Random Black/Grey Screen Crashes - CPU LED

1ntL · May 7, 2021

Problem Explained:

PC crashes at random times, black screen (sometimes its grey screen at first, then it eventually goes black) while fans keep spinning, RGB strip also on, CPU LED lights up on the motherboard and no more audio coming through. To get my system running again, I have to press restart switch on my case. Before the crash, audio sounds distorted/loops/freezes for half second or so, if there is any audio playing while the crash happens.

What I have tried to fix the problem:

RMA'd CPU, Motherboard, RAM, PSU, and SSD as advised by Mindfactory (company i purchased parts from) they told me everything is fine and sent it back to me. Reinstalling windows (clean install), Reinstalling all drivers, using a different outlet, Updating BIOS(3 different versions), reseating the CPU, reseating GPU, using a different GPU (r7 260x 1gb sapphire oc), reseating RAM, using different RAM, unplugging and plugging all cables, using different PSU, changed power supply idle control (from auto to Typical current idle) in BIOS/AMD CBS, ran memtest86 (zero errors), I've ran benchtests like cinebench, heaven benchmark, prime95 and Intel burn test multiple times to try and recreate the crash but i had no luck. All temps look fine, crash also happened plenty of times while my PC was idle with temps 30c-35c. I've also had the crash happen on 3 different monitors with 3 different cables.

Additional details:

I used to have XMP enabled and ran my RAM on 2933mhz, then i turned the XMP off and ran my ram at 2133mhz to see if that was causing my problem. I thought the problem went away with XMP OFF but my PC crashed again with everything set on stock, no OC anywhere at all and XMP turned OFF (even thought i think XMP should work with my configuration). Only thing i noticed is, when XMP is turned ON the crashes are more frequent. For example, PC ran fine for 2 months with XMP off then all of the sudden it crashed, and with XMP on it crashed in 15 days. All in all, crashes are random, sometimes they happen 2 times in 20 mins and sometimes it takes 2 months. I've been dealing with this ever since I bought it (over 1 year ago) and cant seem to find what's causing the problem. Also can't figure out a way on how to recreate the crash, that would be really helpful. Any tips/info are greatly appreciated. Thank you!