PC does everything but play video games!

[KempsonB]

This one has left me stumped.

Whenever I try to play a PC video game (ANY game, even Republic Commando from 2005), shortly after starting the game (or after loading the game from the main menu), the screen flicks to black, back to the game for a second (SOMETIMES), then

A) the game crashes, or
B) the computer crashes and restarts.

I don't know why this is happening. It isn't the GPU nor the CPU overheating - I have used HWMonitor and EVGA PrecisionX 16 to make sure of that.

I uninstalled and reinstalled the graphics card driver. Didn't change anything.

It isn't the disk drive I'm running the games on, either. They crash the same way no matter which drive they're on.

It was suggested in another thread (http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2646630/psu-gpu-problem-crashing-seconds-gameplay.html) that it might be a problem with the power supply. I followed the advice and underclocked the GPU with MSI Afterburner. Didn't help. Even so, I have to hope that the PSU is the problem. I don't know what else it could be.

This has been going on for at least a month. I don't know when exactly it started - I move between college and home during the school year, and the PC stays at home.

Aside from this problem, my computer works fine. Browsers, videos, even video editing with Sony Vegas, it all works fine. Except last night, when my computer crashed while I tried to maximize a YouTube video.

If anyone has ANY solutions or ideas to suggest, I would be very grateful!

Motherboard: ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0
CPU: AMD FX-8350 8-core
GPU: GeForce GTX 950
PSU: OCZ ZX 850 Watt
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance
Storage: Samsung 750 EVO 120GB SSD + WD Blue 1 TB HDD
OS: Windows 10 (on SSD)


PS: For what it's worth, I've also had some Kernel-Power (ID 41) errors occur recently.

 

[SpencerGoshorn]

I don't understand why you have a 850 Watt psu it ain't going to kill anybody but its overkill won't hurt nothing. Uninstall and reinstall GPU Driver from Nvidia website for gtx 950 and it should be fixed when you uninstall your driver you'll get a really shitty screen that is all pixely don't worry you can still run the computer and access videos and stuff go to there website and reinstall the driver and it should be fixed

 

[KempsonB]

I don't understand why you have a 850 Watt psu it ain't going to kill anybody but its overkill won't hurt nothing. Uninstall and reinstall GPU Driver from Nvidia website for gtx 950 and it should be fixed when you uninstall your driver you'll get a really shitty screen that is all pixely don't worry you can still run the computer and access videos and stuff go to there website and reinstall the driver and it should be fixed

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the driver already. Nothing changed. Sorry, I should have put that in the original post.

 

[chimera201]

It could be the PSU since it has CapXon and Teapo caps that are known to be not really great. Is the PSU old?
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ZX_850W/4.html

Or could be a problem with the Win 10 installation. Some files may be corrupted or something.

 

[KempsonB]

It could be the PSU since it has CapXon and Teapo caps that are known to be not really great. Is the PSU old?
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/ZX_850W/4.html

Or could be a problem with the Win 10 installation. Some files may be corrupted or something.

I bought the PSU new about a year and a half ago, I believe. I don't know much about PSUs nor capacitors. You're right that it may be some deep Windows 10 weirdness, too.

However, I may have found the problem. It appears that the ATX cable going from the PSU to the motherboard has a bad wire. Just touching it lightly while the PC is on causes it to shut down. My father believes that the amount of power the PSU can put out is being throttled.

I don't have any spare cables or PSUs to test this solution, but we plan to try it out soon. Will update later.

UPDATE: PROBLEM FIXED! (apparently)

I changed the ATX power cable going from the PSU into the motherboard.

More specifically, my father and I took the end of the cable (the part that goes into the motherboard) from another PSU, and, with some cutting and soldering, used it to replace the original (slightly melted) end of my cable.

I've been playing a variety of video games for two days now and no crashes yet! It's always possible that the problem will crop up again, but then at least I'll know it's a power problem.

Thank you all for your help!