PC Keeps Crashing

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shahmhemani

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Jul 16, 2018
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Ok so I just built a $500-550 ish budget pc and I thought all the parts were fine together but whenever I start to play some demanding games like Fortnite, some time in my pc crashes. My screen freezes completely and my audio starts messing up. I’ve had this issue for a while and I need some help please. I thought it was an overheating issue for a while but when I was playing and my pc crashed the temperature wasn’t that high so now I’m utterly confused as to how to fix it. This issue has caused me to lose around 3-4 top 2 situations and it’s been happening ever since I built my pc. Someone please help!
 
Solution
omegadoom13


Fingers crossed. If the problem was your old RAM and/or/both old motherboard and you bought them only 3 months ago, check the return policy of the store and then check the manufacturers' warranty info on their websites. You may get a partial refund, depending on what you find out. Good luck!

I'd keep playing fortnite with the new hardware for at least a week or longer.
Best Buy return policy https://www.bestbuy.com/site/help-topics/return-exchange-policy/pcmcat260800050014.c?id=pcmcat260800050014

so 15 days since purchase
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My first step would be to remove the gpu and one stick of ram, then run hwinfo to monitor temps (make sure to pay attention to all temps, not just cpu cores) while running a stress test like prime95. If you have a desk fan or box fan, you should leave the case open with the fan blowing directly at the board to make certain it isn't a heat issue.

If it crashes during the stress test, move that stick of ram to another slot and try again. If it still crashes, do the same thing with the other stick of ram. Basically, try each stick in each slot.

If it still crashes, take the cooler off the cpu, make sure you had good contact with the cpu. Clean it off and remove/reinstall the cpu. Reapply paste and reinstall cooler. Try the hwinfo/prime95 again.

If it still crashes, and temps don't look bad, then you pretty much know it's either cpu, motherboard, or power supply. I doubt it is the cpu, they usually either work perfectly or not at all.

My next move would be to grab a new power supply from a local store with a decent return policy and repeat the steps above with the new one. If that doesn't help, return the power supply and do the same with the motherboard.
 
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Ok so I just tested it out without the gpu and only one stick and it didn’t crash at all it passed the stress test the first time. What does this mean? I’ll continue to test with the rest of the components as well.
 
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if it passed the stress test, try it with the same setup and with Fortnite...see if it crashes now.

If it works fine, then try swapping the sticks of RAM
 
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I just tested it again and it crashed. It was working fine all day and then it suddenly just crashed after I got on again. Then I restarted and it crashed on the first game I played every time. After it started crashing I did a stress test once more for the power consumption and it passed
 
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What stress test are you running anyway?
 
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The reason I ask is because if you are running Prime95 you should choose "Options->torture test->leave 'blend' selected and hit ok"

Also, you should be running HWInfo at the same time and watching all of your temperatures. I'm not sure what sensors are on your system, but it will probably list your VRM temp, cpu cores, etc. You want to watch all of them and note if any get past 80 degrees or so.
 
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The application says prime95.exe so im guessing it’s prime95 and I downloaded it because you suggested it so I’m hoping it was able to work. It passed the stress test so now I’m really frustrated because I don’t know what’s wrong with it. It just crashed like 5 times in a row on the first game everytime it’s like it has gotten worse
 
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What do you mean by "passed the stress test"?
 
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make sure to download HWInfo so you can watch your temperatures. Run it (sensors only)

Then open Prime95, options->torture test->blend->OK

let it run for at least 30 minutes while watching the temperatures in HWInfo.
 
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I'm not sure what test you started before, but the torture test should run for a very long time...I'm pretty sure indefinitely.
 
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Ok yeah I cut it off too early it’s still going and the only temps above 80 degrees are auxiliary (81 degrees C) and AUXTIN1 (94 degrees C) CPU is in the 60s and motherboard is in the 30s
 
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72 isn't great, but it isn't enough that you would see stability issues. Does the AUXTIN1 sensor change as you run the test? Sometimes HWInfo picks up odd sensors that don't really mean anything, you can tell if they are bogus because they won't change.

If it was a heat issue, you would probably have seen it crash with Prime95, so I'm guessing it isn't that.

Does Fortnite still crash when you have only one stick of RAM and the GPU gone?
 
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It's hot, but not unacceptable. Prime95 will make your computer hotter than gaming ever will, so it really isn't too bad. I assume you have the stock cooler that came with the cpu?

If your computer isn't crashing after 15 minutes of Prime95, then heat isn't your problem.

Here is what I would do next: You need to do some more stress testing, but with a more comprehensive application. I recommend downloading AIDA64 Extreme. It has a free 30 day trial. Check all of the boxes for the stress test (cpu, cache, memory, storage, gpu, etc) and let it run for an hour or so. Running the stress test on all of your components at once like that will also push that power supply to the max.

Let me know how it goes.
 
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Just to make sure, you had all of the boxes checked in AIDA64? Including storage and memory? If so, I don't think there is anything wrong with your hardware.

Now we need to look into the software side.

I know earlier you mentioned you were trying to reinstall Windows and it crashed. Did you ever complete that process?
 
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Crashing / freezing during a windows install sounds like bad RAM stick. Freezing during intense demanding situations like gaming vs just watching TV / browsing the net, sounds like bad RAM stick. I would highly suggest you test each stick while gaming one by one or even test a whole new set. I had your exact same problem for months until I finally checked the RAM and it was the problem.
 
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I agree. Also, the fact that after a reboot the frequency of the crashes changes is an indicator of bad RAM as well.

I thought he had tried this, but after reading through the whole thread I'm not sure he has.

shahmhemani, have you tried codygriffy's suggestion?
 
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Glad more people have come to help. 😀

I thought you already tested your RAM with memtest86?
 
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