The computer stops unexpectedly while playing games.
The computer stops unexpectedly while playing games.
Hello. I've experienced this problem for some time, where my PC would suddenly crash during games, forcing it to restart completely. The situation occurs when I'm in the middle of a game—similar to what happened in Rocket League and now SnowRunner. Then the screen randomly loses graphics, displays strange colors on a black screen, and the PC restarts itself.
My system specs include an MSI RTX 3060 Ti Gaming X Trio, 32GB Corsair Vengeance 3600 CL16 RAM, Ryzen 5 3600, MSI B550 Gaming Carbon WiFi, and a Sharkoon Cool Zero Silent Storm 650W PSU. I've faced issues where games would crash for about a minute before resuming, but then I'd notice input lag and have to restart the game. Initially, I thought it was my controller, so I tried connecting it to a USB hub powered by my monitors, which seemed to resolve the problem.
Currently, I'm encountering a Kernel-Power 41 error in the Event Viewer under system events, marked as critical. The timing aligns closely with when the crashes occur. Recently, the PC has started crashing entirely, about two months ago. I've already tried installing new RAM and rolled back to Windows 11 Version 22H1.
Next steps I'm considering are reseating the CPU, repositioning the GPU, possibly replacing the PSU or motherboard, and even flashing the GPU V-Bios since I recall past update issues. I'm also thinking about restarting the GPU firmware if it's corrupt.
One thing to note is that this issue only appears in Windows. I've stress-tested my PC using Arch Linux for two hours without any signs of this crash, which usually happens before two hours. I'm unsure what else to try and don't have a clear direction. Could someone advise on possible solutions or next steps? Thanks.
Check if the chipset and GPU drivers are being reinstalled from scratch or updated alongside existing files. Replacing the GPU shouldn't damage it; if your dual-GPU BIOS is working, test the other unit first before flashing. During stress testing, were you mainly aiming to see crashes or also monitoring error counts?
It seems like you should consider upgrading your PSU or adjusting your power settings to low power. It looks like your 3060 might be drawing too much power and overloading the PSU.
The specifications indicate a 650W power supply is sufficient, so I selected that unit. Would an 850W Corsair be a better option due to higher reliability? I originally chose my current PSU based on the tier list. How can I determine which components are failing if they do? I’ve previously overclocked the system, but now I suspect only the AMD Game Mode is active. Memory is brand new, and the BIOS is up to date. I’ve run multiple Windows installs and performed a scan, but no corruption was found. All drivers I installed came from the official website for that part of the system.
No existing chipset drivers were present, so I employed DDU to remove the standard Nvidia driver installation during setup and then added the updated version.
Yes, it's possible to cleanly install the old version and then add the new ones.