Question PC freezes while gaming, but screen stays on

butfart1

Reputable
Feb 15, 2016
9
0
4,510
Hi there!

So, recently, my PC has started to do this funky thing where I will randomly be playing a game, and the computer will freeze. In the past, I've had this issue, but the screen went black, and a faulty PSU was to blame. However, this time, it is ever so confusing. The screen itself will stay on, freezing to the last frame of whatever was on screen at the time of the crash. The only thing is, alt + f4, and ctrl + alt + delete do not work. Nothing on the computer is responsive and there is no sound. But what confuses me is the fact that the screen still displays an image. The only thing to do is to do a hard reset and smother my system with the power button. I perused event viewer and found nothing except for the error code that is given when my system shuts down via the power button. What do you think it could be? I'm thinking it could be anything at this point. I'll give a parts list, tell me what you guys think. Thanks!

Mobo: MSI B350M PRO-VDH
GPU: GTX 970 Reference Card @ Stock Settings
RAM: 16GB Crucial Ballistix Elite DDR4-2666
CPU: Ryzen 3 1200 @ 3.6Ghz
HDD: Toshiba 1TB DT01ACA100
SSD: Silicone Power 240GB
EDIT - PSU: EVGA 600w PSU 80 Plus (white label)
 
Last edited:
Sep 28, 2020
4
1
15
Did you change your PSU? check ur temps while playing . I actually had this problem back then and it was the ram dying.. im not really an expert heres just my opinion on it
 
  • Like
Reactions: butfart1

butfart1

Reputable
Feb 15, 2016
9
0
4,510
Did you change your PSU? check ur temps while playing . I actually had this problem back then and it was the ram dying.. im not really an expert heres just my opinion on it

I forgot to add the PSU. It's an EVGA 600w 80 Plus (white label) PSU. Not modular or anything - just sleeved ketchup/mustard haha. I actually have changed the RAM recently. But I ran memtest64 and everything checked out fine, but I suppose running it again couldn't hurt.
 
Sep 28, 2020
4
1
15
Try to use your old ram if its still good and test if its still freezing.. if you are unable to do that try to diagnose with memtest86.. i had this problem before and it was ram so lets try diagnosing ram first
 

butfart1

Reputable
Feb 15, 2016
9
0
4,510
Try to use your old ram if its still good and test if its still freezing.. if you are unable to do that try to diagnose with memtest86.. i had this problem before and it was ram so lets try diagnosing ram first

So, I ran memtest86, nothing came up. The only thing that struck me as odd was that in my bios, my RAM was actually overclocked to 2667? I don't remember overclocking it, but it defaults to 2400mhz now. I took off the "overclock" and now the freezing is completely gone. Granted, this is at the price of running 2400mhz. Could this potentially have something to do with my bios version?