System halts unexpectedly. Input device stops working intermittently until a hard restart is performed
System halts unexpectedly. Input device stops working intermittently until a hard restart is performed
Occasionally my mouse stops functioning, followed by keyboard disconnection as well. When I attempt to unplug and plug it back in, it fails to reconnect and remains inactive. Switching to another mouse didn't resolve the issue, leading me to believe the entire system is frozen. Eventually, I had to keep pressing the power button to force a shutdown. This occurred once before and again today, this second time happening shortly after I tried to restart the PC to fix the first freeze. I'm unsure of the cause and haven't changed any parts inside the computer. It was built with those specifications in October 2023, and I've kept them unchanged since then. The mouse model is Endgame OP1We, the keyboard is DrunkDeer A75, the motherboard is ATX, ASUS TUF Gaming Z690-Plus Wi-Fi (Intel 12/13 generation), GPU is ASUS TUF GeForce RTX 4070 OC 12 GB GDDR6X, RAM is Corsair Vengeance 32 GB (2x16) DDR5 6000MHz CL36 Black, CPU is i5-13600k, cooler is EKWB EK-AIO 280 D-RGB, and the PSU is Corsair RMe RM1000e 80PLUS Gold. I haven't sought advice elsewhere and didn't modify any components. The recent Cinebench 23 score was 24,589.
It’s been happening again—my system is really struggling. I ran a standard Windows memory test and it came back clean. I did a full Windows scan, an offline check, and Malwarebytes too, but nothing was detected. Even the S.M.A.R.T. software on my Western Digital NVMe drives showed no problems. Still, I’m starting to worry.
Start with the initial BIOS configuration (restore everything to default). Verify if the problem persists. Follow these steps: 1. Update BIOS and see if it resolves the issue. 2. Reinstall Windows and drivers from scratch—many fixes come from a clean setup. 3. Test with a different mouse and keyboard after updating BIOS or reinstalling. 4. If none of these help, run Memtest86 to check RAM integrity (expect 3-4 hours). A pass indicates no memory issues. 5. If RAM tests clean and nothing else works, the CPU is likely defective (though motherboard or power supply could also be the cause).
Everything seemed fine until today. I opened my PC and it was happening again—much more frequently than before, about ten times. The issues included: 1) Frequent mouse and keyboard disconnects followed by freezing or shutdowns; 2) The PC freezes and then shuts down immediately after launching; 3) A blue screen appeared with the stop code 0xc000021a; 4) Another blue screen with a kernel security check failure; 5) Occasional inability to boot and entering repair mode; 6) Accessing troubleshooting screens or previous Windows installations, then resuming to Windows 7; 7) Troubleshooting steps showing RAM XMP disabled, reverting to 4800 MHz instead of the original 6000 MHz; 8) Opening Windows revealing missing GPU in the task manager, no NVIDIA control panel access, and complete absence of GPU with XMP disabled. I’ve been using it since October 2023, updating Maya, Davinci, and games without touching any hardware.