[SOLVED] PC crashes every time I play and then keeps crashing even if I don't!

[GothDaddy]

Hello!
As you can see by the thread's name PC is crashing every time I play games(I play only League Of Legends, but I have tested it with other games and it crashes with every, besides Counter-Strike 1.6) and then keeps on crashing from half an hour up to 1-2 hours later.
The problem is present for like two years now and it's possibly the hardest to solve and makes me pull my hair out.

Basically it first happened two years ago when I bought my GPU(Radeon R7 200 series 2GB) second hand. For the first two months, it was behaving well, but then it crashed once. The crash looks like basically either random color(mostly light brown) vertical stripes on my screen followed by the last sound just before the crash on very fast repeat for 1-2 seconds or instant black screen and then in both cases it restarts.
After several weeks it crashed again.. then it started happening every week, then every day and now it happens every single time I play.

Now, the crazy thing is that sometimes it crashes a few times and then I can play for like 8 hours and it won't crash, but then if I stop playing and start again after let's say 2 hours-it starts crashing again. I have tried possibly 100 things and nothing works.

I can provide more information and etc. if needed, but please someone help me solve it.
I know it's something with the GPU, but I know it is fixable, because it doesn't crash always and with CS 1.6 it doesn't crash ever, so it's some very complex issue, but fixable.

 

[rgd1101]

full system spec? include make and model of the psu

 

[GothDaddy]

full system spec? include make and model of the PSU

Thank you for your reply!

Full specs:
GPU-AMD Radeon R7 200 series 2GB
CPU-AMD A8-5500 Quad-Core 3.2GHz fm2
Motherboard-ASRock FM2A55M-HD+
PSU-Trend Sonic model ADK a500w
RAM-Crucial 4GB DDR3

Not sure if that's full system specs, but I am a big noobie, so if anything else is needed-let me know.
Also, not sure what "make" of the PSU means, so if I can be explained, so I can provide more info.

PS.
The PSU was bought second hand a year ago, but the guy said it was new and he is kind of trustworthy.

 

[MadsModsat]

Make is the same as manufacturer, the one whose name is printed on the side of the PSU.

I think this trustworthy person should look a bit closer at PSU quality, realiability and what to buy.

From the list of hardware you provided, the PSU stands out as the most likely cause of the problem, in my opinion.

It is difficult to find any reviews of the unit, and the the only search results I can find on google, are in a language I don't speak, but looks like an eastern european language - but I'm no expert.

lack of any relevant information available on the internet, and no reviews about a given PSU, is often an indication of the quality as well. And by that I mean poor quality

This is my opinion, it is not neccessarily correct. But the fact that there are none, or very few reviews, and the PSU manufacturer only returns few search results online, more often than not, points to a low quality unit, and should be avoided.

A poor quality PSU is also able to cause the problems you describe, and the GPU upgrade you did, could have been to much for it to handle.

But there are other possible causes for the instability issues you experience, but to me, the PSU is an obvious component that needs to be confirmed or ruled out as the actual problem

 

[GothDaddy]

Make is the same as manufacturer, the one whose name is printed on the side of the PSU.

I think this trustworthy person should look a bit closer at PSU quality, realiability and what to buy.

From the list of hardware you provided, the PSU stands out as the most likely cause of the problem, in my opinion.

It is difficult to find any reviews of the unit, and the only search results I can find on google, are in a language I don't speak, but looks like an eastern european language - but I'm no expert.

lack of any relevant information available on the internet, and no reviews about a given PSU, is often an indication of the quality as well. And by that I mean poor quality

This is my opinion, it is not neccessarily correct. But the fact that there are none, or very few reviews, and the PSU manufacturer only returns few results, more often than not, points to a low quality unit, and should be avaoided.

A poor quality PSU is also able to cause the problems you describe

Thank you for your answer!

I checked my PSU and the links are on my native language(Bulgarian), but there are no reviews in any of the sites. The way you present it makes me really think that it could be, but I thought that if it is the PSU, then it would instantly crash and not have repeated sound for 1-2 sec and the stripes, but as I said I am a noobie.

Also, is there a reliable or no way to test it out for sure given the circumstances(quarantine) and the fact that I do not have another PSU to possibly replace it?

PS.
I can translate the specs of the PSU if needed and not available in English.

 

[MadsModsat]

A PSU which is in the process of failing (or about to fail), will often work fine for a while. Then you run into some minor errors you can't figure out why is happening, but maybe don't pay much attention to. Then the PC begin to crash in certain cirsumstances, very often under high load situations. But after a while the PC migt begin to crash completely at random, and in situations were it didn't happen previously.
The way it usually ends, is the PSU finally failing completely, and not only that, it can also permanently damage other components in the system when it eventually fails.

The above is just a collection of symptoms you often see when the PSU is not working well, or is about to fail. It might not be exactly what you experience, but is just just to give you an idea if it resembles what you personally have experienced with your sytem.

It might be completely diferent from your experience - it is not an exact formula, but it should paint a general picture.

If your PSU is about to fail, I would highly recommend you avoid using the PC until you are completely sure the PSU is completely without errors.

Any minute the PC is turned on, is an opportunity for the PSU to fail and cause further damage to the system in the process.

However, I don't really know right now how you should proceed with the testing of the PSU. The general and most simple recomendation is to borrow a known working PSU from a friend or family, and see if the crashes still happen.
But since it is not an option for you, I guess that eliminates that idea

There are ways to inspect a PSU, but I do not have enough personal experience, that I will suggest what to do - I don't want to provide suggestions when I'm not sure they are correct

But there are many users on this forum who knows those kind of things in their sleep, and have a lot of experience

But just because I personally think this is the problem, there are certainly other defects that can result in similar stability issues.

 

[GothDaddy]

A PSU which is in the process of failing (or about to fail), will often work fine for a while. Then you run into some minor errors you can't figure out why is happening, but maybe don't pay much attention to. Then the PC begin to crash in certain cirsumstances, very often under high load situations. But after a while the PC migt begin to crash completely at random, and in situations were it didn't happen previously.
The way it usually ends, is the PSU finally failing completely, and not only that, it can also permanently damage other components in the system when it eventually fails.

The above is just a collection of symptoms you often see when the PSU is not working well, or is about to fail. It might not be exactly what you experience, but is just just to give you an idea if it resembles what you personally have experienced with your sytem.

It might be completely diferent from your experience - it is not an exact formula, but it should paint a general picture.

If your PSU is about to fail, I would highly recommend you avoid using the PC until you are completely sure the PSU is completely without errors.

Any minute the PC is turned on, is an opportunity for the PSU to fail and cause further damage to the system in the process.

However, I don't really know right now how you should proceed with the testing of the PSU. The general and most simple recomendation is to borrow a known working PSU from a friend or family, and see if the crashes still happen.
But since it is not an option for you, I guess that eliminates that idea

There are ways to inspect a PSU, but I do not have enough personal experience, that I will suggest what to do - I don't want to provide suggestions when I'm not sure they are correct

But there are many users on this forum who knows those kind of things in their sleep, and have a lot of experience

But just because I personally think this is the problem, there are certainly other defects that can result in similar stability issues.

Thank you for your answer!

The description of the failing PSU seems pretty much like my own situation, which is a bit of a relief because a PSU is cheaper than a GPU.
I saw a recommendation for an AIDA64 stress test and I am going to try it until there are more answers here on this thread and hopefully soon I'll have results.

Thank you very much for the answers and assistance!

 

[MadsModsat]

Please be careful not to push the PSU, if it is in fact failing.

You should definately avoid stressing it beyond its limit by using something like AID64, you risk pushing it beyond its point of failure.

instead you should avoid using the PC completly. Don't put unneccessary stress on that PSU, before you know it is safe

 

[GothDaddy]

Please be careful not to push the PSU, if it is in fact failing.

You should definately avoid stressing it beyond its limit by using something like AID64, you risk pushing it beyond its point of failure.

instead you should avoid using the PC completly. Don't put unneccessary stress on that PSU, before you know it is safe

Understood, I'll not stress test it and will search for properly working PSU to test.

 

[MadsModsat]

Just to explain myself briefly, I know I sound very cautious.

In theory, you could say - so what if the PSU fails, I'll need a new one anyway.

And you could look at it this way.

But the reason why it is so important to be careful when it comes to a failing PSU, is not only the bad PSU itself, but it is the possibility of having to buy a completely new PC, if the PSU damages most or all other hardware when it fails (worst case scenario).

So with that in mind, although it is inconvenient to not use the PC for a short while, do consider how expensive it can potentially be to replace not only the PSU, but additional hardware as well, by just taking a chance

If it was a case fan failure, it wouldn't really be the same level of "danger", you'd have plenty of time to buy a new one