System failures occur unexpectedly during unusual moments.
System failures occur unexpectedly during unusual moments.
My computer began failing in games roughly two months ago. Initially, it was during mining sessions (about 30 hours total, not worth the effort) while a game—mainly Forza Horizon 5—ran on one screen at 1080p with high settings. I stopped playing YouTube while gaming and only used the game. Performance improved then it started to fail again. Lowering the settings to 720p low resolved the issue. Now I can play FH5 smoothly at 1080p 60fps, but within two minutes of entering a menu the system shuts down. In Titanfall 2 it crashed shortly after starting an online match, whereas yesterday I finished a story level on high settings. The Sims 4 runs in under five minutes with graphics reduced to minimum. The PC has also stopped working during memory tests, loading both The Sims 4 and FH5, plus when I tried writing this article. Crash appearances: abrupt black screen, fans stopping instantly. I can’t power on the PC using the front panel until I cut power, then keep pressing the power button until the motherboard lights fade. After that it starts up normally. No blue screens or error messages appear. It seems nothing was wrong until you experienced the failure. Sometimes the crash triggers my Xbox One controller to vibrate when plugged in, other times it powers down with the PC. I haven’t identified a common cause across all incidents. My attempts: reset settings to defaults in NiceHash then removed them; installed MSI Afterburner and everything appears fine for my GTX 1080. My CPU (Ryzen 3600) was overclocked at 4.4 GHz with 1.3V. I set BIOS to default, then tried BIOS settings, Ryzen Master, and adjusted frequency to 4.0GHz at 1.25V. Tested both memory sticks separately in slot 1—no boot. Disabled DHCP for RAM and kept it at 2133MHz. Reinstalled drivers after uninstalling and reinstalling. My main drive is an NVMe SSD running the latest Windows 10, with a HDD holding my games. I also booted into the newest Ubuntu version, reinstalled drivers, but still got a crash when trying to log in to my Microsoft account for FH5 on the NVMe drive. Other drives weren’t mounted in Linux. Initially it looked like my old GPU was wearing out, but now crashes seem more frequent at lower settings. I’m left wondering what’s causing this and don’t have much money to replace parts. Anyone have suggestions?
It seems the power supply might be underperforming. It’s not a faulty device, but it works better in basic setups. Over time, performance can decline. This is my initial thought on the matter.
This mining software is well-known for being unstable and riddled with malware. It might have been partially removed or something far more serious. A fresh setup would likely be quite challenging. @HanZie82’s approach seems more probable. Another unlikely chance is that you picked up a faulty memory chip, perhaps using memtest86.
I used only NiceHash and NiceHash Simple miners, both were removed completely. I selected the full uninstall option to delete everything linked in the uninstall process. I explored a complete reinstall, but my internet speed is just 35Mbps and there are around 700GB of games and programs installed that would be lost. memtest86 crashed during the first pass, likely test 13 or 14, and it reported no errors. I also tried disconnecting the computer from a poor power strip and plugging it into the wall—Linus mentioned this might improve stability, and I noticed a noticeable change afterward.
Nicehash maintains a solid reputation for software reliability. They generate significant revenue, which reduces the incentive to compromise. However, there might be unauthorized modifications from someone who accessed it unexpectedly. Another test exists but presents challenges. It requires multiple memory cards and depends on a low chance of a card being compromised in more than one slot. Trying it with just one card helps verify functionality. Success with all cards suggests an issue elsewhere—possibly with an unused memory slot. Failure across all cards indicates a hardware problem rather than software. The process takes time.
I saved NiceHash from their site, mainly concerned about their auto GPU overclock feature, but that’s gone now. I have two memory modules and four slots. I placed one stick in slot A1, then another in slot A1, and both were installed in A1 and A2. This board seems particular—any configuration with sticks in B1 or B2 caused it to crash.
You have enough RAM capacity for the test. The motherboard guide will indicate which slot to use for single-channel memory modules. This depends on the specific board. Even if you placed them in the right slots but the system still crashes, the test result might show “something else.” Edited August 30, 2022 by Bombastinator
The main reason I mention PSU is because mining requires a lot of power. A sudden computer shutdown is usually due to power delivery failure. Other errors often show a blue screen or prevent full power from reaching the device. It's just one possible solution, not the only one. Hope you do well and feel free to try testing by swapping parts.