Can a faulty hdd make my computer restart randomly under heavy load?

[Berti93]

My spec:
AMD FX-8120
Gigabyte GTX 970 gaming g1 windforce
8 GB DD3 AMD entertainment edition RAM
SAMSUNG HD502HJ HDD
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 motherboard


Mostly during gaming (mortal kombat x, ac unity, far cry 4), my pc restarts randomly. Sometimes it can go without restarting for half a day, sometimes it does it in 5 minutes of gaming.
I constantly checked my cpu,gpu temperatures and they dont go above 60C so overheating is not the problem. I recently bought a new psu(XFX TS 650), because somebody said that it will be the problem(I had an XFX 550Pro), but it did not solve anything.
My hdd does weird things btw. For example it often gives me a failed loading operating system error in the boot section, so I wanted to ask you before I make an another big investment, that purchasing an SSD for my Operation System would solve my problem.
BTW I get Kernel-Power 41(63) in the event logger.(What actually doesnt say anything)

Thanks for the upcoming answers

 

[DeathRabit]

http://www.hdtune.com Run Error Scan test.
If scan shows, bad sectors read dotts you need new HDD * do not use fast scan

 

[SBMfromLA]

My spec:
AMD FX-8120
Gigabyte GTX 970 gaming g1 windforce
8 GB DD3 AMD entertainment edition RAM
SAMSUNG HD502HJ HDD
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 motherboard


Mostly during gaming (mortal kombat x, ac unity, far cry 4), my pc restarts randomly. Sometimes it can go without restarting for half a day, sometimes it does it in 5 minutes of gaming.
I constantly checked my cpu,gpu temperatures and they dont go above 60C so overheating is not the problem. I recently bought a new psu(XFX TS 650), because somebody said that it will be the problem(I had an XFX 550Pro), but it did not solve anything.
My hdd does weird things btw. For example it often gives me a failed loading operating system error in the boot section, so I wanted to ask you before I make an another big investment, that purchasing an SSD for my Operation System would solve my problem.
BTW I get Kernel-Power 41(63) in the event logger.(What actually doesnt say anything)

Thanks for the upcoming answers

It sounds more like you have a software problem. Does it only do this while playing games? How long have you had your O/S installed. You probably don't know this but a lot of people say it's best to give Windows a new and fresh reinstall every six months because no matter what you do... it will become corrupt over time. In fact, I would consider doing this before making another purchase to save you some money. Sometimes a clean slate is the best course of action. Just remember... when you reinstall Windows, if you perform an "upgrade reinstall" through Windows itself... some times the corruption will follow through and onto the new install. Just boot off the Windows DVD when you are ready to do it.. and go to Advanced Options and DELETE your O/S partition and perform a reformat first... then do the install.. this will give you a completely new and fresh install without any errors.

 

[sz0ty0l4]

Hopefully i've found the solution for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S8bLMfH4Gs

If this does not help run chkdsk from command prompt, run sfc scannow from command prompt to find disk/os file issues.
you can also run memory tests to check your sticks

 

[SBMfromLA]

Hopefully i've found the solution for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S8bLMfH4Gs

If this does not help run chkdsk from command prompt, run sfc scannow from command prompt to find disk/os file issues.
you can also run memory tests to check your sticks

From all of my years of experience... the sfc command almost never really works...

 

[sz0ty0l4]

sfc is for finding corrupted system files, it can be useful in case some system files are missing or corrupted due to disk failure, or critically failed updates etc.
For the disk itself use chkdks, you can also add parameters like "f" for fixing and maybe "r" to recover readable data,"x" to force dismount before process, and there are more to accomplish more complicated tasks.

 

[Berti93]

My spec:
AMD FX-8120
Gigabyte GTX 970 gaming g1 windforce
8 GB DD3 AMD entertainment edition RAM
SAMSUNG HD502HJ HDD
Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 motherboard


Mostly during gaming (mortal kombat x, ac unity, far cry 4), my pc restarts randomly. Sometimes it can go without restarting for half a day, sometimes it does it in 5 minutes of gaming.
I constantly checked my cpu,gpu temperatures and they dont go above 60C so overheating is not the problem. I recently bought a new psu(XFX TS 650), because somebody said that it will be the problem(I had an XFX 550Pro), but it did not solve anything.
My hdd does weird things btw. For example it often gives me a failed loading operating system error in the boot section, so I wanted to ask you before I make an another big investment, that purchasing an SSD for my Operation System would solve my problem.
BTW I get Kernel-Power 41(63) in the event logger.(What actually doesnt say anything)

Thanks for the upcoming answers

It sounds more like you have a software problem. Does it only do this while playing games? How long have you had your O/S installed. You probably don't know this but a lot of people say it's best to give Windows a new and fresh reinstall every six months because no matter what you do... it will become corrupt over time. In fact, I would consider doing this before making another purchase to save you some money. Sometimes a clean slate is the best course of action. Just remember... when you reinstall Windows, if you perform an "upgrade reinstall" through Windows itself... some times the corruption will follow through and onto the new install. Just boot off the Windows DVD when you are ready to do it.. and go to Advanced Options and DELETE your O/S partition and perform a reformat first... then do the install.. this will give you a completely new and fresh install without any errors.

The sad thing is that I am encountering this problem for about a year now, but It only got more frustrating after I started to play more demanding games after I bought my gtx 970.
Yeah always during heavy gaming, but I remember one time it did during browsing google chrome, but it almost never did(maybe once or twice) this during not demanding games(LoL, Hearthstone,WoW even DragonBall Xenoverse is fine). My second taught was the faulty RAM, but I couldnt run memtest because booting from gigabyte motherboard is a pain and I do not have an optical drive. The main theory of mine is that heavy games using way much more ram so it is more possible that they reach out for a faulty block? (I am just learning computer engineering at uni so my math isnt gr8 here.)
I often reinstall windows on my pc but the problem persists.
The hdd idea has come to mind when I started getting errors during the booting procedure, and have to hard reset 2-3 times to load the OS.

 

[Berti93]

Hopefully i've found the solution for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S8bLMfH4Gs

If this does not help run chkdsk from command prompt, run sfc scannow from command prompt to find disk/os file issues.
you can also run memory tests to check your sticks

Thank you I will try it out.

 

[Berti93]

http://www.hdtune.com Run Error Scan test.
If scan shows, bad sectors read dotts you need new HDD * do not use fast scan

Thank you I started the test. I will answer back if it is finished.

 

[SBMfromLA]

sfc is for finding corrupted system files, it can be useful in case some system files are missing or corrupted due to disk failure, or critically failed updates etc.
For the disk itself use chkdks, you can also add parameters like "f" for fixing and maybe "r" to recover readable data,"x" to force dismount before process, and there are more to accomplish more complicated tasks.

I'm aware of that... but I'll restate what I said previously... I've never had much success using that over the years.... just like System Restore doesn't always work.

 

[sz0ty0l4]

If you can't or don't want to run memtest86, there is an implemented memory tester in windows 8.1 aswell, which can be run easily, fast and sometimes its pretty effective aswell, you will find it as " windows memory diagnostic".

edit:
SBM Yeah dude you have the point by the way because i've ran sfc lots of times and it only finds something rarely, i even remember cases when it found missing os files but couldn't provide them and only reinstall solved the issue.. 😀

 

[Berti93]

If you can't or don't want to run memtest86, there is an implemented memory tester in windows 8.1 aswell, which can be run easily, fast and sometimes its pretty effective aswell, you will find it as " windows memory diagnostic".

I am running this now. http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

 

[sz0ty0l4]

I've just found another possible fix. Check if you have more than one audio drivers on your system. you can check it in device manager. If you have more than 1 , disable the others and see if it solved the issue.

 

[Berti93]

I've just found another possible fix. Check if you have more than one audio drivers on your system. you can check it in device manager. If you have more than 1 , disable the others and see if it solved the issue.

I am really not seeing the logic behind how this can help but I am trying it. It has to do smth with the fact that the problem is only present under heavy load.

 

[sz0ty0l4]

I don't know it either, i've just seen it worked for 3 dudes here: http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f299/solved-kernel-power-41-63-error-434613.html

 

[Berti93]

The hd tuner did not show red dots so I guess my hdd is fine. The memtest(what can run under windows) did not got any problems either. I did all the solutions mentioned, but when I played some Mk x yesterday, it did it again after the 5th fight. Now i try to put my pc in a direct power outlet. Maybe my power distributor is faulty.... Idk what to do