Guide
The whole PC freezes or turns off while gaming? What to check first
A game crash and a whole PC freeze are different things. If only the game closes and Windows still works, it is usually the game or a driver. If the whole screen freezes, the mouse stops or the PC goes off, look at Windows and the hardware. Start with the easy fixes.
See what Windows logged
Press Win + R, type perfmon /rel and press Enter to open Reliability Monitor. Look at the days the PC froze. Windows was not properly shut down means it went off without shutting down. Hardware error means the CPU or RAM reported a problem.
The paging file must be on
With the paging file off, games crash or the PC freezes once the RAM is full. Many tweak packs turn it off. The paging file guide shows how to turn it back on.
System devices turned off
Windows uses these devices for its clock and interrupts. With them off the PC can freeze. Some stripped Windows builds turn them off.
- Right click Start and pick Device Manager.
- Press View, then Show hidden devices.
- Open System devices and find System timer, High precision event timer, Programmable interrupt controller, Direct memory access controller and System CMOS/real time clock.
- Any with a down arrow: right click, press Enable device, then restart.
RAM, XMP and overclocks
For a test, turn off XMP / EXPO and any CPU or graphics card overclock or undervolt in the BIOS, then play. If it no longer freezes, those values were not stable. Find stable ones later, step by step.
Heat and the power supply
When the PC turns off under heavy games, a power supply that cannot deliver enough or a PC that runs too hot can do it. Clean the dust, check the fans, and check that the power supply is as strong as the graphics card maker recommends for that card.
If the picture goes black for a moment and comes back by itself, that is the graphics driver recovering, not a freeze. See the guide on a clean install of the graphics driver.
Let Savenz Optimizer check it
The Fixes page of Savenz Optimizer has Something wrong: pick Black screen or freeze. It reads 30 days of Windows' records: graphics driver resets, hardware errors, blue screens and times the PC went off without shutting down. Then it checks the paging file, turned off system devices and RAM running below its rated speed, and names what to fix. It only reads. Still no cause? Ask in the Discord.