Question New PC restarts the moment I launch a game

[Stg-Flame]

I'm brand new to Windows 11 and I can't find any error codes or crash logs anywhere and the Q-Code on the motherboard only says CPU post-memory initialization in the booklet. The lights on my GPU and RAM have turned off completely (they were staying lit prior to the first crash) but they all light up when I first turn on the PC then randomly turn off shortly after it boots. I ran a few different games yesterday and everything worked perfectly fine but now it just crashes.

Where do I start for troubleshooting this? The booklet doesn't give much information regarding the Q-Code and Googling the description for the Q-Code leads to the basic "remove hardware until it works and there's your problem". I was hoping I could narrow it down before tearing it apart again.

Edit: Just reseated the RAM into slots 2/4 and the second stick's LEDs went out almost immediately, but so did the lights on my GPU and the fan on the GPU stops spinning as well. The lights on my AIO worked for about thirty minutes and then they turned off and they only flash when I start the PC but they won't turn on either. The Q-Code is still the same (33/34) so that's not telling me much. Is it possible both the GPU and one stick of RAM is bad?

Edit 2: Just quickly reseated the RAM, tried each stick individually and everything seemed to work. Put them both back in and everything is working again. I was able to launch games with no problems but I can't figure out why it was crashing. I have my monitor and PC on the same power strip but I would think that would trip a breaker if it was drawing too much power and I know it wasn't overheating since I was monitoring the temps on the last crash and nothing was even close to the high temp/yellow zone.

Edit 3: Put the RAM back in the initial slots to see if I could narrow it down, but everything is working fine again.

 

[Tech Junky]

Makes sense. Nvidia does the same thing in their game launcher. Well, it works like Plex but not the download part.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Try running Furmark for at least 10 minutes and see if the PC reboots. If it does, it's a PSU or GPU issue.

Been busy at work but I ran Furmark for 30 minutes and no restart. I'm going to reinstall Steam on a different drive and see what happens.

Edit: Played various games most of the night with no crashes, but I did leave Dying Light 2 paused for about 15 minutes and came back to a BSOD with no information in the event viewer. No idea what happened on that one but Windows was asking me if I wanted to run the repair tool and this occurred after I had ran Furmark, so I'm wondering if the temps didn't spike. At this point, I'm willing to grab a higher wattage PSU if it's a remote possibility the GPU could be causing a power spike because I'm completely out of ideas other than just RMAing the hardware piece by piece until it starts to work right.

Edit 2: I just thought of a common denominator with the crashes. I still have my old PC connected since I'm still pulling files off it and I've been using it to charge my headset when it gets low mainly because when I plug it into my new PC, Windows 11 completely disables my sound for some stupid reason and every single time my new PC crashed, my old one was turned on. They are plugged into different surge protectors and the power strips are plugged into separate outlets, but I'm wondering if my old PC being on at the same time as my new one (both have the same name and both connected to the same router) could be causing some sort of weird conflict. I know Tech Junky mentioned one of the errors in the event viewer I posted about was a naming conflict which I attributed to the SSD being pulled from the old PC with the same name as my new one but now I'm wondering if there's something causing the crashes (power related, network, or otherwise) due to both PCs being on at the same time. Going to take more testing but I'll try to fiddle with the settings on my new PC so it stops disabling my headset when I try to charge it.

Edit 3: Just spent the vast majority of my last day off letting random games idle in the background, stress tested the GPU again, stress tested the CPU, all with my old PC off and not a single shutdown. Next day off I'm going to test it again with my old PC running while monitoring the voltage on both PCs to see if there's any spikes or just to see if my new PC shuts down at all.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Update: So I'm pretty sure it's my GPU. I've been monitoring the temp, usage, and wattage and I didn't have a single crash for almost two weeks and just encountered six crashes in a row while trying to play Risk of Rain 2. I ran Furmark again just to see what would happen and it crashed immediately. When my PC was trying to restart, it crashed in the middle of the restart twice before I had to flip the power switch in the back. Going to contact Newegg to see if they can ship a replacement my way.

The weirdest part about all of this is the other two games I've been playing are far more intensive on hardware than RoR2, but for some reason, that game just doesn't play well with my PC.

 

[igor_kavinski]

The weirdest part about all of this is the other two games I've been playing are far more intensive on hardware than RoR2, but for some reason, that game just doesn't play well with my PC.

Can you try putting the GPU and PSU in old PC and play RoR2?

 

[Stg-Flame]

Can you try putting the GPU and PSU in old PC and play RoR2?

I can try this on my next days off but something new just started happening. Every time I try to shut down the PC through the start menu, it restarts. It will shut down and then immediately come back on, then restarts again after about two seconds. It's getting much worse now to where older and less-demanding games are causing it to crash now. I can browse Chrome just fine, watch movies, listen to music, but the moment I try to launch any game, it crashes.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Hmm, sounds like PSU problem, or GPU.

 

[In2Photos]

Check the PCIe slot for debris or damage.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Can you try putting the GPU and PSU in old PC and play RoR2?

Crashes the same way, but worse it seems. I can barely get my old PC to boot because it crashes almost immediately. Tried putting the hardware back in my new PC and I cannot get it to boot now. It'll get through the BIOS just fine, but the moment I enter my password to log on, it restarts.

Check the PCIe slot for debris or damage.

As far as I can tell, the card is seated properly and there's no debris or damage that I can see.

I appreciate all the help but something in this PC is completely ****ed and I can't figure it out. I'm going to ship the GPU off the moment Nvidia stops dicking me around with their god-awful support system and I'm going to ship the PSU off as well. EVGA basically just said "oh you think it's defective, send it back ASAP" whereas Nvidia wants me to jump through 500 hoops before they'll agree to replace the card and even then they said they'll have to run it through their tests which could take upwards of two weeks before they can decide whether or not to send me a new one. Either way, it looks like I'm back on my old PC for the next month or so and I can only hope it decides to hold up for that long even though I've partially gutted it for cables and drives.

 

[BoomerD]

Does your CPU and motherboard support on-board graphics? If so, try using that instead of your GPU...Quick way to test whether the gpu is the fault.

OR, try a different graphics card if you have one available...or can borrow one for a couple of hours.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Does your CPU and motherboard support on-board graphics? If so, try using that instead of your GPU...Quick way to test whether the gpu is the fault.

OR, try a different graphics card if you have one available...or can borrow one for a couple of hours.

That's definitely an option I hadn't thought of. I'll give that a try tonight and see what happens.

Edit: So far so good with RoR2. Even had my first two boss encounters be the same boss that always caused a crash with the 3090ti, but it's still too soon to tell. Especially since the crashes seemed to happen whenever they wanted to happen.

Edit 2: Crashed

 

[BoomerD]

That's definitely an option I hadn't thought of. I'll give that a try tonight and see what happens.

Edit: So far so good with RoR2. Even had my first two boss encounters be the same boss that always caused a crash with the 3090ti, but it's still too soon to tell. Especially since the crashes seemed to happen whenever they wanted to happen.

Edit 2: Crashed

That should eliminate the GPU as the cause, presuming you actually removed the GPU completely. However, what's causing the PSU to trip? The on-board graphics shouldn't draw so much power as to cause the power supply to go wonky...unless it's faulty. What GPU do/did you have in your old PC? Can you put that one in your new system and try that?
This kind of crap always makes me want to rip my hair out when it happens to me. (then, it often turns out to be some stupidly simple thing...well...except for the time my ECS motherboard took a crap and killed my 2 month old GT6800 video card.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

You're not mixing different PSU's modular cables, are you OP?

 

[Stg-Flame]

That should eliminate the GPU as the cause, presuming you actually removed the GPU completely. However, what's causing the PSU to trip? The on-board graphics shouldn't draw so much power as to cause the power supply to go wonky...unless it's faulty. What GPU do/did you have in your old PC? Can you put that one in your new system and try that?
This kind of crap always makes me want to rip my hair out when it happens to me. (then, it often turns out to be some stupidly simple thing...well...except for the time my ECS motherboard took a crap and killed my 2 month old GT6800 video card.)

I wasn't using the on-board. I was using my old 980ti.

You're not mixing different PSU's modular cables, are you OP?

No. I only use the cables that come with the hardware and if I have to use any spares, they're usually USB or SATA. The only cables that I've harvested from my old PC are SATA cables since I always forget to order extras and SSDs don't come with cables. Come to think of it, one of the cables that came with something had a 90 but my motherboard sits in a little far from the access hole so it's kinda at a weird angle. I meant to order a new straight-end cable to replace it but I honestly forgot since I have some irl family stuff happening at the moment. Could a strained SATA cable be causing these shutdowns? It's only used for one of my spare SSDs and I boot from the nVME.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I wasn't using the on-board. I was using my old 980ti.

If the 980 Ti crashed on the new system too, it could be the PSU or the mobo.

Very rare chance that it's the CPU but stranger things happen.

 

[Stg-Flame]

If the 980 Ti crashed on the new system too, it could be the PSU or the mobo.

Very rare chance that it's the CPU but stranger things happen.

Yeah, I'm hoping it's the PSU since it would be weird to have two bad motherboards (but as you said, stranger things have happened), but EVGA are now trying to give me the runaround about my RMA. They keep telling me to go through Amazon even though I've told them it's beyond the 30 day return policy and that Amazon is telling me to go through the manufacturer. Guess I haven't had to deal with their PSU department before, but their GPU customer service was always the gold standard. I can't even get them to answer their phones.

 

[BoomerD]

Yeah, I'm hoping it's the PSU since it would be weird to have two bad motherboards (but as you said, stranger things have happened), but EVGA are now trying to give me the runaround about my RMA. They keep telling me to go through Amazon even though I've told them it's beyond the 30 day return policy and that Amazon is telling me to go through the manufacturer. Guess I haven't had to deal with their PSU department before, but their GPU customer service was always the gold standard. I can't even get them to answer their phones.

USUALLY, if you can't get satisfaction from the manufacturer, and it's not TOO far past the 30 day return window, Amazon will take care of you...I had them refund a set of headphones nearly a year after I bought them when Audio-Technica refused to warranty because I bought them as open box.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I can't even get them to answer their phones.

Sometimes a scathing review on Amazon may do the trick.

 

[BoomerD]

One other thought...is it possible that one of the motherboard standoffs is touching a trace on the board? That can cause a myriad of weird issues.

Have you tried assembling the board and components OUT of the case on a piece of cardboard? Start with a single stick of RAM and go from there.

 

[Stg-Flame]

One other thought...is it possible that one of the motherboard standoffs is touching a trace on the board? That can cause a myriad of weird issues.

Have you tried assembling the board and components OUT of the case on a piece of cardboard? Start with a single stick of RAM and go from there.

It's possible but I don't honestly know how to check. As far as I know, the only standoffs I'm using are for the AIO but it's been a while since I built a PC and I've never used nVME or an AIO before so I suppose this could be happening. How would I tell if a standoff is touching the motherboard? My AIO came with little o-rings to put on the motherboard where the standoffs were going and I know I put all of those on before attaching the AIO.

 

[igor_kavinski]

How would I tell if a standoff is touching the motherboard?

Just take everything out of the case and place it on the motherboard cardboard box with the motherboard plastic cover in between and test. Play a few games for a few hours and see if anything weird happens.

Also, are you sure that your 3090 Ti isn't heating up? My 3090 emits worrying amount of heat. The 3090 Ti is faster so it would logically get even hotter.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Also, are you sure that your 3090 Ti isn't heating up? My 3090 emits worrying amount of heat. The 3090 Ti is faster so it would logically get even hotter.

It still restarted with my 980ti and I've never had an issue with that card. My PSU in my old PC is a 850w which should be enough to run my 3090ti so I could swap out the PSUs to see if it's the PSU but with 850 I'd be worried about power spikes causing shutdowns. I suppose I could put the 1000w in the old PC to see if that restarts.

 

[igor_kavinski]

I suppose I could put the 1000w in the old PC to see if that restarts.

Worth a try.

 

[BoomerD]

It's possible but I don't honestly know how to check. As far as I know, the only standoffs I'm using are for the AIO but it's been a while since I built a PC and I've never used nVME or an AIO before so I suppose this could be happening. How would I tell if a standoff is touching the motherboard? My AIO came with little o-rings to put on the motherboard where the standoffs were going and I know I put all of those on before attaching the AIO.

There are (or SHOULD BE) standoffs between the motherboard and case/tray where the board screws to the case. Since MOST cases are built to accommodate a wide variety of form factors, it's not impossible to have one in the wrong place for your board.

 

[Stg-Flame]

So I tried swapping the PSUs in my PCs and it's only led to further questions. With my 1000w PSU in my old PC, it crashed three times while playing Terraria but didn't crash once with Risk of Rain 2. With my 850w PSU in my new PC, it crashed with Risk of Rain 2, but not with Terraria or Escape From Tarkov. I took the board out of the case and the LED on my GPU stopped working (still hasn't worked after I put it back in the case) and my monitor would constantly flicker off as if it was losing the signal. Didn't even get a chance to test a game before it crashed outside of the case.

I have absolutely no goddamn idea what is causing this issue and I haven't seen anyone else with similar hardware reporting random restarts. My new $5,000 PC is basically a 40lb paperweight right now because I can't localize this issue. All I can do is wait until Monday to contact ASUS about this to see what they say because apparently nobody has customer support over the weekends anymore.

 

[BoomerD]

So I tried swapping the PSUs in my PCs and it's only led to further questions. With my 1000w PSU in my old PC, it crashed three times while playing Terraria but didn't crash once with Risk of Rain 2. With my 850w PSU in my new PC, it crashed with Risk of Rain 2, but not with Terraria or Escape From Tarkov. I took the board out of the case and the LED on my GPU stopped working (still hasn't worked after I put it back in the case) and my monitor would constantly flicker off as if it was losing the signal. Didn't even get a chance to test a game before it crashed outside of the case.

I have absolutely no goddamn idea what is causing this issue and I haven't seen anyone else with similar hardware reporting random restarts. My new $5,000 PC is basically a 40lb paperweight right now because I can't localize this issue. All I can do is wait until Monday to contact ASUS about this to see what they say because apparently nobody has customer support over the weekends anymore.

At this point, my best advice would be go back to square 1.

Take everything out of the case, take it all apart, including removing the CPU from the board. Check the board VERY carefully for bent pins. Use a magnifying glass if you have one. If it's good, set the board onto a piece of non-conductive cardboard, (mother board box works well) reseat the CPU into the board, reapply the thermal paste/pad, install your cooler, video card, boot drive, and ONE stick of RAM. Connect the necessary PSU cables. You don't mention (that I saw) what motherboard you have, so make sure you connect ALL the necessary power cables. Connect your mouse and keyboard. Use a screwdriver to jump the pins as explained here:

If everything works properly, shut it down, unplug it, add the second stick of RAM, try it again. Keep repeating the process until you have all your RAM installed.