System shuts down repeatedly
System shuts down repeatedly
I assembled a new system yesterday. When attempting to stream YouTube or play games alone, everything functions properly. However, running both simultaneously or having background processes while gaming causes it to crash and restart. There’s no blue screen or clear error message—just a black screen after restarting. I’ve tried reinstalling with fresh Windows and using Steam only, suspecting software rather than hardware problems. The GPU temperatures stay within normal ranges, CPU fluctuates between 65-90, and I’ve tested different RAM sticks without success. Running on a single monitor at various resolutions hasn’t resolved the issue. Could it be a faulty CPU or motherboard? Or am I overlooking something?
Re: problem began suggesting a software-related issue, possibly during the reinstall. If any opening occurred, loose connections might have been involved. DDU serves as a method to clean graphics driver installations without performing full cleans, which could affect other components too. This is useful when frequently changing GPUs. The observed issues align with memory and power concerns. You should have sufficient power capacity; otherwise, a faulty PSU would be the likely cause. What model and age does it have? Regarding memory, a couple of memtest86 runs should suffice—it’s not fast but free. Other memory tests are less reliable, often giving false negatives, and the traditional approach of swapping one LED to see if symptoms disappear can be time-consuming. This specific problem is rare, as it requires both LEDs to fail at the same time. If there’s a defect in the memory, it’s likely just one LED is faulty. Edited July 19, 2022 by Bombastinator
The psu isn’t the problem—it’s a brand new Nzxt 750w. I eliminated that by replacing it with my old one and the same issue persists. I tested the PC on each PSU separately, and the problem continues, so it’s unlikely to be RAM. I plan to install a 16GB RAM stick from another PC that works, after a fresh Windows setup using only Steam and MSI Afterburner. The issue started during a clean Windows install, so software might be the cause unless there’s a bad installation. I’ll wipe the drive and reinstall today to confirm. I also installed the new PSU in my old PC, which runs smoothly with a 1080Ti and has a higher TDP than the new one. It seems unlikely to be a loose connection, as I can reproduce the issue consistently across different methods.
Great to be able to verify everything with reliable parts. This really speeds things up. Someone mentioned that certain boards need at least 16GB RAM to run memory smoothly, which could be important. I’m not sure if that’s a big deal. I also don’t know if it’s accurate. It was the first time I heard about this. A bad Windows install is what I was expecting. Testing the drivers could help too—look for black arrows (driver disabled) or yellow triangles (driver issues). Likely there’s nothing wrong.
Also noted it remains stable even under heavy stress on both GPU and CPU. I can successfully execute Prime95 and FurMark without any issues.
It seems like a minor memory issue might be at play. Memory problems usually occur when something triggers a critical memory location, causing everything to fail. It’s possible the synthetic loads you tried didn’t reach that problematic spot while real loads did. I’m not familiar enough with synthetic load behavior to say for sure. Maybe a reinstall will resolve it and prevent future issues.
Regarding the question: when performance drops, have you simply triggered a swap? For Windows users, the page file is often called "swap." If this is the case, it’s likely not a memory problem but rather how the page file is managed. The real issue might be more related to having too much memory available, which helps avoid running out during multitasking.
I just replaced two 8 ng RAM sticks with the same brand but a different capacity—3200 instead of 3600. It seems to be working fine since the system is running smoothly on another machine. Still, the same problem persists. The only possibilities left are the motherboard, CPU, or SSD. I might swap in another M.2 stick if needed, but it doesn’t seem to connect the issue.