discussion.
Check CPU and GPU temperatures during idle versus peak usage. Restore all hardware settings back to default optimized state before proceeding, without applying any overclocking or uncooling adjustments.
In terms of performance, everything stayed normal. The GPU fans didn’t even start up while playing "In Sound Mind." Cyberpunk managed to reach 68-70 degrees during play. I used both default BIOS settings and my regular configuration. No overclocking or unclocked mode was enabled, including the stock BPO and CPB features. I’m also testing Palit GPUs, which let me switch between OC and stock speeds with a physical button. Another game I ran today was Star Wars: Squadrons, showing the same pattern as the previous titles.
I went through checking software, drivers, and BIOS settings to rule them out. Then I opened the case and inspected all connectors on the PSU cables. Everything looked good, so I decided to try a new GPU power cable. So far, it's been working smoothly for over two hours without any crashes. I plan to test it again tonight to confirm the fix and ensure it wasn't a one-time issue.