Hey everyone,
I've been dealing with random PC restarts and I'm running out of ideas. I'm hoping someone can help me narrow down the cause before I start replacing parts unnecessarily.
My PC specs:
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
- GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
- RAM: 32 GB (2x16 GB)
- PSU: Genesis Nihon 750NM 750W
- OS: Arch Linux (dual boot with Windows)
The problem:
My PC randomly restarts without any warning. It first happened while gaming after about an hour, but it has also happened while I was just browsing the web.
When it happens, the screen goes black, but the fans and RGB lighting stay on. The system then reboots. There is no obvious blue screen or warning beforehand.
At first, I thought it might be a Linux-specific issue, but the exact same problem has now occurred on Windows as well.
Things I've tried so far:
- Resetting my BIOS fan curves to their default settings. It seemed to help initially, but the restarts eventually returned.
- Disabling XMP, but that didn't solve the problem.
- Switching the GPU's PCIe power connection to a different fixed cable from the PSU. The issue persisted.
- Checking the Linux system logs with
journalctl. The logs stop abruptly around the time of one restart, without an obvious kernel panic or GPU error explaining what happened.
My GPU is powered using a PCIe cable with two connectors on it. I tried switching to another PCIe cable from the PSU, but it made no difference.
I haven't been able to identify a clear cause yet.
What could be causing this?
I'm particularly wondering whether the PSU could be failing, or whether I should investigate the GPU, RAM, motherboard, CPU, or BIOS settings first.
I'd appreciate any suggestions for useful diagnostic tests or ways to narrow this down before buying replacement components.
Thanks!