PC is crashing repeatedly, please assist!
PC is crashing repeatedly, please assist!
Hello Everyone,
I’m reaching out for urgent assistance regarding my custom-built PC. I’ll share my specs below if they’re useful.
I assembled this system around five years ago and it has remained stable until about three months ago. During gaming sessions—primarily on CoD Warzone and World of Warcraft—the game would intermittently drop frames for a few seconds, then transition into what appeared to be a corrupted blue screen message indicating an issue, followed by the machine shutting down. Initially, I assumed it was just a random crash.
After restarting, the PC would function normally on the desktop for about five minutes before another crash occurred, sometimes lasting only two minutes. Eventually, the computer became completely unusable. I attempted to reinstall Windows and graphics drivers without success; it would either stay on for 30 minutes or crash after just a couple of minutes.
Through some troubleshooting, I noticed my memory usage frequently exceeded 90%. Eventually, I replaced the RAM with two 16GB sticks and upgraded the CPU (both were outdated). This resolved the problem—my memory usage dropped to 20-50% depending on activity, and the crashes ceased.
However, yesterday my PC started crashing again, but more severely now. It would stay on the desktop for up to five minutes before failing, then attempt an automatic diagnosis suggesting a Windows reinstall, which has proven ineffective.
I’ve changed both the CPU and RAM, but I’m uncertain if others have faced similar issues. I’m not very tech-savvy, just trying to figure this out. Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot.
Hello there! I've updated the CPU and RAM. Could you let me know which BIOS version you're using? If you can stay in BIOS for a while, that will confirm your operating system. Where did you get the installer for the OS?
Hi There,
Thank you for your prompt response, I wasn’t expecting such a quick reply.
- My GPU is an MSI AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT MECH OC 8GB Graphics Card.
- I installed Windows directly from the installer and used the “Reset this PC” option to download files onto a flash drive, then booted my PC through the BIOS on that drive.
- Concerning the BIOS, before installing the new CPU I updated it to the latest version, checking the ASUS website to confirm compatibility with my motherboard—this was successful.
The issue arises when the GPU sits on the desktop without problems; I can boot into a game for about five minutes, then it crashes repeatedly. It enters a crashing loop where it restarts after 30 seconds, then crashes again, and the diagnostic process fails consistently.
I’m really unsure what to do next. I don’t want to keep purchasing replacement parts just to keep the system running, and I’m not confident enough in computer troubleshooting to fix this myself.
The BIOS version is listed. On forums, users often mention being on the newest version but still encountering pending updates. It's worth obtaining a stable PSU to check if the problem continues.
You might have to reset the CMOS on the motherboard, so the BIOS update works correctly.
I just started my BIOS and it shows “Version 2.20.1271”. But I got the ASUS version 5404, how do these names match? Could the power supply be the issue? It usually happens when playing games but crashes occur during PC startup or program launches.