Signals drop during gameplay.
Signals drop during gameplay.
I assembled my computer around two years ago and have been experiencing symptoms that appear across various discussions in forums. The issues vary by cause and solution, but generally involve problems during specific gameplay. When playing certain titles—Red Dead Redemption 2 Online, Starcraft 2 Arcade, American Truck Simulator, and Subnautica—I notice a pattern: monitors freeze, audio disappears or remains, signals drop yet sound persists, or the PC restarts itself. In all cases except the last, I’m unable to see any changes until I force a hard reset via the power button. The problem continues until I wait hours without improvement. After restarting, only one monitor stays active; I must manually adjust settings in Device Manager and toggle the display adapter to restore functionality. This has happened recently for the first time in two years.
I’ve tested multiple graphics drivers, used AMD Adrenaline, updated drivers via Windows defaults, performed load tests, changed settings including dx11, and even visited a tech support center at Best Buy. They couldn’t recreate the issue during gameplay sessions lasting several hours, which is usually sufficient for crashes. They ran GPU stress tests for 24 hours between visits, scanned for viruses, and applied updates.
I replaced my main storage drive, wiped everything to factory settings, and updated the BIOS. I also tried using a single monitor and a friend’s setup, but the problem persisted. A new display cable didn’t help. My hardware specs are: Ryzen 9 5900X, XFX Speedster MERC 319, AMD Radeon 6900XT, MSI MPG B550, Windows 11 64-bit.
Still searching, but I won’t give up. If I can’t solve it by Monday, I’ll look for a good place to drop it off.
I would execute an sfc /scannow in an admin terminal window and see what appears. Verify your NVMe drives using Samsung Magician if you haven’t done so before, just in case firmware updates are risky. This method is known to have problems with certain drives.
I question whether this situation is accurate because it doesn’t completely cut off power, but I’m curious if the device is consuming too much energy since everything—PC, monitors, phone chargers—is connected to the same power strip. I’ve seen similar arrangements in other homes without any problems, yet now I’m unsure what to expect.
Absolutely, that's exactly how I felt, struggling to understand with what I knew.