Issues with the DWM display remain persistent.
Issues with the DWM display remain persistent.
Hello.
This has been a persistent challenge for me, and the frustration is mounting. It appears to happen suddenly, with just a few games, and my computer will freeze completely, stopping all output except the display remains functional. I can still hear audio, notice changes in voice input, and see Discord tracking the active game on my profile when checking from my phone.
The event viewer indicates that dwm.exe fails, and it keeps restarting in an endless loop until I manually reboot. The odd thing is that this only occurs with a limited set of games—specifically Elden Ring, Grand Theft Auto V, and a few months ago Final Fantasy XIV—but not in others. So far, the list remains unchanged.
I've tried almost everything possible: a full graphics driver reinstall, reseating the GPU, memory, and power supply unit, downgrading the GPU drivers to an older version, and even reinstalling Windows three times (two complete clean installs). Nothing has resolved the problem.
Online research hasn't helped much either. Benchmarks from Furmark or Superposition show no issues, even at high quality settings, which makes me wonder if it's a hardware problem or just something I can fix without spending money.
Details about my system are as follows:
CPU: Ryzen 5 1600
GPU: GTX 1060 6GB
Memory: 16 GB
Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
So in reliability history regarding the days you crashed, it seems like it would be similar to 4 years ago. If it's anything like yours, it might not be the GPU. It could be a USB device or another peripheral. USB and GPU are both managed by the same chips, so if one fails, it can lead to conflicts. In my situation, it was my mouse. Any old hardware that has consistently worked before would be a good starting point.
I'm still unsure if the fix worked, but I installed MSI Afterburner to lower my GPU's power consumption to 72%, then ran Elden Ring for about half an hour while I was outside doing yard work. I'll let you know if I encounter more problems afterward, but so far it seems to have helped.