Unknown Crashing Issue

The Gamer Guy

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Feb 20, 2017
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So I've recently completed (well, mostly completed I guess) a gaming PC build. Once I got everything set up I instantly downloaded Steam as well as some of the games I frequently play. Some of the games mentioned on here (as well as settings and FPS) are:

-Specs at bottom of post-

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Original Edition, High Graphics, 60+FPS)
Fallout 4 (Low Settings, 30-60FPS)
Grow Home (Max Settings, Constant 60FPS)
The Last Leviathan (Max Settings, 60FPS, occasional drops)
Space Engineers (High Settings, 60FPS)
Portal 2 (Max settings, 60+FPS)
Gear Up (High settings, 60FPS)
Dirty Bomb (Max settings, 60FPS)

So at first I was like "Alright, this is pretty neat". However, after about an hour or so of Fallout 4, the screen just froze. I had to restart my computer, and then I started playing again. After an even shorter time, my computer blue screened. Then after a very annoying sequence of blue screening on launch (fixed now, not important), I finally was able to access Windows 10 again. I noticed I was still crashing after a certain amount of time. Space Engineers crashes the most frequent. Note when I say crash, I mean restart the computer crashing. Earlier today, Fallout 4 froze up, but I noticed the audio was still playing. I unplugged my video cord (Dual Link DVI), plugged it back in, and sure enough the video was back up. Note that I was using dual monitors (DVI on one, HDMI on the other). Both went black. But just by unplugging one, it brought both back up. Note I have installed and updated my drivers for pretty much everything (including GPU). It still freezes at times, even when just doing single monitor. Sometimes the unplug the video cord thing doesn't work. Sometimes I don't hear the audio after freezing either, so it seems the whole thing crashed. At first I though my GPU was overheating, but it had normal temps. CPU at normal temps. Then I noticed my Hard Drive/Disk Drive/Whatever was sometimes hitting 90-100% usage. I was like "That must be it", however I noticed while playing heavier games like Fallout 4, the disk usage stayed about 0-20% (except on loading screens, but it doesn't crash on those). So I opened my PC, and my hard drive was really hot. Like, I could barely touch it levels. So I was like "That must be it". I don't think so. I set a PC case fan on top of it (because I don't have any available slots around the cage), and it actually cooled it. I have cool air blowing in my PC as well. After playing 30 minutes to an hour of Fallout 4, it stayed cool. Sometimes it does get a bit warm, but not too much. I noticed less crashing, and I thought I solved it.

Wrong.

Sure enough, right before I posted this, I was playing Fallout 4 (about an hour of playtime) and it crashed. My hard drive felt somewhat warm, but it didn't necessarily feel hot. Unplugging DVI didn't work, and I have no idea what is happening. Then I was starting to wonder if the PSU wasn't good enough. I know it isn't overheating, and I thought it had enough wattage. Apparently a symptom of a bad PSU is -sure enough- blue screens and freezing (just to clear something up, when I say freezing, I mean the images stays on the screen, or the screen goes black. Unplugging recovery success varies for both outcomes). My specs are down below. Does anyone have any idea what is going on? I've been working on this PC for a while and I really want to be able to use it.


SPECS:

EVGA 850W BQ
XFX AMD RADEON RX 460 (4GB, GDDR5)
16GB Corsair Vengeance (8gbx2, DDR3)
AMD FX-9590 8-Core Processor 4.7GHz (4 cores typically used)
750GB Hitachi HDD, 7200RPM, 32MB cache
Windows 10
Gigabyte 970-Gaming-SLI (optimized for AMD FX series and AMD 9-series chipsets, DDR3)

GAMES THAT HAVE CRASHED:

Skyrim: Has crashed
Fallout 4: Has crashed
Space Engineers: Has crashed
Grow Home: Has NOT crashed
The Last Leviathan: Has NOT crashed
Portal 2: Has NOT crashed
Dirty Bomb: Has NOT crashed
Gear Up: Has NOT crashed

Note that the games that have not crashed have not been played for times longer than 30 minutes to an hour. They could possibly crash.
 
Solution
You said that the PC restarts when it crashes and not BSOD, correct. I guess there is a power-related issue. To test this you can run Furmark (GPU) and CPU-Burn. If I am correct then your PC should crash right away or at least way faster than while playing games. If it does then it means that your computer is not able to draw enough power or somethings wrong with the cables or PSU.
Also use tools like PCmark that test the whole PC and your Harddrive.

goerk27

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Jan 16, 2017
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You said that the PC restarts when it crashes and not BSOD, correct. I guess there is a power-related issue. To test this you can run Furmark (GPU) and CPU-Burn. If I am correct then your PC should crash right away or at least way faster than while playing games. If it does then it means that your computer is not able to draw enough power or somethings wrong with the cables or PSU.
Also use tools like PCmark that test the whole PC and your Harddrive.
 
Solution

The Gamer Guy

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Feb 20, 2017
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Once I MANUALLY restart my computer, it boots to Windows as it should. I will test out those programs and let you know how it goes. I forgot to mention it in the original post, my PC does not crash outside of games. I am able to watch videos 1080 60FPS with no issues or freezing. It has only frozen outside of gaming ONCE, but not any other times. I can usually play heavy games about an hour until it crashes (except it usually crashes instantly with Space Engineers). I will double check the cables, there might be something loose.
 

goerk27

Commendable
Jan 16, 2017
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If you have onboard GPU then simply take out the Graphics card and run all the Benchmarks for a while. If you get no BSOD or Crash then you can be certain that there is something wrong with the GPU. Could be the power supply to the GPU, the driver, the GPU itself or the slot on the motherboard but from there on it is easier to narrow down.
 

notlim981

Distinguished
Install WhoCrashed (http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed) and use the PC, if it happens to crash again, WhoCrashed will automatically generate a report so you will know what exactly is causing it to crash.
 

The Gamer Guy

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Feb 20, 2017
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I'll see what happens with that.
 

The Gamer Guy

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Feb 20, 2017
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How can I run benchmarks without a graphic card? I can't see the screen.
 

The Gamer Guy

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Feb 20, 2017
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I'll test that. The issue isn't my GPU, I did a stress test (max settings) and there wasn't a crash.
 

The Gamer Guy

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Feb 20, 2017
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So this program seems to find out how your PC crashed through dumps your PC makes when the BSOD occurs. My computer has not been getting the BSOD, either the picture freezes OR a black screen. My computer does not make a dump when this happens.
 

The Gamer Guy

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Feb 20, 2017
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I've come to the conclusion that my hard drive is overheating. Every time it crashes, my hard drive is hot. I was using an older hard drive that I took from an older computer (so I didn't have to buy Windows 10 again). I'm buying a new one with more space and it's built for gaming (more cache too). I'll just transfer Windows over to that one. Thanks for the help, guys!