Question My PC crashes after opening games

[Stefano G.]

This strange thing started happening yesterday, I turned on my pc and opened a game, and after the loading ended, my screen went completely black and there was no way of turning it back on. The pc was still on but there was no image output, I tried to turn it off and it worked, but when I tried to turn it back on there still was not any image output, I tried turning it off and then on again and this time it booted normally. I tried opening another game, and the same exact thing happened. I have no clue on why this is happening since just 2 days ago it worked perfectly fine. I'm posting this thread on the GPU section because I'm pretty sure that the problem is the gpu, I have pretty old gpu, a 280x and the rest of the pc much newer.
Can someone help me?
Specs:
GPU:R9 280x
CPU: Ryzen 5 5600x
MOBO: B450-PLUS
PSU: Cooler Master 750w Bronze

 

[NanoSuit3]

Idk how to respond to this without seeming desperate so I'll wing it. I'm not much of an AMD fan but I'm saying it's probably power bottlenecking or something. How much RAM you got as well as storage so I can confirm anything. Also how often do you clean and update too?..........................

 

[InvalidError]

Problems with a formerly stable PC randomly crashing and not reliably booting anymore are often a PSU issue. Coolermaster has very few decent PSUs in its lineup and I do not think any of them are Bronze-rated. I suspect your PSU cannot provide sufficiently clean power to your PC anymore.

 

[Stefano G.]

Problems with a formerly stable PC randomly crashing and not reliably booting anymore are often a PSU issue. Coolermaster has very few decent PSUs in its lineup and I do not think any of them are Bronze-rated. I suspect your PSU cannot provide sufficiently clean power to your PC anymore.

I got this PSU less than a year ago... do you know any other reason why this could happen?

 

[Stefano G.]

Idk how to respond to this without seeming desperate so I'll wing it. I'm not much of an AMD fan but I'm saying it's probably power bottlenecking or something. How much RAM you got as well as storage so I can confirm anything. Also how often do you clean and update too?..........................

I have 16 gigs of Corsair Vengeance ram 3000 Mhz. the last time i updated windows it wouldn't turn on correctly and did some weird things (i think i posted something about it here some time ago) and if by "clean" you mean like actually cleaning the hardware I did it once 6 months ago.

 

[NanoSuit3]

This is why I stopped using AMD parts; Nvidia works better IMO........................... Plus the last GPU I used from team red was that exact model.......................so........................probably what Invalid said lol.........bad power drawing.............

 

[InvalidError]

I got this PSU less than a year ago... do you know any other reason why this could happen?

A low-tier PSU is a low-tier PSU right out of the box. Your PC could have been on a knife's edge for stability from the start. Add a year of wear, it might not cut it anymore.

If you want to confirm that, set your CPU, RAM, etc. clocks to stable defaults, disable every power-saving feature you can find in BIOS including C-states to reduce idle-load transients and make the PSU's job that much easier. If stability improves, then you can start restoring your performance and power-saving settings to see what breaks it. C-states are what typically breaks weak PSUs.

 

[Stefano G.]

something i forgot to say:
when the PC crashed the monitor briefly showed some weird vertical lines and other artefact,
after that the monitor went black with no video output, but my PC stayed on(the LED on the case stayed on) for this reason i don't know if the problem is the PSU

 

[rcald2000]

Hello Stefano G. I'm sorry to hear about your PC problem. The fact that the power stays on, meaning the system doesn't restart nor shutdown, leads me to suspect that your GPU is the culprit. Do me a favor: Open the side panel of your computer, so that that you can spectate the fans on your R9 280x. Turn on your computer and take a glance at the fans, and make a mental note of whether they are spinning or not at that moment, while booted into Windows. Most likely they won't be spinning while in Windows, since they'll be in 2D mode. Then launch one of the games that you previously attempted to load, and see whether all fans are spinning.

My best guess: I suspect that at least one of your GPU fans is no longer spinning, causing your GPU to overheat, and the image is shutting off as a failsafe. Is one of the fans snagged on a cable? I suppose that excessive dust caked around the GPU could possibly cause this issue or even the stoppage of a case fan.

My 2nd request: Could you please take three photos, upload them to imgur and share the links here? Photo #1: The entire inside of the case, to show the air flow. Photo #2: The label on the side of the power supply, to show the precise model and specs of your PSU, in case my theory about your GPU overheating is wrong. Photo #3: A photo of the computer with the side panel replaced, with the computer in it's original position in your home. I'm wondering if air flow to your components is restricted by being placed inside a desk cubby or something of that nature.

Question: What is the exact model of your R9 280X? e.g. MSI R9 280X Gaming 3G. I'm asking in order to research the default fan behavior of your GPU, and it would also tell me your official power usage.

You can download and run a utility to check your GPU temps.
<scroll halfway down page> and <click> Setup English

HWMONITOR | Softwares | CPUID

HWMonitor for Windows® x86/x64 is a hardware monitoring program that reads PC systems main health sensors : voltages, temperatures, powers, currents, fans speed, utilizations, clock speeds ... The program handles : CPU and GPU-level hardware monitoring...

www.cpuid.com

 

[Stefano G.]

thanks everyone for the help.

https://imgur.com/a/VyD9ujz

View: https://imgur.com/a/VyD9ujz

from the image you can notice the very poor airflow
PSU: Cooler master mwe bronze v2 230v 750w
GPU: Sapphire vapor x 280x dual fan OC(clock: 1070Mhz, memory clock: 1550Mhz)
from the photo you can also see another gpu a msi 1030 borrowed from a friend(to still play low demanding games because every time that i try with the 280x the computer crashes)
i looked at the gpu fans and they spin normally
i looked at the gpu temp and they look ok(never over 65° C before crashing)
I remember that before this situation the temperature even exceeded 70°C while i was playing, so I don't think the temperatures are causing these problems
another thing is that when the pc crashes, and then i try to turn it on again the leds on the case and all the fans work but the keyboard backlight, the mouse leds and the video output don't
and i have to turn it off and on even 4 time before it start working normally

 

[Stefano G.]

Hello Stefano G. I'm sorry to hear about your PC problem. The fact that the power stays on, meaning the system doesn't restart nor shutdown, leads me to suspect that your GPU is the culprit. Do me a favor: Open the side panel of your computer, so that that you can spectate the fans on your R9 280x. Turn on your computer and take a glance at the fans, and make a mental note of whether they are spinning or not at that moment, while booted into Windows. Most likely they won't be spinning while in Windows, since they'll be in 2D mode. Then launch one of the games that you previously attempted to load, and see whether all fans are spinning.

My best guess: I suspect that at least one of your GPU fans is no longer spinning, causing your GPU to overheat, and the image is shutting off as a failsafe. Is one of the fans snagged on a cable? I suppose that excessive dust caked around the GPU could possibly cause this issue or even the stoppage of a case fan.

My 2nd request: Could you please take three photos, upload them to imgur and share the links here? Photo #1: The entire inside of the case, to show the air flow. Photo #2: The label on the side of the power supply, to show the precise model and specs of your PSU, in case my theory about your GPU overheating is wrong. Photo #3: A photo of the computer with the side panel replaced, with the computer in it's original position in your home. I'm wondering if air flow to your components is restricted by being placed inside a desk cubby or something of that nature.

Question: What is the exact model of your R9 280X? e.g. MSI R9 280X Gaming 3G. I'm asking in order to research the default fan behavior of your GPU, and it would also tell me your official power usage.

You can download and run a utility to check your GPU temps.
<scroll halfway down page> and <click> Setup English

HWMONITOR | Softwares | CPUID

HWMonitor for Windows® x86/x64 is a hardware monitoring program that reads PC systems main health sensors : voltages, temperatures, powers, currents, fans speed, utilizations, clock speeds ... The program handles : CPU and GPU-level hardware monitoring...

www.cpuid.com

Hey, sorry but I really need to get to the bottom of this, can you respond? Thank you.

 

[rcald2000]

At this point, I do not know what's causing your issue. I thought that it was your GPU overheating, but your troubleshooting results didn't support my theory. InvalidError has made some very good suggestions, about troubleshooting a possible power issue in your rig, which seems reasonable to me.

If you determine that your PSU is the culprit, then you should be able to submit a RMA claim, since it comes with a five year warranty, according to the webpage below. Maybe Cooler Master will even grant you an advanced RMA.

https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/power-supplies/mwe-series/mwe-750-bronze-v2-230v/

FYI: In my own personal rigs, I keep the following updated: BIOS version, chipset drivers, GPU drivers (utilizing DDU).

 

[Stefano G.]

At this point, I do not know what's causing your issue. I thought that it was your GPU overheating, but your troubleshooting results didn't support my theory. InvalidError has made some very good suggestions, about troubleshooting a possible power issue in your rig, which seems reasonable to me.

If you determine that your PSU is the culprit, then you should be able to submit a RMA claim, since it comes with a five year warranty, according to the webpage below. Maybe Cooler Master will even grant you an advanced RMA.

https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/power-supplies/mwe-series/mwe-750-bronze-v2-230v/

FYI: In my own personal rigs, I keep the following updated: BIOS version, chipset drivers, GPU drivers (utilizing DDU).

I have a question, does a mulfunctioning PSU put the rest of the pc at risk of degrading or breaking? (I'm really not sure if "degrading" is the right word, english isn't my first language.)

 

[InvalidError]

I have a question, does a mulfunctioning PSU put the rest of the pc at risk of degrading or breaking? (I'm really not sure if "degrading" is the right word, english isn't my first language.)

Some particularly poor quality PSUs are known to blow up almost every other component in the PC they're in when they decide to call it quits, though those are mostly no-name or knock-off brands. Most stuff from somewhat reputable brands just shuts down and potentially takes some of your data along with them due to file system or SSD corruption but the hardware itself is still fine.

 

[Stefano G.]

Sorry for all the questions but I really want to make sure that my pc remains partly fine while I look for the components to replace to fix my issue.
Anyways, could a malfunctioning PSU be the cause of the missing video output? When the problem occurs the fans start to spin but the monitor doesn't detect any image being sent, and both the mouse and keyboard's backlighting don't turn on. I would assume that it means that no current was being sent from the motherboard.
I'm no expert though.

 

[InvalidError]

Anyways, could a malfunctioning PSU be the cause of the missing video output? When the problem occurs the fans start to spin but the monitor doesn't detect any image being sent, and both the mouse and keyboard's backlighting don't turn on. I would assume that it means that no current was being sent from the motherboard.
I'm no expert though.

When the power turns on but nothing else that is supposed to happen happen (ex.: mouse and keyboard not turning on), it means the PC crashed early in BIOS before USB device enumeration to find a keyboard so you can press keys to enter BIOS. That usually is one of three things: something is loose in its slot/socket, you have dead/defective hardware, or bad power. Fans and LEDs can run off on extremely dirty power, those aren't any indication of power quality besides that there is some. CPUs and GPUs however, not so much.

 

[Stefano G.]

When the power turns on but nothing else that is supposed to happen happen (ex.: mouse and keyboard not turning on), it means the PC crashed early in BIOS before USB device enumeration to find a keyboard so you can press keys to enter BIOS. That usually is one of three things: something is loose in its slot/socket, you have dead/defective hardware, or bad power. Fans and LEDs can run off on extremely dirty power, those aren't any indication of power quality besides that there is some. CPUs and GPUs however, not so much.

Hey, I didn't want to post an update about my problem since it wouldn't really be useful if I couldn't get a response from someone who has already seen this post.
Anyways, I sent out my GPU to the same pc shop where I bought my pc. He tried it and it was crashing for him too, I was a bit surprised because everyone was saying that it was the PSU.
I just wanted to know if I should still be worried about the PSU. I know it is a pretty strange question since we already established that the GPU was the problem but I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay since I've already ordered a far more powerful and far far more expensive GPU, and because everyone being wrong about the problem is strange. Thanks for the help!

 

[InvalidError]

People are slow to blame GPUs because GPUs rarely fail out of the blue while PSUs, especially the lower-end ones, are effectively a consumable item.

As for the PSU, if we're still talking about the MWE Bronze, I would question the wisdom of pairing a PSU that cuts enough corners to only get a Bronze rating with modern mid+ range components.