Need help! PC Hard crashing/freezing making me hold power button to turn it off

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Nov 17, 2023
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driver dates are when they were created, not installed. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell what is old. Most don't show any date, so have to go from driver version.
Most of yours aren't USB really.

If its freezing with no BSOD it sure looks like hardware.
I do have OneDrive disabled if that makes any difference. That was the last thing I wanted to hear. I guess I have no other choice if it is hardware. Going through shipping and waiting up to a month, probably longer due to the holidays will definitely be rough for my remote job.

I was really hoping it was Oculus causing these issues. Since this issue started happening on October 31st. I lined up the Discord convos I had with a friend, we ended up doing some VR (2nd time doing VR on this PC) at 2:30 AM, and then the first hard freeze/crash occurred 12 hours later while watching YouTube.

It also seems these issues happen a lot when I am watching YouTube on Brave.
 
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Occulus, that you only connect via wireless, its unlikely to be cause. I expect it was running when it crashed. That just makes it the victim. I didn't see any Occulus drivers on PC so it can't be cause now.

Drivers cause BSOD. You getting freezes, not bsod. That error could mean its the boot drive. AS I said, tests aren't perfect... they can't tell if the controller is bad.

try running this and see if it offers anything new - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html

Your install of Mystic Light could be using old drivers, or they just haven't updated them since 2017. its the RGB program for MSI motherboards.
 
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Occulus, that you only connect via wireless, its unlikely to be cause. I expect it was running when it crashed. That just makes it the victim. I didn't see any Occulus drivers on PC so it can't be cause now.

Drivers cause BSOD. You getting freezes, not bsod. That error could mean its the boot drive. AS I said, tests aren't perfect... they can't tell if the controller is bad.

try running this and see if it offers anything new - https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html

Your install of Mystic Light could be using old drivers, or they just haven't updated them since 2017. its the RGB program for MSI motherboards.
Yeah, I uninstalled Oculus earlier with the technician. I'll try that intel detect out.
 
Aug 4, 2020
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Make sure both power connectors on the motherboard are securely plugged in. If you had additional power plug make sure it's seated fully as well. Then verify your expansion cards and memory modules are fully seated. If you don't find anything wrong there you can remove your CPU fan and replace the thermal paste on the CPU. Last thing I might check ulis the power supply. It may be failing. Watch the fans in it while the unit is running. They should be on. Good luck
 
Nov 17, 2023
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Make sure both power connectors on the motherboard are securely plugged in. If you had additional power plug make sure it's seated fully as well. Then verify your expansion cards and memory modules are fully seated. If you don't find anything wrong there you can remove your CPU fan and replace the thermal paste on the CPU. Last thing I might check ulis the power supply. It may be failing. Watch the fans in it while the unit is running. They should be on. Good luck
I don't feel comfortable touching anything. Sadly, I guess I'll have to return this to the company I bought it from for repairs. Unfortunately, I'll be out of a job as well during that time since I can only work from a PC, and I don't have anything else to back me up.
 

Inspireless Llama

Community Contributor
Here is a screenshot of it. Hope it helps!

View: https://i.imgur.com/P49ZaYt.png
Some driver dates don't make sense to me since I got this PC on Sept 29, 2023.

Your purchase date doesn't necessarily equal or even come close to build date. I helped someone yesterday who bought her laptop 2 months ago. She had nvidia drivers that hadn't been updated since june 2022.

driver dates are when they were created, not installed. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell what is old. Most don't show any date, so have to go from driver version.
Most of yours aren't USB really.

If its freezing with no BSOD it sure looks like hardware.

Your install of Mystic Light could be using old drivers, or they just haven't updated them since 2017. its the RGB program for MSI motherboards.

I think they didn't update them since 2017. I use Mystic Light as well, with a driver date from 2017. My PC runs fine with it (it runs fine now yes!)

The only time I've had my pc freezing without a BSOD was when I had a dead motherboard. Turns out it was overheating and eventually died.

Actually I can't remember for sure, but I think my headset (HyperX cloud2) at some point caused my pc to freeze. Something with incompatible drivers or a conflict with some other drivers.

Are you able to check the temps on your hardware? I don't think overheating itself should freeze your pc but maybe it could direct to what could possibly be broken?

Another thing I haven't seen here yet but just in case it is software: Do you remember updating or installing anything just before the first freeze happened? Have you tried (just in case) to set your PC back to a version prior to where it started giving issues?
 
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Nov 17, 2023
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This all sounds very RAMmy to me.

Can you access BIOS and disable XMP @baezyyy ? You shold be able to find an easy guide somewhere online, and it wont void your warranty or anything. You'd actually be disabling overclocking.
I can try that out.
Your purchase date doesn't necessarily equal or even come close to build date. I helped someone yesterday who bought her laptop 2 months ago. She had nvidia drivers that hadn't been updated since june 2022.





I think they didn't update them since 2017. I use Mystic Light as well, with a driver date from 2017. My PC runs fine with it (it runs fine now yes!)

The only time I've had my pc freezing without a BSOD was when I had a dead motherboard. Turns out it was overheating and eventually died.

Actually I can't remember for sure, but I think my headset (HyperX cloud2) at some point caused my pc to freeze. Something with incompatible drivers or a conflict with some other drivers.

Are you able to check the temps on your hardware? I don't think overheating itself should freeze your pc but maybe it could direct to what could possibly be broken?

Another thing I haven't seen here yet but just in case it is software: Do you remember updating or installing anything just before the first freeze happened? Have you tried (just in case) to set your PC back to a version prior to where it started giving issues?
I did have an update for Mythic Light. So I updated those. Would that have been the case for my hard freezes?

I thought it was Razer Synapse, since that's had a lot of issues lately, but I uninstalled that yesterday before I had another freeze at 2 AM today. Then yesterday, the technician thought it was Oculus since other people have been experiencing disconnects to their USB ports from it, but that wasn't the case for me.

View: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/9hlaly/oculus_disconnecting_every_usb_device_when_i_plug/


Overheating isn't an issue I don't think. I've always been monitoring my temps, and I average 50-60 degrees for my GPU, depending on the game, and my CPU averages 55-78, and it can go that high sometimes depending on the game.

The only thing I remember installing before the first freeze was the game called, The Finals. That's when I experienced my first BSOD for this system. I ended up uninstalling that and removing all of its files when the 4th or 5th freeze started to happen. I wish I could remember what other program I'd have updated or installed before the freeze.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to go back to the date before the crash due to the CMOS reset. I'm unsure though. I only see a restoring point for November 16 before updating my GPU drivers.
 
Nov 17, 2023
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is there a shop closer you could take it to instead? Just for testing purposes.

Beats losing a job. It might be something simple they can identify and then you could tell other people and ask them about replacements.
Yeah, there's a known place called Memory Express here. I could take it to them.
 
games might happen while BSOD happen but they rarely the cause. Only some like Valorant that have their own anti cheat programs that think they own your PC, can cause BSOD

an IRQL error blaming ntoskrnl is almost as useful as not having any message.
I will explain
NTOSKRNL = windows kernel. It handles all driver requests, power management, and memory management. It sits between Hardware and Applications. It got blamed but its not the cause

Irql errors can be ram. Or drivers. looks more like drivers since PC was still working
 
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games might happen while BSOD happen but they rarely the cause. Only some like Valorant that have their own anti cheat programs that think they own your PC, can cause BSOD

an IRQL error blaming ntoskrnl is almost as useful as not having any message.
I will explain
NTOSKRNL = windows kernel. It handles all driver requests, power management, and memory management. It sits between Hardware and Applications. It got blamed but its not the cause

Irql errors can be ram. Or drivers.
Well, I recorded this after turning on my PC. It froze immediately after turning it on, and I haven't installed Valorant on this new PC yet. The BSOD was just stuck at 0% for 10 mins, so I had to force shut it down which just led to more random freezes. Now it's fine again, so I really have no idea what's going on.
 
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is this windows 10 or 11? I meant to ask before

Wonder if you crash in safe mode.
It's Windows 11. At this rate, I feel like I'm gambling with this PC. Some days, it's completely fine and has no problems, then some days, I start up with one freeze, then it ends up being some domino effect until after 10 more freezes. Have you encountered any similar issues before? My previous PC which was a Best Buy PC from Dell had no problems for 5+ years and only encountered 1 Bluescreen until it showed it's age just a few months ago.
 
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How to get to safe mode
go to settings/system/recovery
next to Advanced startup, click restart now

  1. this restarts PC in a blue menu
  2. choose troubleshoot
  3. choose advanced
  4. choose startup settings
  5. click the restart button
  6. choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
  7. Pc will restart and load safe mode

try running in there a while and see if it crashes right away

might tell us if its a driver or not. Since it didn't restart, there is a chance it is.
I will look through driver list again and see what I can find that is new.

One solution is to reinstall windows 11. That would get you a fresh start and newer drivers. Just need to make sure to copy anything you need to save onto D drive. Don't reinstall now, its just one answer.
 
Nov 17, 2023
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How to get to safe mode
go to settings/system/recovery
next to Advanced startup, click restart now

  1. this restarts PC in a blue menu
  2. choose troubleshoot
  3. choose advanced
  4. choose startup settings
  5. click the restart button
  6. choose a safe mode (it doesn't matter which) by using number associated with it.
  7. Pc will restart and load safe mode

try running in there a while and see if it crashes right away

might tell us if its a driver or not. Since it didn't restart, there is a chance it is.
I will look through driver list again and see what I can find that is new.

One solution is to reinstall windows 11. That would get you a fresh start and newer drivers. Just need to make sure to copy anything you need to save onto D drive. Don't reinstall now, its just one answer.
I'll try that out. It's been fine again for the last 4 hours now. So I really don't know why this is happening.
 
BSOD aren't predictable unless you know what cause is. Stay as is if you like, just try safe mode if it returns

@Inspireless Llama Mystic light... you probably right, been a while since i looked at driver listings so i tend to forget.

Where did you get Nvidia drivers from? The installed version is from 2022 - Nvm, Nvidia just re using a driver number

curious where mystic light comes from, I don't see it on Motherboard or AIO.
most motherboard makers at least link it on the motherboard driver page, but not MSI - https://www.msi.com/Landing/mystic-light-rgb-gaming-pc/download (the round circular icons on that page are the actual download links... silly design)
I can't tell from the driver versions if you have newest or not.

try updating your audio drivers, I generally don't see audio cause BSOD at all but you don't have many other drivers besides Intel that I suggested updater for, and Nvidia, which you appear to be on latest now. New Nvidia isn't always best place to be but your BSOD happen and you can still see things on 2nd screen... so maybe not them.
Audio drivers are on link below:
 
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