PC Crashing after closing game, and then not booting unless I clear CMOS

[TamasFried]

So I’ve just installed a new AIO cooler on my girlfriend’s CPU, at first I tested it in the kitchen where I was working on it as there is not much space on her desk. It worked fine. I put the panels back on and took it back to her desk, at first it wouldn’t post at all. All the LEDs would flash and the fans would rev for around 1 second and the power would cut again. 

 

I finally decided to try clearing the CMOS after re-seating everything and it turned back on. Once I got on I tried launching a game so I could monitor the temps and all was going well, until I closed the game and it locked up on me. I could still move program windows around but I couldn’t do anything in the programs, nor could I open any programs, including task manager. 

So I hard powered off the PC manually, and I had the same issue, with it flashing on and off until I cleared the CMOS. And it won’t boot until I have done so (only after a crash).

 

Things I have tried so far:

- DDU and clean GPU driver install

- SFC scan and repair

- flashing latest bios version

- reseating everything (again) 

- checked CPU pins for any debris/damage

- checked cpu socket and cleaned with IPA

- currently running memtest as I write this (will post results in replies)

And some other things but I’ve been doing this for so long I’m losing track.

 

I hope someone can shine some light on this, as it’s driving me insane. Will post specs in replies too.

[TamasFried]

Specs:

•    ⁠Ryzen 5 3500X
•    ⁠MSI Tomahawk B450 MAX II
•    ⁠2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 3200MHz
•    ⁠Nvidia RTX3060
•    ⁠650W Corsair PSU (forgotten the exact model)
•    ⁠Boot is on a WD NVME SSD

 

Memtest passed with flying colours

Edited November 1, 2022 by TamasFried

[An0maly_76]

Ryzen and supporting boards are known for RAM stability issues if board manufacturer's QVL is not followed. I would suggest checking your RAM SKU against MSI's QVL for your specific board model. If not listed, it's possible this is a RAM stability issue.

[TamasFried]

Just now, An0maly_76 said:

Ryzen and supporting boards are known for RAM stability issues if board manufacturer's QVL is not followed. I would suggest checking your RAM SKU against MSI's QVL for your specific board model. If not listed, it's possible this is a RAM stability issue.

Thanks, I’ll give it a look, I did forget to mention though that the PC has worked fine in that RAM config for the last 6 months at least

[An0maly_76]

5 minutes ago, TamasFried said:

Thanks, I’ll give it a look, I did forget to mention though that the PC has worked fine in that RAM config for the last 6 months at least

Mine took a bit to start acting stupid as well... and then it drove me nuts for months. RAM that replaced it was the same density, capacity, timings and voltage as the first kit. Some boards and RAM just don't play well together.

[TamasFried]

Just now, An0maly_76 said:

Mine took a bit to start acting stupid as well... and then it drove me nuts for months. RAM that replaced it was the same density, capacity, timings and voltage as the first kit. Some boards and RAM just don't play well together.

Very strange! I might try swapping her RAM out with mine then, as we have matching RAM. Thanks for the quick replies, I’ll give it a go

[An0maly_76]

3 minutes ago, TamasFried said:

Very strange! I might try swapping her RAM out with mine then, as we have matching RAM. Thanks for the quick replies, I’ll give it a go

Swapping the RAM out for the exact same kit will only duplicate the issue if that is the case.

[TamasFried]

8 minutes ago, An0maly_76 said:

Swapping the RAM out for the exact same kit will only duplicate the issue if that is the case.

Oh sorry no, I meant they’re the same speed and capacity, not identical kits. My bad haha

[An0maly_76]

Just now, TamasFried said:

Oh sorry no, I meant they’re the same speed and capacity, not identical kits. My bad haha

Still might duplicate the issue if it's not on the list, though. Food for thought. But it could change the frequency and range of issues. I had two different sets of issues with the same kit on two different boards with two different processors. That's how I figured this out.

[BiotechBen]

Vengeance LPX 3200 and Ryzen are a big Negatory. I speak from experience. Lots of strange behavior and crashing/artifacting.

[TamasFried]

8 hours ago, An0maly_76 said:

Still might duplicate the issue if it's not on the list, though. Food for thought. But it could change the frequency and range of issues. I had two different sets of issues with the same kit on two different boards with two different processors. That's how I figured this out.

Update:

it passed memtest with 0 errors whatsoever. Would this not have flagged up some errors if there was a compatibility issue? 

[TamasFried]

7 hours ago, BiotechBen said:

Vengeance LPX 3200 and Ryzen are a big Negatory. I speak from experience. Lots of strange behavior and crashing/artifacting.

her RAM is Vengeance RGB Pro, not sure if that makes a difference, better or worse

 

[An0maly_76]

3 hours ago, TamasFried said:

her RAM is Vengeance RGB Pro, not sure if that makes a difference, better or worse

 

 

As I said, if it is not on the QVL, it cannot be guaranteed to run stable. And even if it does appear to run stable, it can still hinder performance.

[TamasFried]

Just now, An0maly_76 said:

 

As I said, if it is not on the QVL, it cannot be guaranteed to run stable. And even if it does appear to run stable, it can still hinder performance.

So, out of curiosity I tried disabling certain programs when closing games, and I have found that when I disable Razer Cortex’s “Game boost” feature it is stable. I think it might have been something to do with the CPU dropping into “sleep mode” as the app calls it after closing a game which was uprooting an instability. It’s been a few hours so far and it’s been fine, I’ve not needed to clear the CMOS since disabling the game boost feature

[An0maly_76]

Just now, TamasFried said:

So, out of curiosity I tried disabling certain programs when closing games, and I have found that when I disable Razer Cortex’s “Game boost” feature it is stable. I think it might have been something to do with the CPU dropping into “sleep mode” as the app calls it after closing a game which was uprooting an instability. It’s been a few hours so far and it’s been fine, I’ve not needed to clear the CMOS since disabling the game boost feature

Not familiar with that specific app, but I presume it is some sort of hardware accelerator for GPU or something. Interestingly, one of the issues I had from the unstable RAM I had was that my machine would freeze in sleep mode and not wake. It also would power on to no video every 8-12 cold boots, and with no video could I not tell whether it was a POST failure or just a successful boot with no video. Nothing helped other than reseating RAM and GPU every 8-12 cold boots until I swapped the RAM for something that was on the board's QVL list.