Computer "Dying" When Trying to Play Games

[clamum]

Not sure where to post this since I don't see "General Hardware" anymore so move it if it's necessary, please.

So I downloaded the Battlefield V Open Beta this weekend and tried to play it. I see the splash screen but when it's loading what I'm guessing is the main menu, the computer just kind of "dies." The screen turns black and it's like the computer has reset but it's not rebooting. The monitor says "no power input" or something like that. I have to manually power it off and wait a few minutes and then power it on.

Then today I just tried playing Ghost Recon Wildland and the SAME THING happens with that. The splash screen/intro video plays, then I press any key to continue, and it dies and the screen goes black.

I had updated my video drivers (I have a Radeon R9 390) recently so I tried uninstalling them and going to a previous version (I had the current Radeon 18.8.2 drivers and have 18.5.1 now) and that didn't work; same issue.

When I realized I had updated the video drivers recently I thought that was the issue but like I said, I downgraded and am getting the same issue so I'm not sure what's wrong.

What the hell do I do? I don't even know where to start or how to diagnose this. I've built my computers since high school so I'm not completely technically impaired but I'm just not sure what to do. I have my old motherboard/processor/RAM but that's it, it's not like I have a bunch of extra parts laying around that I can swap in and out with what's in my system now. The processor/RAM isn't compatible with my current system, I know, but I forget what it is. I guess I could try my old mobo/RAM with my current video card and PSU, but ugh... what a pain.

What would you guys do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Just tried Kingdom Come: Deliverance. That works fine; it loads and I can play that. WAT

 

[VirtualLarry]

First off, if you"re overclocking the CPU, RAM, or GPU (or all three!), then set them back to stock speeds / clocks, and voltages. Then test some more.

If not overclocked, then sadly, your GPU, PSU, RAM, mobo, or CPU, could be going bad. In that order.

Firstly, try borrowing someone else's GPU, see if that works. Bonus points, if it draws the same amount of power, or uses the same number of power connectors at least.

That will help rule out #2, the PSU. How old and what brand / model is your PSU? If it's more than 5-7 years old, and doesn't have a 7/10/12-year warranty or Japanese or solid caps everywhere, then it may be time for a replacement, as it may be getting weak / flaky.

Lastly, but not least, it could be a driver issue, if you have a spare HDD or SSD, try swapping and doing a fresh install of your version of Windows onto that blank drive, and install the newest GPU drivers, and your game, and test.

Edit: It also couldn't hurt, to run a scan of your primary and game drive(s), with Crystal Disk Info, and check the SMART data, and / or run a SMART scan using HDTune or something, that can do a surface scan of the HDD/SSD. Basically, you want to look for "Pending" sectors in SMART data, or surface-scan errors.

 

[Alpha One Seven]

Maybe the directx files and the visual studio files did not get installed into the correct directory for the game to run when you first ran it and it did it's set up.

 

[clamum]

Thanks for the replies so far, guys.

AlphaOneSeven: I'd agree with you except it's also doing it for at least two games that I've played before without issue (Ghost Recon Wildlands and Jurassic World Evolution). Although the latter would cause my computer to restart 5-10 minutes into the game, but that's a different issue, lol. At least I was able to get into the game.

VirtualLarry: Unfortunately I'm kind of a loser and don't know anyone with a CPU I could borrow. But I do like your idea of a spare HDD and fresh install with latest drivers. I may have a spare HDD. If not I should be able to shuffle some files around and get one free.

My rig is in my sig (the link). My PSU is a Thermaltake Toughpower PS-TPD-0850MPCGUS-1 850 W. It's 2.5 years old. Also no overclocking on the GPU, CPU, etc.

 

[Alpha One Seven]

Thanks for the replies so far, guys.

AlphaOneSeven: I'd agree with you except it's also doing it for at least two games that I've played before without issue (Ghost Recon Wildlands and Jurassic World Evolution). Although the latter would cause my computer to restart 5-10 minutes into the game, but that's a different issue, lol. At least I was able to get into the game.

VirtualLarry: Unfortunately I'm kind of a loser and don't know anyone with a CPU I could borrow. But I do like your idea of a spare HDD and fresh install with latest drivers. I may have a spare HDD. If not I should be able to shuffle some files around and get one free.

My rig is in my sig (the link). My PSU is a Thermaltake Toughpower PS-TPD-0850MPCGUS-1 850 W. It's 2.5 years old. Also no overclocking on the GPU, CPU, etc.

But each game puts a copy of the files into it's own directory. I could not play Farcry 4 when I first got it even though all the other Farcry games played just fine. I added the files to the folder inside of the Farcry 4 folder where they were supposed to be, under the support \software \directx and vcredist, cliked each .exe file and then the game worked.

 

[clamum]

But each game puts a copy of the files into it's own directory. I could not play Farcry 4 when I first got it even though all the other Farcry games played just fine. I added the files to the folder inside of the Farcry 4 folder where they were supposed to be, under the support \software \directx and vcredist, cliked each .exe file and then the game worked.

But I could play Ghost Recon before, upon the first install and for several times after that. If this black screen issue was a matter of files not getting to the proper directory(s) when first installing, then that wouldn't have been possible. Unless I'm misunderstanding.

 

[Ketchup]

Sound like hardware, power supply or video card. As a test, do you have a less-demanding game you can try? Might not prove anything, but probably wouldn't push as much power.

 

[JackMDS]

Do the computer Start and can do something simple Like Using Notepad?

If it does try to run SFC /SCANNOW

 

[jsalpha2]

Heat? Try blowing dust-bunnys out and cleaning the fan blades with Q-tips and rubbing alcohol. Reseat the power connectors on the motherboard and video card. Try running with the side panel off so you can see and hear if anything looks wrong. Good Luck.

 

[Alpha One Seven]

But I could play Ghost Recon before, upon the first install and for several times after that. If this black screen issue was a matter of files not getting to the proper directory(s) when first installing, then that wouldn't have been possible. Unless I'm misunderstanding.

I guess I misunderstood. I thought it was a new installation of Battlefield V that was causing you troubles, not a game you played successfully already. Sorry< I hope you get it sorted out. If you do, let us know what it turns out to be.

 

[clamum]

I guess I misunderstood. I thought it was a new installation of Battlefield V that was causing you troubles, not a game you played successfully already. Sorry< I hope you get it sorted out. If you do, let us know what it turns out to be.

It was a new installation of Battlefield V, the Open Beta. But in addition to that new game that I haven't played before, this issue has also been occurring with games that I have played successfully before, for example Ghost Recon Wildlands.

And tonight I get a hankerin to play World of Warships, and guess what, it happens with that now too. And that game used to work not that long ago; this summer was the last time I played it (I've since updated vid drivers once or twice since I last played though). The login screen loads up and I click Connect cause my credentials are saved, and bam, black screen and I have to manually power off my computer and wait a minute or two before I can turn it on again.

One thing I noticed this weekend too, is now when it went to Sleep/Hibernate mode, it would not wake up. It just stayed on a black screen and again I had to manually power down and wait a couple minutes before turning it on (because turning it on immediately or a couple seconds after power down would not cause it to power fully, it would get power but nothing would happen and it wouldn't boot up). And of course, Hibernate mode always was fine before, it would always come back on.

Good lord. I still think it's something to do with the video card or video drivers or related to that but I don't really know. Hmmm. I do have my old Radeon 7870 card in the closet. I guess I could swap out and try that. I have a feeling it'll work. And so then I'm frickin out a couple hundred dollars, or whatever I paid for my R9 390 a couple years ago, then. COOL. Never had this type of problem with a rig and I've been building them since high school (20 years). Oh well.

 

[Ketchup]

Good idea swapping the video card. Power supply dying of the older cars does the same.

 

[you2]

I'd monitor temp of cpu/gpu. If it gets too hot it could be auto-shutdown by the cpu. Also it could be a power problem if your psu is boderline for your system or very old. There are various tools you can use to watch temp (intel has a nice one) while playing your game. There are also tools that will write the temp to a file so if it does shutdown you can check it on reboot.

 

[clamum]

I'd monitor temp of cpu/gpu. If it gets too hot it could be auto-shutdown by the cpu. Also it could be a power problem if your psu is boderline for your system or very old. There are various tools you can use to watch temp (intel has a nice one) while playing your game. There are also tools that will write the temp to a file so if it does shutdown you can check it on reboot.

Yeah I was gonna look at temps, though I think they are low. I was just in BIOS to switch around the boot order cause I couldn't install Windows 10 to my normal C: drive and glanced at the CPU and System temps and they were low. But I haven't looked into it more than that.

Well I decided to format my Windows drive cause Unity (game development app) was giving me grief with the game I'm working on (locking up upon loading it; reinstalling Unity would only work until I shut down/restarted the rig). And I figured maybe I'd get lucky and a format would solve my game issue.

Well sheit. After formatting I had a Firefox window open, I was downloading stuff and getting things setup like normal, when I clicked the maximize button and the damn computer shuts down. The same damn thing that was happening when games would try and load. It's happened once or twice after that too, seemingly randomly. Grrrrr.

I wanna check out the Event Log in addition to the temperatures. Now I'm thinking it's the PSU, which is a real shame IMO. Only two years out of a Thermaltake 850 W PSU? If that's the case then son, I am f'ing disappoint. Unfortunately I don't have a spare PSU I can use to swap out. I'm thinking about just ordering one and trying it, and if my rig still shuts down then returning it cause it obviously wasn't the issue then. Bah.

 

[you2]

Not sure what you consider low. Btw idle temp is often low even without a fan. I once had a fan that died on a cpu but idle temp was still in the 40's; naturally under any load it quickly reached shutdown temp - around 100c. Anyway good luck.
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Btw unless you have 3 highend gpu 850 W is way overkill; having said that if the psu is bad it doesn't matter on the wattage rating. That model seems to have decent build (according to Johnnyguru review); though any psu can fail. On the surface I would look else where. Another problem could be bad ram - though it would have to be fairly bad to cause shutdown.
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Having said that stuff like opening a browser shouldn't cause much heat or cpu load - it could also be a problem with the ram or disk. It would have to fairly serious but either one could trigger the failure if sufficiently bad (basically if the kernel is getting corrupted in memory).
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It is hard to drill in. Have you tried running prime95 to check ram ?

Yeah I was gonna look at temps, though I think they are low. I was just in BIOS to switch around the boot order cause I couldn't install Windows 10 to my normal C: drive and glanced at the CPU and System temps and they were low. But I haven't looked into it more than that.


I wanna check out the Event Log in addition to the temperatures. Now I'm thinking it's the PSU, which is a real shame IMO. Only two years out of a Thermaltake 850 W PSU? If that's the case then son, I am f'ing disappoint. Unfortunately I don't have a spare PSU I can use to swap out. I'm thinking about just ordering one and trying it, and if my rig still shuts down then returning it cause it obviously wasn't the issue then. Bah.

 

[clamum]

No sir, I have not run Prime95. I think now I'm leaning towards RAM or disk, after looking at different things, but I don't know for sure. Just a shame cause everything is only a couple years or less (especially several SSDs) old but I guess things can happen. I think I'm kinda old fashioned in that I expect most things to work for a while if they're not abused.

I will look into getting Prime95 or other RAM/hard-drive scanners. I appreciate the comment man!

 

[clamum]

Well I guess this is solved. I bought a new PSU and hooked it up and what do ya know, it hasn't crashed into that "sleep" mode since.

On one hand that behavior does seem like it was due to the PSU when it was randomly dying in Windows but when I would try to play games and it would do it when loading the game, like after the main menu or splash screen... makes a little less sense to me.

But whatevs, seems to be working well now. I really appreciate the help guys, I definitely ain't into computers like I used to be.