Question Random computer crashes

[Seth Nash]

Since around August I have been getting hard crashes on my computer, but they ONLY ever happen when playing the game Star Citizen. I already contacted the devs, explaining that I have played a dozen or so games in that time period, and ran 3DMark stress tests, all without replicating the issue. Like I said, it has only ever happened while playing Star Citizen. The computer automatically restarts after the crash, but takes a lot longer to boot than usual. There is no warning message or anything, everything just turns off. Here is what one of the devs responded with:

Although stress tests have been performed on your computer and no crash occurred this does not rule out that one of your components has a fault.

Some faults only surface when playing a game as spikes in power or component issues can't be accurately replicated in other less stressful programs that you may use when not playing games such as chrome and discord. While this crash did not occur in previous patches some components develop a fault without reason over time or after usage.

As such this spike in power or component usage is mostly occurring when you play Star Citizen due to the changes in power draw needed to load items in the game, causing your PC to shut down which points to a fault with one of your components as a program would not cause a complete PC shutdown.

I have also tested with running the game while it is the only application open, and still had the issue. I have been trying to pinpoint the cause of this for months. I downloaded "WhoCrashed", but even though I have crash dumps enabled, one is never generated when the crash occurs for the program to analyze. In Event Viewer I can never find the event listed, like it didn't even happen.


PSU: I tested that the PSU fan was still running by using a test I found online. I unplugged the PSU wires from the PC and connected the green and black wires on the 24 pin connector with a paperclip, it turned on and the fans worked like normal.

RAM: I ran the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool and found no issues.

CPU: I ran the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool, and my CPU passed with no issues found.

GPU: The GPU is the newest component in my system. I ran FurMark GPU stress test several times with no issues. I have also ran 3DMarks Firestrike and Time Spy benchmark tests with no issues.

SSD: Just running two Samsung SSDs, oldest one is maybe two years old. I have ran error checks on both and there was no issues found.

Motherboard: I visually inspected the motherboard and couldn't find any issues of burning or damaged capacitors.


Intel i5 4430 CPU
MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Corsair H80i v2 CPU Cooler
2x Corsair Vengeance 8 GB DDR3-1600
Samsung 860 Evo 250GB SSD [Main]
Samsung 850 Evo 500GB SSD [Secondary]
Sapphire Radeon RX590 Nitro+ SE 8GB Graphics Card
Corsair CX600 Power Supply

 

[Seth Nash]

As you can see I have been trying to figure out exactly which component is faulty for quite a while, any tips would be greatly appreciated.