Question Constant game/chrome crashes and failed downloads

[Czief]

I recently bought a second hand PC, and there's been some issues. Chrome keeps crashing (annoying "Aw, snap" message), some games crash if they even manage to start up, and most games are failing their downloads. I've tried switching hard drives from a pc without this issue, and nothing has changed. Any fixes?

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

maybe you could tell us what the hardware is inside or the model of the PC if it's a pre-built.

also, you got the PC second hand, did you wipe the hard drive and do a clean install of Windows on it?

 

[Czief]

maybe you could tell us what the hardware is inside or the model of the PC if it's a pre-built.

also, you got the PC second hand, did you wipe the hard drive and do a clean install of Windows on it?

I have done a clean install, didn't change anything. It's an i7-7700k with a bazooka b250m motherboard, gtx 1080 gpu. All msi stuff.

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

wow..... it always amazes me how people can just dump the extra money it costs for a K series CPU and then foolishly pair it with a super cheap motherboard that can't overclock it. Like.... waste of money lol.

That aside, have you updated the BIOS, and installed the latest drivers for the chipset and graphics?

 

[Czief]

wow..... it always amazes me how people can just dump the extra money it costs for a K series CPU and then foolishly pair it with a super cheap motherboard that can't overclock it. Like.... waste of money lol.

That aside, have you updated the BIOS, and installed the latest drivers for the chipset and graphics?

I bought it because it was cheaper than retail price as I'm not in a position to afford a new build. I've updated and reinstalled everything possible, I'm after possible reasons and fixes for my issue please

 

[QwerkyPengwen]

oh no, don't get me wrong, I wasn't talking about you lol, I was talking about the person you bought it from who decided to apparently do that.

But moving on, you updated BIOS and installed drivers for the board and for graphics, and you did a clean install of Windows.

I am looking at the things you've said about what you are doing that causes a crash, and it might be a hardware issue.

Exactly what hardware issue is yet to be determined.

When you say both Chrome and games crash, that tells me it's an issue with graphics.

Now this graphics issue could be either the GPU itself, or could be the PCIe slot on the motherboard.

But could also be that things just need to be reseated.

However, you say downloads have issues as well.
I can't think of any reason graphics would be an issue with this, but let's work on the possibility of it being a graphics issue first.

I would like you to turn the PC off, then flip the switch on the back of the PSU then press and hold the power button on the PC for 10 seconds before unplugging and removing the graphics card.

(P.S. - Always do this before unplugging and plugging in anything inside the PC so as to remove the possibility of causing a short that fries sensitive components)

once the GPU is removed, plug the video cable into the motherboard to use the iGPU and see if you get a crash from chrome, maybe load up a super light weight game that can be run on the iGPU easily enough.

if you don't get a crash, then it's either the GPU or the PCIe slot on the motherboard or possibly just that the GPU needs to be reseated at which point you will do the shut off process I described above and then put the GPU back in firmly and switch the video cable back over.

If it continues to be fine after this, then it was just a reseating issue.

But if the iGPU works and putting the GPU back in and switching over to it causes a crash, then it's either the GPU or the slot for it at which point you will try a different PCIe slot (there should be two, and the one you should be using should be the top most one closest to the CPU and you will switch it over to the lower one)

If switching it over to the lower one doesn't work, then it's the GPU.

---------

However, if using the iGPU still causes a crash, then we've possibly got more to worry about.

Seeing as how the system itself isn't crashing and it's just programs, it's possible that it might just be the motherboard and getting a replacement would fix this.

But let's try to rule out the above GPU possibility first then report back your findings.