[SOLVED] PC randomly crashing with disk sounds like re-spinning up ?

[KetanBasi]

My PC randomly crashing with my HDD making spin-up sounds repeatedly until I force it to shut down, but for some cases, I have to either unplug the SATA connector first. I'm not sure if it is the HDD's problem because I've tried to change my HDD to the current one.
Some of my friends told me that probably it is from the PSU, but we didn't know either. So what is the problem here? Should I buy another PSU?

The problem occurs randomly, but mostly either on heavy disk usage or high system load. For example, when playing Genshin Impact, it is very likely to crash. When I'm running out of RAM but I'm forcing my PC to do a lot of tasks with multiple programs running, it is also very likely to crash.

Here's my spec:
CPU: Ryzen 3 2200G, stock cooling fan
RAM: 2 x 4GB HyperX 2400MHz (2GB allocated for Vega 8 graphic)
Motherboard: MSI B450M Pro-VDH
Storage: HDD Seagate Barracuda 1TB
PSU: Enlight BlackSilver 400w

 

[Ralston18]

Current boot drive: make, model, capacity, how full?

Do you have multiple HDDs? "because I've tried to change my HDD to the current one. " What did you do?

How old is that Enlight PSU?

If the PSU, being only 400 watts, has been heavily used for gaming it is likely starting to near its' designed EOL (End of Life).

Forced shutdowns, either by the system or user, can and will corrupt files to makes things even worse.

Overall, if you are forcing the PC to do a lot of tasks, etc., then it should be straightforward to test by not doing that.

Simply do not run all that to determine if the random crashes stop or at least notably decrease.

Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for crash related entries. Numerous and varying errors are an indication of a faltering PSU.

PSU is the prime suspect I think.

 

[KetanBasi]

Current boot drive: make, model, capacity, how full?

Do you have multiple HDDs? "because I've tried to change my HDD to the current one. " What did you do?

How old is that Enlight PSU?

If the PSU, being only 400 watts, has been heavily used for gaming it is likely starting to near its' designed EOL (End of Life).

Forced shutdowns, either by the system or user, can and will corrupt files to makes things even worse.

Overall, if you are forcing the PC to do a lot of tasks, etc., then it should be straightforward to test by not doing that.

Simply do not run all that to determine if the random crashes stop or at least notably decrease.

Look in Reliability History and Event Viewer for crash related entries. Numerous and varying errors are an indication of a faltering PSU.

PSU is the prime suspect I think.

Current boot drive: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM010 1TB, around 82% used.

I only have one usable HDD. The other one, somehow I broke the power connector's plastic, so I take it to the data recovery service and recover all of my data to the current HDD.

Mostly I just play CSGO, Valorant, my sister play Genshin Impact at least 2hrs/day, and before I broke my old HDD I used to play Sniper Ghost Warrior 3. I'm not satisfied with my computer performance for SGW3 so I don't play it anymore.

Yes, I'm aware of the consequences of the corrupted files, but when my PC crashed, I couldn't do anything but force it. Even the BSOD couldn't store the log to its file anymore when it crashes. I think it's because the HDD is repeatedly spin-up.

Yes, mostly it seems running normally when I didn't put in a lot of tasks, but I could say about 5% to 10% chance it could crash again. Unfortunately, I'm a first-year undergraduate student, so I couldn't do much to prevent this.

I've checked the Event Viewer that you have mentioned before, and yes, sometimes it shows some program crashes.

My father said we should try 500 watts PSU, also with an SSD (I think it would be an NVMe, for preventing the same problem in the future). Is it enough?

Edit: I bought all my PC components at once, roughly about two years since it.

 

[Ralston18]

A newer higher wattage PSU could very well help. And reducing the power requirements via a SSD or NVMe could likewise prove additionally helpful.

The Barracuda HDD being 82% full is likely a bit problematic. My preference is to limit my drives to 70-80 % of capacity.

Have you tried cleaning out old files and/or de-fragging the HDD? (Do not defragment SSDs)

Make use of Windows 10's utilities to clean up the drives.

As for the appropriate PSU wattage - here is a link from within this Forum that will help:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html

 

[KetanBasi]

A newer higher wattage PSU could very well help. And reducing the power requirements via a SSD or NVMe could likewise prove additionally helpful.

The Barracuda HDD being 82% full is likely a bit problematic. My preference is to limit my drives to 70-80 % of capacity.

Have you tried cleaning out old files and/or de-fragging the HDD? (Do not defragment SSDs)

Make use of Windows 10's utilities to clean up the drives.

As for the appropriate PSU wattage - here is a link from within this Forum that will help:

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-psus,4229.html

Actually the plan is to put the OS and some important and heavy programs on the SSD, and the rest on the HDD. I'm looking for the best affordable choice and I think I'll take Deepcool DN500 PSU, and a V-Gen 256GB NVMe SSD.

I think there is something in control panel to set disk usage, isn't it? I'll try to set the limitations to 75%.

I forget to do defragment, for years.
Thank you very much for the advices, I'll try it

 

[Ralston18]

You are welcome.

Be sure to check the motherboard's manual regarding the installation of NVMe SSD.

Otherwise you may end up with a port conflict.