PC goes black and reboots while gaming

[LuckyM3]

Hello people, I am at my wits end and want to know what I can do about my current situation with my pc. 
To beginn here are my PC specs:
 

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core Processor 3.60 GHz

MPG X570 GAMING EDGE WIFI (MS-7C37)

BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4

CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB PRO SL 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 3600

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti

750 Watt Corsair RMx Series RM750x Modular 80+ Gold

500GB Samsung 970 Evo Plus M.2 

2TB Samsung 860 Evo 2.5" 

Screens:

ACER 27' 144Hz

IYAMA BLACKHAWK 27' 74 Hz
 

Quick info: I recently replaced my RAM and my GPU so these are rather new parts while the rest is about 3 years old now. I also applied new thermal paste 2 days ago where I also had a little accident.

TLDR; the new paste stuck so hard on my CPU that I pulled it out of the socket with the safty down, however I did not see any bent pins nor anything else that was broken and PC also does not seem to be slower than before.

My games still run very good and Im also currently playing Starfield with the DLSS3 Mod and it runs with butter smooth 144 FPS.

 

But here is where I run into problems. My problem recently is that whenever I game a more demanding game (or at least that is where it is happening) my PC will just reboot without any warning. For example Starfield. It runs perfectly fine until I hear a crackling noise in my headset, which is followed by my screens going black and my PC rebooting. It doesnt really go out, as my RAM, GPU and case are still glowing with RGB, but my device reboots like I would turn it on normally. No blue screen or anything. Just a normal start up. This also happened before the accident with my CPU, however I suspected my CPU overheating as I had 3 year old thermal paste on it and my room becomes insufferable warm in summer. Now after replacing my thermal paste I still get the same issue (my room is also not as warm anymore). 
I had MSI Afterburner running to check if its a overheating problem or maybe my CPU is getting overused, but from what I can tell that's not the case. It was on a steady 76 degrees with some quick spikes on 80-86 but I think that is rather normal when playing a game, especially like Starfield or CS2. I now suspect my PSU to be the villian but I am not sure and I don't want to upgrade to a Corsair RM1000e just so that the problem is not resolved and I upgraded for nothing. I also read that my specs should be fine with the 750x but of course that can be false. 

 

I hope that someone can help me with this as it is quite frustrating as I did not pay a lot of money for a new GPU just so that I can not play any more games.

Thanks in advance for anyone taking their time to help with this.

 

[Taintedmind]

I'm having the same exact issues - I went into the Event Viewer on my PC and it's stating I'm having an issue w/power delivery through my PCIe, but I'm not sure if it's the cables and/or the NVMe Drive.  I'm still trouble-shooting, but I found something that might help you.  I did it and it worked for a day, but then the issues came back.

 

I did a complete re-install of Windows 10 Pro, fresh NVIDIA Drivers and replaced my battery back-up, but nothing has helped long-term as of now.  If I find something which works, I'll post here to help.  I've been havin these issues for over a week, now.

 

Check your Event Viewer to see if it's a power issue.  I've seen a Tech YouTuber, UFD Tech, state people're havin issues w/dual-screen w/the NVIDIA Drivers, which I had, to the point it would constantly Blue Screen.  I've removed the 2nd screen and the BSoD eventually stopped, but the power cycling and random resets keep occurring.

 

The Fix is in the BIOS, if it works for you; if not, then we're still havin the same issue.

 

My hardware isn't overheating, so I've ruled it out as a possibility.

[LuckyM3]

Hi, thank you for replying. Thats quite the coincidence that I meet someone with the exact same issue. Just checked my system log and I have the exact same error that you have there. Yesterday I also had a power outage in my house so thats why there were 3 in 24 hours.

I also used DDU to completely remove my drivers and downloaded the version before the newest one right now. Like I mentioned, I also dont think its my CPU overheating or anything as this would more likely be noticeable in performance decrease rather than a random reboot. I am still worried that my PSU is too weak for my specs but now that I found someone that is having the exact same issue, Im not so sure anymore. I'll try the Bios fix tomorrow morning and let you know if that has any effect. One more question however: Can I even set my PCIe Gen to 4 ? I dont know if my Motherboard need to support this. I'm to amature for that knowledge I'm afraid.

Thanks again for letting me know that I'm not alone and pls do keep me updated should something work out for you.

Thank you a lot!

[LuckyM3]

Hey, another update. So as it turns out, kernel 41 is a pretty nasty error that occurs when something in your system is causing a system instability which kills your system and forces windows to reboot. It can literally be almost anything in your system, from your BIOS being outdated and messing with components or the chipsets, to your cables not being plugged in correctly to actual hardware errors like your PSU or motherboard having small malfunctions etc. You really need to troubleshoot each possiblity and see what could cause it.

It's a very time consuming and sometimes expensive error. I updated my BIOS just now (after 3 years lol) in hope that the new drivers that came with it, will fix the issue. I'll see if its fixed the next days.

If not then my next theory is my GPU because after upgrading from a 2070 super to a 4070ti, this error started to occur. I might have to check if either my cables not plugged in correctly or moves when it gets hot or even gets pressed by the glass pannel I have, as NVIDIA made their new cards unbearable thick.

This is also a good lead as when I had my case open when my room was very hot, my pc did not have the error. I thought its because of the heat, but perhaps that was a false lead. 
So I dont know if you changed anything about your specs or if it started occuring out of nowhere despite you not having changed anything, but in case you swapped or upgraded sth. Maybe try to roll back these changes if you made any and see if it still happens. I will keep this thread updated should I figure out what caused it. Hope this helps somehow and if you like to search for your own solutions, try to search for kernel 41 error, its literally the same problem we have (allthough you might know this already ^^)

[Taintedmind]

On 9/14/2023 at 7:31 PM, LuckyM3 said:

Hey, another update. So as it turns out, kernel 41 is a pretty nasty error that occurs when something in your system is causing a system instability which kills your system and forces windows to reboot. It can literally be almost anything in your system, from your BIOS being outdated and messing with components or the chipsets, to your cables not being plugged in correctly to actual hardware errors like your PSU or motherboard having small malfunctions etc. You really need to troubleshoot each possiblity and see what could cause it.

It's a very time consuming and sometimes expensive error. I updated my BIOS just now (after 3 years lol) in hope that the new drivers that came with it, will fix the issue. I'll see if its fixed the next days.

If not then my next theory is my GPU because after upgrading from a 2070 super to a 4070ti, this error started to occur. I might have to check if either my cables not plugged in correctly or moves when it gets hot or even gets pressed by the glass pannel I have, as NVIDIA made their new cards unbearable thick.

This is also a good lead as when I had my case open when my room was very hot, my pc did not have the error. I thought its because of the heat, but perhaps that was a false lead. 
So I dont know if you changed anything about your specs or if it started occuring out of nowhere despite you not having changed anything, but in case you swapped or upgraded sth. Maybe try to roll back these changes if you made any and see if it still happens. I will keep this thread updated should I figure out what caused it. Hope this helps somehow and if you like to search for your own solutions, try to search for kernel 41 error, its literally the same problem we have (allthough you might know this already ^^)

I'm currently goin through an RMA w/EVGA for my 1000w Power Supply, so it'll be about 2-3 weeks before I see it returned due to them bein on the other side of the country.  I'll update you if anything changes, otherwise it'll be back to the drawing board.  I updated my BIOS not long ago, but it didn't fix anything.  I was gettin errors I checked which were tied to PCIe issues, which I would guess're my PCIe cables, so hopefully it'll be fixed w/the Power Supply swap.

[4b33r]

Seems like it could a RAM issue, you say you bought new RAM are you using the old and new sticks together? 
Do a RAM stability test in OCCT and see if there are any errors.
Check what voltage and speeds it's running at.

[Taintedmind]

1 hour ago, 4b33r said:

Seems like it could a RAM issue, you say you bought new RAM are you using the old and new sticks together? 
Do a RAM stability test in OCCT and see if there are any errors.
Check what voltage and speeds it's running at.

I replaced the old RAM and RMA'd it (still in box), so it's new RAM in there, which passed my MemTests; hopefully it's not the RAM Slots, but we'll see what happens w/the RMA'd Power Supply.

[LuckyM3]

Hi, update time from my end. I upgraded to a RM 1000x, didnt help.

I update my drivers and BIOS, didnt help.

What I did find out is that it seems that me taking off my glass panel is resolving the issue but that isnt a long term solution as I dont wanna have my pc open all the time. However before jumping to a overheating problem, so far my CPU and GPU temps were normal when the error occured. They were under 80 degrees both times I was checking my temps while the error occured. Once it was at 76 degrees and once even on 72. To add to this, it once rebooted at 76 degrees while I was playng CS2, so after the reboot I rejoined the match, and played multiple games after that, with higher temps and nothing happened. No issues at all. 

I will now download a software that can check my Motherboards, and SSD temps to see if that's the issue.

 
What really bothers me is that I have these noise feedbacks, crackling and robotic sound moments, before the error occurs. It almost feels like static but idk if that can happen inside a PC. And to add to this, yesterday I played another round of CS2 and I started hearing these feedback sounds again. For a full 20-30 seconds my sounds from in game and discord were crackling and robotic. I was waiting for the shutdown but nothing happened so I took off my panel and they disappeared like 10 secs after. This shit is confusing the fuck out of me and I now plugged my PC into another extension cable just so I can rule out that my wall plug is the culprit.

The other thing I will do is buy the new corsair PCIe 600W cable that was made after the 40 series released as my GPU came with a 3 way adapter for power cables but I only plugged in two as I saw online that this is possible. But I'm not a technician so idk if that could cause a system shutdown. But its worth a try as I heard the box adapters for the new cards are awful anyway.

 

But yeah so I havent found a permanent solution. Before I buy a new cooler or motherboard or anything, I will test if a windows reset will fix it as well. I will fix this shit and if its the last thing I'll do.

[Taintedmind]

Update:  So I've installed the refurbished 1000w power supply and been usin it for a few hours.  No issues w/any critical or power-based errors in Event Viewer as of now.  If there're any other issues, then I'll update you, again.

 

I haven't had the crackling for a little bit, although I did have it on my back-up PC, which's an:
i7-8700k

32gb RAM

RTX 3080 12gb

 

I'm guessin it had to do w/a Windows Update, since they're the common denominators between the two in terms of absolute & many people complainin about the cracklin sound on forums.  I'm not sure why it was happenin, but it's gone for me on both systems as of now.

 

It's all workin well as of now.  EVGA also sent me new cables, along w/my refurbished power supply, but I didn't swap any of then for time sakes & the representative stated as long as there's no visible damage to the cables, then they're more than likely not the issue; if I still had issues, then I would've swapped them as the next step.

[Taintedmind]

It's been a week and I haven't seen a single issue w/power flux, whatsoever.  The sound'll get bad when there's a lot goin on w/the PC, such as multiple updates, but no power/restart issues - I would say it's good-to-go as of now; hope you're able to figure out what's wrong w/your rig & get the same outcome.