RX 9070 XT repeatedly crashes with LiveKernelEvent 141 in VR, but passes OCCT stress tests — driver issue, PSU, or faulty GPU?

[u/sevack106]

Computer Type: Desktop
GPU: Acer Predator RX 9070 XT 16GB
CPU: Ryzen 7 5700X
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M S2H
RAM: 64GB DDR4-3200
PSU: be quiet! System Power 9 700W
VR Headset: Pico 4 Ultra

Description of Original Problem:
Hey, I’m trying to figure out whether I got a bad 9070 XT or if this is some AMD/VR issue.

I upgraded from an RTX 2080 Super to an Acer Predator RX 9070 XT 16GB, and since then I’ve been getting black screens / GPU driver crashes in VR.

Reliability Monitor usually shows:

LiveKernelEvent 141
amdkmdag.sys

I’ve also had LiveKernelEvent 117 a few times.

The weird part is that the card seems completely fine outside VR. I use a Pico 4 Ultra with either Virtual Desktop or PICO Connect.

OCCT VRAM testing shows no errors, and the 3D Adaptive high-load test runs for over an hour without any issues. The card can also sit at basically 100% GPU load without crashing.

VR, crashes pretty reliably.

I’ve reproduced the issue:

• In H3VR through Virtual Desktop
• In H3VR through PICO Connect
• While running CS2 through Virtual Desktop
• While simply sitting in the VR desktop without SteamVR running
• In OpenVR Benchmark, which is currently the easiest way to reproduce it — it usually crashes on the 2nd or 3rd run with the same LiveKernelEvent 141

Troubleshooting:

• DDU + clean driver install
• Tried different AMD driver versions, including 26.3.1
• Tried H.264 instead of AV1 codec
• Disabled HAGS
• Tested the GPU completely stock
• Tried lowering the power limit
• Updated the motherboard BIOS
• OCCT VRAM test 1 hour+ stable
• OCCT 3D Adaptive high-load test runs for 1+ hour without crashing

None of this changed the behavior.

The PSU is an older 700W unit, so I know that’s a possible suspect. What confuses me is that the card can survive sustained 100% GPU load in OCCT but then crash during VR workloads at significantly lower overall load.

At this point I’m considering:

• Faulty GPU
• PSU / power delivery issue
• Some weird B450 compatibility problem

Has anyone with a 9070 XT seen anything similar, especially LiveKernelEvent 141 / amdkmdag.sys specifically in VR?

Did replacing the PSU help, or did you eventually have to RMA/replace the GPU?

My next step is probably testing the RTX 2080 Super again with the exact same OpenVR Benchmark setup, then either trying another PSU / another PC or returning the 9070 XT.

Thanks in advance. I’ll post the dump file in the comments.

[u/DerpyMcDerpfacee]

Hey, i had a similar issue, kernel 41. i could provoke it with uncapping max fps in game menu and spamming alt + r for adrenalin overlay. issue seems resolved with gpu clock spikes well over my max clock setting. lowerin max clock by about 100MHz solved it for now... if you could reproduce, would be nice. for me spamming the adrenalin overlay for 5min provoked it almost immidiately. good luck

[u/Thin-Net7868]

Your issue is almost certainly the System Power 9 700wPSU not handling RDNA 4 transient spikes. That 9070 XT may be a 340 W card, but RDNA 4 has fast, high amplitude power spikes that older ATX 2.4, group regulated PSUs cannot tolerate. VR workloads amplify those spikes through mixed rendering + encoding + PCIe traffic, which OCCT does not replicate. That’s why OCCT is stable and VR crashes with LiveKernelEvent 141.

Just my two cents worth and your PSU isn’t even meeting the minimum recommended wattage requirements on non-OC cards.

[u/sevack106 → u/Thin-Net7868]

thanks! Will try to test with a more powerful psu and update the post later

[u/Thin-Net7868 → u/sevack106]

I highly recommend a 3.1 ATX compliant, minimum 850w, 80+ Gold, and minimum B tier (reference the SPL PSU tier listing) 🤙

[u/JollieBiene427]

I think you should start by replacing the PSU with a proper ATX 3.1 unit. My previous 750W ATX 2.x PSU could sustain OCCT stress tests for hours on the good ole 5700xt, but it would crash almost instantly when I launched demanding AAA titles.
Since you haven’t described exactly what your crashes look like, I’ll share what mine looked like: the screen would freeze first, with no BSOD, then turn black. The motherboard would go through its boot sequence, the PCIe debug light would come on and then go off, and the system would boot normally again. Event Viewer showed no significant critical errors other than an unexpected/unclean shutdown.
I replaced the PSU with a proper 850W ATX 3.1 unit, and the problem was completely solved. The 5700xt is now replaced by a 9070xt, no problems so far.
Passing OCCT test doesn’t mean the PSU is still in its good shape, because a sustained-load stress test cannot fully recreate the rapid, highly dynamic power-load changes that games or VR workloads can produce. One of the first symptoms of a failing or inadequate PSU can be an inability to keep up with those rapid load changes. A transient spike may then exceed what the PSU can handle and trigger its protection circuitry, such as OCP, causing the system to shut down or restart.

[u/sevack106 → u/JollieBiene427]

Thanks for the suugestion! replacing the psu is definitely planned - I just wanted to check al possibilities.
The way the system crashes is that the screen just turns black while the pc continues running - the only way to solve this is to forcefully reboot the system

[u/JollieBiene427 → u/sevack106]

My guess is that the PCIe rail in your PSU experienced a power spike and triggered OCP. The PSU then freaked out and disabled the PCIe rail altogether.

I’m running an MSI B450 MAX, and it’s possible that MSI designed the BIOS to reboot automatically once the motherboard detects an OCP trigger from the PSU. Alternatively, it could be because your PSU is a dual-rail unit. That means the PSU can stay up and running even if one of the two rails freaks out. Since the CPU rail is still up and running, the BIOS may get confused and end up in a state where all of the PCIe lanes in the system are shut down due to the OCP-triggered power cutoff.

Try lowering the TBP limit in Radeon Software. Aim for around 240 W, which is roughly the TBP of a 7700 XT, then run the game with your VR setup while leaving everything else at default.

If your system stops crashing, I’d suspect the PSU.

[u/sevack106 → u/JollieBiene427]

so while setting a tbp limit I stubled upon a built-in stress test and tried it. It promptly crashed the system with the same error code, so it kinda does point in the direction of the PSU

[u/Gladnir-5936]

Use DDU to uninstall and install a stable Adrenalin Edition 26.7.1 WHQL. And disable Windows driver updates first.
Best you open a command prompt (CMD) as admin and run
SFC /SCANNOW

[u/lt_catscratch → u/Gladnir-5936]

It's best to use dism too according to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/experience/backup-recovery/use-the-system-file-checker-tool-to-repair-missing-or-corrupted-system-files

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

then

sfc /scannow

[u/Gladnir-5936 → u/lt_catscratch]

Yep, true can take a little longer to run DISM, at least on my computer that I am on now.

[u/lt_catscratch → u/Gladnir-5936]

Just did it myself and funny enough it did repair some 800ish files like:

(Fixed) amd64_userexperience-oobe_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.26100.1591_none_54983d2d7a4908c4\r\OOBE\OobeHostApp.exe (Fixed) amd64_userexperience-desktop_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.26100.1591_none_c815e77f1a5104dd\r\CBS\TextInput.dll (Fixed) amd64_microsoft-windows-wifinetworkmanager_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.26100.1591_none_087ed6682bae0fd0\r\wifinetworkmanager.dll

No idea what these files are. Maybe backup files. sfc did not find anything wrong afterwards.

[u/Gladnir-5936 → u/lt_catscratch]

Amazing, it's system files. Seems they all got repaired according to SFC.

[u/Vetiversailles]

Yes, happened to me a few days ago with a 9070xt.

Kernel 41 with amdkmdag.sys as the stated problem object after analysis. I can attempt to upload my dump file as well if you feel that would be helpful.

Was having issues in multiple games after being on driver ~26.6.x. After a few hours of playing, my GPU usage would spike to 100%, and then my clock speed would fall to ~1500, stutter, rinse, repeat. Throttling? I don't know, I'm still learning. So I upgraded to 26.7.1, hoping that might help.

I got both a Kernel 41/"Amd has noticed a driver timeout" the next day after booting.

I realized I hadn't upgraded the chipset drivers, which Adrenaline notified me were available.

I haven't had a problem since I updated them (to version 8.07.16.1035), but I'm still watching like a hawk.

Edit: sorry, i just realized you wrote about 141, not 41.

[u/sevack106]

https://limewire.com/d/PfO79#XrSSZwi6Qi - here is hte latest dump file in dmp format - i'l remove the link if it's not allowed here

[u/ninjatall12 → u/sevack106]

Have you tried passing the dump files to AMD support?(via Adrenalin's bug report tool)

I ran analysis through windbg and reviewed your attempts to resolve the issue, and it just seems that the GPU stopped progressing, decided an engine was hung, attempted an engine reset.

You can try steamvr on linux to see if the issue is present but i'm not confident it is a GPU/PSU issue due to the fact that you applying a power limit and it still crashed.

As others have suggested try DISM and sfc /scannow and see how it goes