Computer Crashes When Gaming: No Signal From Monitor, No Sound, Computer Still on, Power Buttons do not Work

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JHolderness

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When I play games my computer crashes, but in an unusual way. The screen will turn blank, audio can no longer be heard, and my monitor displays a "No Signal" message. The computer is still turned on, as the fans and lights are still activated. However I am unable to turn the computer off with the power button at the front, when I press and hold it the PC will not turn off, forcing me to pull the plug and reboot.

This problem has persisted for about a week now, it started very suddenly. I was playing Sniper Elite 3 and never experienced this problem, the first crash came after playing for around five minutes and I haven't been able to play any longer than that since then. This problem is also present on Killing Floor 2 but I can play it for longer before the crash. I ran WhoCrashed but it didn't recognise the problem (could only find a crash dump from March).

Could anyone please help? I'm absolutely stumped as to how I can fix it.
 
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Mohan_27

Mohan_27

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This this just start happening?
Did you change any hardware recently?



1. Check for any malware:
https://www.malwarebytes.com/

If there is, remove it instantly.

2. Download Geforce and download drivers from there. You may have installed a wrong driver:
https://www.geforce.co.uk/geforce-experience/download

3. One reason why your performance maybe low is because of your parked cores. Simply, a parked core basically means it's disabled and you do not want that. Here is how to identify if your cores are parked/disabled:

Open up windows task manager > Click on the 'performance tab' at the top > at the bottom click on 'open resource monitor' > click on the 'CPU' tab at the top > On the right you will see graphs. Make sure at the top of each graph where it says at "CPU 0", CPU 1 etc.. and make sure it does NOT say "CPU 0 - Parked".

Look at this video too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fKxZ1mq9KA

If any of the cores state they are parked or greyed out, do this:
Go to control panel > click on 'hardware and sound' > then 'power options' > then select 'high performance'.
If you can't find it then click on the 'hide additional plans' tab and it should be there.

4. Make sure you're Monitor is plugged into your GPU and not motherboard, you don't want to be running on integrated graphics!

5. Uninstall your driver using DDU:
Download: https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uni...

How to use it: hit clean and restart and ensure you download the correct driver after!

6. Download Speccy and see if your all your parts are there and are functional, also check the temperature.
http://filehippo.com/download_speccy/

7. Take out the RAM and play games with each individual one. If the performance is better then you know the RAM taken out is faulty
 
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Yes, it started happening for no discernible reason. No, I haven't made any hardware changes to the computer for at least three years now. I did try to clean the CPU cooler as I thought it might have been getting too hot, but that hasn't fixed it. I'll try the solutions you suggested and will get back, thanks.
 
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JHolderness

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Checked for malware, removed it. Drivers were already updated. Changed power options to high performance and...games are still crashing. Could this mean that hardware is at fault? I suppose something must be wrong with either the CPU or the graphics card, maybe something has gone wrong and the load of playing games is now too much for either one of them to bare?
 
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Mohan_27

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Check your temps when playing games, make sure they are not too high.
 
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Karadjgne

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No hardware changes, tried to clean the cpu fan. For me, what stands out as obvious is the gpu is shutting down if the monitor gets no signal. This would be normal if the gpu is overheating due to dirt/debris preventing the gpu from efficiently getting rid of heat. Windows usage doesn't generate much of a load on the gpu, but games generate huge amounts of load, and consequently heat.

If you are not comfortable with tearing a pc apart and giving it a thorough cleaning properly, find someone who can, and do it on a regular basis. In normal households, a pc should have a quick blowout every few months, with a good clean at least once a year. If your house is like mine, and seems like it attracts the dirt from all the other houses in the neighborhood then it's a good clean every few months instead.
 
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Hey all, just here to report that a few months later this is still an issue. I quit using the computer for gaming for a while as I was occupied with my PS4, but I started using the PC to play games again recently. I started playing Killing Floor 2 (one of the games I had this problem with before) and for a short while, or approximately twenty five hours of gameplay, I had no issues, no crashes and was able to play the game just fine. However this issue has resurfaced again, and now I'm unable to play the game properly.

I believe as Karadjgne said this is problem is a result of a dirty graphics card. I opened the PC up and noticed that a lot of dust has accumulated on the fans of the GPU. Generally, crashes only occur when playing more intensive games, as I haven't had issues with three other games: a 2D title (Papers, Please) a 3D platformer (Megabyte Punch) and an indie game (Gone Home). I suppose the best option here would be to have the GPU and the PC cleaned, as admittedly I have not cleaned it as often and as thorougly as I should have over the years.

Would it be advisable to clean the PC using an air spray can? Or should I just get a professional to clean it?
 
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JHolderness

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Would also like to point out that when I was playing KF2 earlier in the year I turned on windowed mode rather than full-screen and I was able to play for about thirty minutes before the game crashed, usually it would crash at about ten min. Maybe I could reduce the graphic settings to delay the crashes for now?
 
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Karadjgne

Karadjgne

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Ehem..
That's sorta like saying you'll only drive to the store twice a week instead of three times a week because you are 5000 miles overdue for an oil change.

If the gpu is bunked up with dirt, the fans are going to have a hard time spinning. Any real usage that drives them hard is just compounding any problems as you are wearing out the motor and bearings at a seriously increased rate. Running the gpu hot enough to crash it could also cause problems with highly overheated memory and power chipsets (Vram and VRM's) and if you burn out any of that, the gpu is well and truly toast.

Cleaning a gpu is easy enough using a compressed air can, I've also used toothpicks and artists brushes to get stubborn debris out of the heatsink fins. Pull the gpu out of the pc, clean it as good as you can, very carefully, you don't want to break a fan blade, and see if that helps the crashes. Cleaning out the rest of the pc wouldn't hurt either, especially any filters on the psu and intake fans.
 
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JHolderness

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Well, I cleaned the dust off the GPU and tested again. The problem still persists, games still crash. But instead of a blank screen and unresponsive power button, the computer reboots automatically. Initially "no signal" appears on my monitor and then the motherboard image (or whatever its name is) appears before reaching the log on stage. So it seems that maybe the GPU is not the issue here but maybe the CPU overheating? Or the power supply failing?
 
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