No installation required for Windows 10; GPU and Mobo have been sent back for repair.
No installation required for Windows 10; GPU and Mobo have been sent back for repair.
Hey there, this is Zgame200. This is my first time joining this forum, and I'm really hoping someone can assist me with my problem. Below are the details:
Hardware: Gigabyte X570 I AORUS PRO WIFI, AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 8GB RAM (2 x Corsair Vengeance PRO 3200mhz), RGB ASUS RTX 2070 Mini, Samsung 970 Evo 1TB M.2-2280 NVMe SSD, Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W (80+ Gold certified), fully modular ATX power supply. Model age: 16 months.
Problem: In January this year, my PC would frequently crash while playing games. It didn't matter how intense the game was—even "South Park Stick of Truth" would freeze it. Both monitors would go dark, and the GPU fans would spin nonstop. I didn’t want to go through an RMA, so I reinstalled Windows, and the issue disappeared.
By May, the problem returned. After rebooting, my memory speed dropped to 2133mhz (default), and the clock reset. I still thought it was GPU-related, so I returned the graphics card to ASUS for a replacement. It seemed to fix things at first, but after a few weeks I faced the same issues: fans at 100%, screen going black. In Event Viewer, I saw a watchdog BSOD. I found some minidump files here: [link].
Assuming it wasn’t my graphics card again, I reinstalled Windows from scratch because that worked before. But soon after, the same crashes occurred—perfect fans, black screen, and disconnected peripherals. I tried reinstalling Windows again, but it didn’t work. The computer would show a "clock watchdog timeout" error or black screens during setup, and sometimes the mouse and keyboard turned off.
After reading possible causes, I attempted a fresh Windows install again, which helped temporarily. However, the situation worsened. I couldn’t install Windows normally. The system would freeze at startup, with the clock timer running out, and peripherals disconnecting.
I’m unsure what to do next. Should I send the CPU for RMA? Here’s a quick recap of what I’ve tried:
- Fresh Windows 10 installation
- Rolled back Nvidia drivers and unseated GPU
- Reseated GPU and RAM
- Ran Windows Memory Diagnostic multiple times
- Used Event Viewer and minidump analysis
- Reinstalled drivers from Safe Mode
- Removed Nvidia driver manually via Device Manager
- Updated UEFI and reinstalled OS
Results were mixed—some fixes, others recurring crashes. I’m at a loss and would appreciate any advice or steps you can suggest. Thanks in advance for your help!
I don't have a case. Could you clarify what you're referring to?
I performed a complete system reset by reinstalling Windows. I deleted the installation media and restored the operating system. Now I’m stuck on the initial setup confirmation message.
I haven't tested with one stick at a time. I'll give it a try and let you know the results.