[SOLVED] I'm so sick and tired of spending hours of my free time trying to fix games that never end up working

[daminkon]

My PC- gpu: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 ko ultra gaming
cpu: Ryzen 5 1600 (12nm)
ram: G.skill tridentz 16gb 3000mhz
mobo: ASRock B450M Steel Legend
psu: SilentiumPC Vero L3 500W
ssd: Kingston A2000 M.2 500GB
hdd: Seagate barracuda 3,5" 1TB

Sorry but I'm also going to use this as a bit of a vent. Ever since I started playing pc games, which was a loong time ago, for some damn reason, I ALWAYS have some problems. At this point I just feel like I'm incredibly unlucky. So, the thing is... I can't play 40% of the games I want to play. Anything running on Unreal engine? (which is quite a lot of games) Doesn't work. Apex legends? Not a chance. Titanfall 2? Nah. GTA V which used to run somewhat well? Hah, don't think so. Doom eternal/2016? Nope! Hyper Scape? Watch dogs 2? Hitman/Hitman2? COD warzone? I bet you won't see this one coming: No.

So my question is, what the hell is going on here? I can't even connect anything similar between these issues, like the same types of errors or something. Everytime I get a name for a specific error, google it, and try the millions of fixes people post - none of them work. The only thing that's similar is that these usually run for a few seconds before crashing, or just crashing instantly. Am I just this unlucky? Why do most of the fixes I found online not work? Or when they extremely rarely work, they have to be something obscure? (Like in satisfactory, I have to underclock my gpu by at least 300mhz for the game to run). Ask for any info that might be needed. I just wanna play my games man...

EDIT 1(?): One thing I forgot to mention, just today, another problem occured- when I turn on some applications, I get a message saying "Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware. Again, tried everything that I found online, problem not going away )) Luckily it's only happening with about 3 apps. And another thing, I obviously tried every common tip like "update your graphics drivers", "restart your computer" or "update windows". I spent hours trying whenever something happened. Nothing works.

 

[rgd1101]

fresh os install? windows up to date?
where did you get the games?

 

[daminkon]

fresh os install? windows up to date?
where did you get the games?

If by fresh os install you mean if I've had it for a short amount of time-no, I've had the pc for over a year now, never reinstalled the os.
If windows is up to date is like the first tip on every forum about a game crashing. Yes, it's up to date.
If your concern is that I got them illegaly, then no, they are all bought on mostly steam, games from ubisoft on ubisoft, some on epic games, etc etc

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

it's definitely not the games causing whatever your issues are.
you would need to actually list what each game's individual problem is if you are looking for ways to possibly correct them.

 

[deesider]

If by fresh os install you mean if I've had it for a short amount of time-no, I've had the pc for over a year now, never reinstalled the os.

You've got either a software problem or a hardware problem. Might as well start with the software. Back everything up, and reinstall Windows on the ssd using a usb stick. Make sure you keep the HDD disconnected throughout the process.

If that doesn't fix anything, then you have a hardware problem. The good news is that there is only a limited list of components that could be at fault. The bad news is that the list is every component you have.

About the only component you can test on your own is the ram - assuming you have two sticks. Just try running one at a time. It's unlikely that both are faulty. Everything else you'd need a friend with a PC to test out the individual components. I'd put my money on the GPU or the power supply. In this market though, best hope it's the power supply.

 

[TerryLaze]

(Like in satisfactory, I have to underclock my gpu by at least 300mhz for the game to run). Ask for any info that might be needed. I just wanna play my games man...

EDIT 1(?): One thing I forgot to mention, just today, another problem occured- when I turn on some applications, I get a message saying "Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware.

You killed your GPU or are very close to do so.
Your gpu drivers crash, that's why applications can't access it, because your gpu is acting up.
Try to find the default non-overclock settings for your GPU and see with afterburner or something if your card goes above them, try to revert the gpu to standard (amd standard not what the oem did)

Very small chance it could be your PSU not delivering enough power or not clean/steady enough causing sort of a brown out on your gpu causing it to crash when under high load.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

that is a fairly low rated power supply.
while your system isn't really much of a power draw there's still possibility that it just can't handle the load.

before getting down to trying a replacement graphics card i would definitely try a much better PSU.
if the new unit changes nothing, just return for refund. so make sure you purchase from somewhere with easy return policies.

 

[Ralston18]

Is that 500 GB Kingston SSD the boot drive? How full is the drive?

Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and informational events that precede or correspond with the times of the crashes.

Use Resource Monitor and Task Manager to observe system performance. Determine what resources are being used, to what extent (%), and what is using any given resource.l (Use both tools but only one at a time. Remember that the objective is troubleshooting and not to necessarily win the game per se.)

= = = =

And in agreement with @JohnBonhamsGhost the PSU is a likely suspect.

However with the system being over a year old it may simply need some care and maintenance.

= = = =

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all cards, connectors, RAM, and jumpers are fully and firmly in place. They do creep loose over time due to heat related expansion/contraction and vibrations.

Use a bright flashlight to look for signs of damage: bare conductor showing, pinched or kinked wires, melting, discolorations.

Just as a matter of elimination if anything.

 

[GreyCatz]

If you haven't resolved your issues by now, here are a few thoughts:

1. About the PSU: See if you can borrow a 700W PSU (minimum) and run a test. How old is the SilentiumPC unit on your system? SilentiumPC units may be very popular in Poland but they are not considered top-of-the-range on any review site I've consulted.

2. Echoing TerryLaze's comment about the GPU: I think you should restore all GPU settings to their default values (if possible) and refrain from messing with GPU. EVGA lists a '500W or greater' PSU to run your GPU. Your current setup seems to be teetering on the brink.

3. About RAM: Are you running at full clock speed on the RAM modules? Have you tried lowering the clock speed? Try lowering the clock speed to 2100 MHz and see if you can obtain full system stability. Then gradually increase the clock speed until the system starts acting up.

4. About the HDD: How old is the Seagate disk? Seagates have a very mixed reputation in consumer-grade products (and are considered a joke in enterprise installations). Do a full hardware test on the HDD followed by an integrity test of the Steam games that you're having issues with.

5. Stated specs notwithstanding, I'd say you have a middle-of-the-range PSU struggling to feed a top-of-the-range GPU causing the GPU to 'gasp for air'. Your HDD containing all your games (I assume) is bottom-of-the-range and might be choking data transfer.

 

[daminkon]

You killed your GPU or are very close to do so.
Your gpu drivers crash, that's why applications can't access it, because your gpu is acting up.
Try to find the default non-overclock settings for your GPU and see with afterburner or something if your card goes above them, try to revert the gpu to standard (amd standard not what the oem did)

Very small chance it could be your PSU not delivering enough power or not clean/steady enough causing sort of a brown out on your gpu causing it to crash when under high load.

Ok now i don't know if I made that too dramatic. The reason I have to downclock it is because supposedly, there is a problem between unreal engine and some cards. I'm not sure that people killing their cards would be so common that there's a known fix for that type of thing. Here's a screenshot from the forum.
Also, I can still play most of the games I have. The ones I listed are pretty much the only ones that I have problems with, and the "Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware" message only happens with as i said, about 3 apps. What's weird tho is that: 1.Afterburner keeps showing full clock speed at all times, but in the graphs it shows the real % usage. (might try to reinstall the app) and 2. considering my gpu, games like overwatch on high details shouldnt be that demanding, yet I usually have 90-100% usage when I play it.

 

[daminkon]

If you haven't resolved your issues by now, here are a few thoughts:

1. About the PSU: See if you can borrow a 700W PSU (minimum) and run a test. How old is the SilentiumPC unit on your system? SilentiumPC units may be very popular in Poland but they are not considered top-of-the-range on any review site I've consulted.

2. Echoing TerryLaze's comment about the GPU: I think you should restore all GPU settings to their default values (if possible) and refrain from messing with GPU. EVGA lists a '500W or greater' PSU to run your GPU. Your current setup seems to be teetering on the brink.

3. About RAM: Are you running at full clock speed on the RAM modules? Have you tried lowering the clock speed? Try lowering the clock speed to 2100 MHz and see if you can obtain full system stability. Then gradually increase the clock speed until the system starts acting up.

4. About the HDD: How old is the Seagate disk? Seagates have a very mixed reputation in consumer-grade products (and are considered a joke in enterprise installations). Do a full hardware test on the HDD followed by an integrity test of the Steam games that you're having issues with.

5. Stated specs notwithstanding, I'd say you have a middle-of-the-range PSU struggling to feed a top-of-the-range GPU causing the GPU to 'gasp for air'. Your HDD containing all your games (I assume) is bottom-of-the-range and might be choking data transfer.

1. That's a good idea. The more I read the replies here, the more I suspect the psu might be it, because the problems usually occur when the gpu is overwhelmed. i have a friend with a 750W psu, will ask him to help me soon.

2. By restoring them to default, you mean stuff in afterburner, or other settings in nvidia control? The thing is, I have both of these on default settings. The only time I change the clock is when I lower it to play satisfactory as stated above. Altough I havent played it in about 3 months already.

3. I looked into the bios and realized that I'm stupid, I actually have 3000mhz memory, but it has been running on 2133mhz the whole time.

4./5. I know the hdd has some bad reviews, but I haven't had any bad experiences with it. I'm also pretty sure it isn't the problem, because I have the games split between the two discs. Some games on the hdd work, some don't. Same thing for the ssd.

 

[aHumanCookiee]

My PC- gpu: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 ko ultra gaming
cpu: Ryzen 5 1600 (12nm)
ram: G.skill tridentz 16gb 3000mhz
mobo: ASRock B450M Steel Legend
psu: SilentiumPC Vero L3 500W
ssd: Kingston A2000 M.2 500GB
hdd: Seagate barracuda 3,5" 1TB

Sorry but I'm also going to use this as a bit of a vent. Ever since I started playing pc games, which was a loong time ago, for some damn reason, I ALWAYS have some problems. At this point I just feel like I'm incredibly unlucky. So, the thing is... I can't play 40% of the games I want to play. Anything running on Unreal engine? (which is quite a lot of games) Doesn't work. Apex legends? Not a chance. Titanfall 2? Nah. GTA V which used to run somewhat well? Hah, don't think so. Doom eternal/2016? Nope! Hyper Scape? Watch dogs 2? Hitman/Hitman2? COD warzone? I bet you won't see this one coming: No.

So my question is, what the hell is going on here? I can't even connect anything similar between these issues, like the same types of errors or something. Everytime I get a name for a specific error, google it, and try the millions of fixes people post - none of them work. The only thing that's similar is that these usually run for a few seconds before crashing, or just crashing instantly. Am I just this unlucky? Why do most of the fixes I found online not work? Or when they extremely rarely work, they have to be something obscure? (Like in satisfactory, I have to underclock my gpu by at least 300mhz for the game to run). Ask for any info that might be needed. I just wanna play my games man...

EDIT 1(?): One thing I forgot to mention, just today, another problem occured- when I turn on some applications, I get a message saying "Application has been blocked from accessing graphics hardware. Again, tried everything that I found online, problem not going away )) Luckily it's only happening with about 3 apps. And another thing, I obviously tried every common tip like "update your graphics drivers", "restart your computer" or "update windows". I spent hours trying whenever something happened. Nothing works.

I feel you man, Every time I want to play a game I end up spending the first 2 hours fixing some crash errors, Its so tempting to go back to consoles right now, and I feel sad saying that as I have been PC exclusive for the last 8 years.

I have a similar post here too as im getting driver crashes unless I cut the cards power draw down before I play. I think the last 2 Nvidia drivers might be borked for 20 series cards.

Of course I have gone through the myriad of crap on the EA and rockstar forums about said errors and have reinstalled windows twice to no avail. People saying just reinstall directx are not helpful either.

Hang in there man, we will get through this.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

I think the last 2 Nvidia drivers might be borked for 20 series cards.

so you don't run into any of these issues when using earlier driver packages?

 

[daminkon]

Is that 500 GB Kingston SSD the boot drive? How full is the drive?

Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for error codes, warnings, and informational events that precede or correspond with the times of the crashes.

Use Resource Monitor and Task Manager to observe system performance. Determine what resources are being used, to what extent (%), and what is using any given resource.l (Use both tools but only one at a time. Remember that the objective is troubleshooting and not to necessarily win the game per se.)

= = = =

And in agreement with @JohnBonhamsGhost the PSU is a likely suspect.

However with the system being over a year old it may simply need some care and maintenance.

= = = =

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all cards, connectors, RAM, and jumpers are fully and firmly in place. They do creep loose over time due to heat related expansion/contraction and vibrations.

Use a bright flashlight to look for signs of damage: bare conductor showing, pinched or kinked wires, melting, discolorations.

Just as a matter of elimination if anything.

Yes, the ssd is the boot drive. It has 130gb remaining so about a quarter is still clear. The thing that's similar with the crashes is that everytime it's when I'm starting a game, so it very well might be because of high gpu usage and not enough power. As I said, I will try out a better psu to see if it is the problem. What's also notable is that no game ever crashes after it is started. Either a game works perfectly or it crashes on startup.

To add to the maintenance thing, I clean my pc regularly so that shouldn't be an issue. I'll try to see if anything is connected too loosely

 

[Ralston18]

After boot up, open Task Manager or Resource Monitor (use both but only one at a time) to first observe what the system is doing before starting a game.

Leave the Task Manager or Resource Monitor window open but dragged to one side or the other of the monitor.

Wait and watch a few minutes until the system stabilizes and is no longer trying to perhaps do some background updates, backups, house-keeping, etc, or simply some app trying to phone home. Get a sense of what all is running and going on.

Then start the game and watch carefully for what changes with respect to resources being used and what is using any given resource.

Very well could be some peak that occurs when the game is first started. Key is to discover the what's and why's regarding such peaks.

 

[MR_BROCK]

After boot up, open Task Manager or Resource Monitor (use both but only one at a time) to first observe what the system is doing before starting a game.

Leave the Task Manager or Resource Monitor window open but dragged to one side or the other of the monitor.

Wait and watch a few minutes until the system stabilizes and is no longer trying to perhaps do some background updates, backups, house-keeping, etc, or simply some app trying to phone home. Get a sense of what all is running and going on.

Then start the game and watch carefully for what changes with respect to resources being used and what is using any given resource.

Very well could be some peak that occurs when the game is first started. Key is to discover the what's and why's regarding such peaks.

So been folowing this post seeing people giving you the nice answer in regard to kid gloves. Im taking them off. Your ssd is too small and will struggle when it gets past half full. The crashing could be low watt power supply or cheap pw supply . It also could be your windows swap file any gamer using less than a 650w wih a decent graphics card will get issues , dump all your video card drivers if you over write it too many times it can cause issues . Do a fresh install of the newest one. Check you system temps with sw temp monitor if your cooling is in adequate under load it will crash . The mb your using asrock is on the cheap side most asrock boards are very entry level and have issues .I Would reccomend looking at a more mid grade board to rule out problems nothing below 100 to 120$ if your going to run more than a few games get a standard hd for the storage so you can free up space and its cheaper per gig. on the ssd dont go cheap. Get a samsung ssd id do reasearch . My personal reccomendation is a minimum 1 tb, if your gaming. evo is the recomended but if you caint afford it qvo works , but has a 2 year instead of the 5 year with evo. Run your os off the ssd and thegames off the standard hd. Dont ever let if fill more than half full. Id start with these.
16 gigs of ram should be enough. But make sure not to bottle neck dont over clock anything on a cheap board its just asking for trouble. The only thing you should be messing with is fan speed . Make sure not to attemp max graphics unless you have more room on the ssd.

 

[Ralston18]

@MR_BROCK :

It is not a matter of" kid gloves" and there could certainly be multiple problems.

However, the primary focus at the moment is identify the causes regarding the posted problem(s). Then consider viable solutions that are applicable and feasible with respect to the situation at hand.

As a starter not everyone may be able to purchase and/or afford to swap in new components. (If the components are available on a timely basis - if even available at all.) And some folks have had little or no choice in the system and/or components they have.

Plus there are certainly varying opinions (often subjective) on such things as SSD size and any corresponding guidelines on limiting "how full".

And why not "nice answers"? Overall keeps things polite, on track, and much more productive.

 

[USAFRet]

Your ssd is too small and will struggle when it gets past half full.

A 500GB SSD is not 'too small'.
ANd generally you only need to leave about 20% free. More is just fine, but doesn't have to be "half".

 

[daminkon]

Ok so an update, I troubleshooted and it's definitely the graphics card. I don't know what the issue is precisely, but it's definitely what's causing the errors and crashes. So now I've got an even bigger issue. I can give it back to the eshop i bought it from, problem is, they're definitely not going to give me a new model because of the shortage, and it would probably be a miracle if they managed to fix it.

That means they'll have to give me back the money, however, I bought the card before the big shortage, which means they will give me about 2/5 the amount of money I need to get a new gpu. I actually found a fairly good deal, a 3060 for 750 euro. It doesn't look that bad, but not that good either. The best thing is that a power supply comes with it so I wouldn't have to buy a new one. My question now is, if it's worth it. The link for the gpu is here.

 

[USAFRet]

Ok so an update, I troubleshooted and it's definitely the graphics card. I don't know what the issue is precisely, but it's definitely what's causing the errors and crashes. So now I've got an even bigger issue. I can give it back to the eshop i bought it from, problem is, they're definitely not going to give me a new model because of the shortage, and it would probably be a miracle if they managed to fix it.

That means they'll have to give me back the money, however, I bought the card before the big shortage, which means they will give me about 2/5 the amount of money I need to get a new gpu. I actually found a fairly good deal, a 3060 for 750 euro. It doesn't look that bad, but not that good either. The best thing is that a power supply comes with it so I wouldn't have to buy a new one. My question now is, if it's worth it. The link for the gpu is here.

What specific power supply comes with this?

 

[daminkon]

What specific power supply comes with this?

it should be shown on the website I sent, but incase you don't see it it's EVGA 700 BQ