PC randomly crashes every few days...

[VirtualLarry]

If you still have issues, remove the video card, leave only RAM stick in (disable XMP on it and run it at 2133), and only the OS SSD. Then test it. If no errors, add back in the video card. Then test it. If no errors, add back in the extra stick of RAM. Then test it, if no errors add back in the other hard drive. If no errors, reenable the XMP on the RAM.

Hopefully one of those steps will reveal the issue if it is hardware related. If you experience issues with everything out, it is likely time to RMA the motherboard like VirtualLarry suggested.

I think that this is a good course of action.

 

[flexy]

"this only happens when gaming so far, never on the desktop."
Ah here we go.

Read my reply two posts above this. It is your card, likely a problem related to the VRMs (voltage regulators).
I'd be interested to know whether you can run, say, a couple of hours Unigine Heaven Benchmark (at extreme settings) without black screen.
If it black screens, respective the problem repeats in gaming etc...RMA the card.

Edit: Also try underclocking the card with MSI afterburner, say -100 clock on the core and see whether this solves anything. Of course this is not a solution, just a test.

 

[Crescendo]

"this only happens when gaming so far, never on the desktop."
Ah here we go.

Read my reply two posts above this. It is your card, likely a problem related to the VRMs (voltage regulators).
I'd be interested to know whether you can run, say, a couple of hours Unigine Heaven Benchmark (at extreme settings) without black screen.
If it black screens, respective the problem repeats in gaming etc...RMA the card.

Edit: Also try underclocking the card with MSI afterburner, say -100 clock on the core and see whether this solves anything. Of course this is not a solution, just a test.

Guys, please stop saying it's my card or my motherboard like it's a fact 100% no denying, because I honestly don't think it's. I played RUST last night for 8 hours straight with zero crashes, ran Prime95/aida64 for hours no crashes. I run benchmarks quite fine actually. But for shits and giggles I'll give it a go.

 

[UsandThem]

Guys, please stop saying it's my card or my motherboard like it's a fact 100% no denying, because I honestly don't think it's. I played RUST last night for 8 hours straight with zero crashes, ran Prime95/aida64 for hours no crashes. I run benchmarks quite fine actually. But for shits and giggles I'll give it a go.

Remember, when reading various posts, just look at them as 'suggestions' or 'thoughts'. Different people have different styles of writing, and most of the time free help from long-term members is a good thing. We aren't getting old, we just have more experience, or seasoning if you will.

Now on to my question, has it been stable since rolling back to an earlier BIOS version on the motherboard?

 

[flexy]

Guys, please stop saying it's my card or my motherboard like it's a fact 100% no denying, because I honestly don't think it's. I played RUST last night for 8 hours straight with zero crashes, ran Prime95/aida64 for hours no crashes. I run benchmarks quite fine actually. But for shits and giggles I'll give it a go.

I invested months of time with the problem myself. I am not talking out my ass there, really. The fact you said it happens only during gaming is enough. Same symptom. It's a very tricky issue and not easy to reproduce. If you tested your CPU, memory etc. this is good since you can now exclude this.

In my research I came to the conclusion it is a combination of the actual load of the card AND heat on the VRMs (not the GPU itself) and possibly even a design flaw or poor components. EVGA forums are FULL with this, google "black screen" while gaming. It's very common and unfortunately seems to be most common with EVGA cards.

It is NOT a crash due to instability of the GPU (insufficient voltage), which is normally not black screening but rather the driving crashing and recovering.

There is also a particular scene in The Witcher 3 (on the balcony in the beginning) where MANY people have this problem, just black screen, hard freeze etc. Again, fan speed higher and underclocking can prevent it.

 

[Crescendo]

Remember, when reading various posts, just look at them as 'suggestions' or 'thoughts'. Different people have different styles of writing, and most of the time free help from long-term members is a good thing. We aren't getting old, we just have more experience, or seasoning if you will.

Now on to my question, has it been stable since rolling back to an earlier BIOS version on the motherboard?

So far zero freezes since the rollback.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I played RUST last night for 8 hours straight with zero crashes, ran Prime95/aida64 for hours no crashes. I run benchmarks quite fine actually.

One thing to bear in mind is that different games/programs can manifest things in different ways. Last week I dialed in my GTX970 OC where I wanted it, and it was playing Skyrim SE superbly, smooth, nary a crash or artifact. Loaded up WoW, and I started getting hard screen freezes once an hour or so until I pulled the OC power down a bit (despite the temps being fine). Never just assume that no problems under <insert use case> means the card is fine under <all other use cases>.

Also:

When he owned the PC before me he was getting WATCH_DOG_TIMOUT BSOD's but it didnt happen often so he dealt with it.

That's not a great thing...

 

[Crescendo]

One thing to bear in mind is that different games/programs can manifest things in different ways. Last week I dialed in my GTX970 OC where I wanted it, and it was playing Skyrim SE superbly, smooth, nary a crash or artifact. Loaded up WoW, and I started getting hard screen freezes once an hour or so until I pulled the OC power down a bit (despite the temps being fine). Never just assume that no problems under <insert use case> means the card is fine under <all other use cases>.

Also:


That's not a great thing...

I'm not assuming the GPU is fine but based off my findings I think it's not the issue.

Also why is watchdog bad im pretty sure he was getting it because of a bad OC.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Bluescreens due to software nowadays are almost unheard of (Windows is much more graceful in its handling of crashes), which means it's usually hardware related. It could indeed be caused by an OC, but if he was irresponsibly overclocking his system (and not pulling things back if/when bluescreens started) there's also the potential for damage occurring, albiet low chance (depending on the hardware involved).

 

[Crescendo]

Well I havn't gotten a blue screen or crash in almost 3 days so fingers crossed that the BIOS fixed the freezes and the overclock was causing the BSOD. Whe I look up the watchdog BSOD its almost always processor related from what ive seen.

 

[UsandThem]

It wouldn't be the first time, and the last time, a BIOS update caused an issue like that.

Even a few weeks back, MSI released a BIOS update that degraded the performance of people using Intel 600p M.2 drives, and had to pull the update while fixing the issue.

 

[Crescendo]

Yeah I feel like the TIMEOUT_WATCHDOG error was from an unstable overclock and I think the Freeze was from an unstable BIOS update. So far been 4 days no freeze, no BSOD. If it continues to freeze and/or give WATCHDOG errors I will be RMA'ing the motherboard first I suppose.

I did so much to the PC when I got it, I guess I can't remember when the issues occured or if it BSOD after I set the overclock back to stock. I cant remember if the freeze was before or after the BIOS update. I'm kind of concerned that it might do it again months down the line I guess I'll just keep gaming and running tests and see if it happens again.

But so far 3-4 days of constant gaming and testing and no crashes or BSOD.

 

[Crescendo]

So been 5+ days no freeze no BSOD looks like rolling back the BIOS fixed.