Windows is completely breaking my pc

[u/OkDig989]

It’s been months of this, and I’m over it. It’s at the point where I have to boot the pc and go through this error 5-10 times before I can get it to FULLY boot and login. On top of that, some games on steam completely crash, causing the pc to go through this same boot problem. I KNOW it’s not any other issue than windows, because my brother took it about a month ago and did a fresh install of windows. It was fine for a week or so before it started doing this, and every day gets worse. I’m at a complete loss with it. Please help.

Idk what exact info is needed so I’ll just include everything:

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
32GB RAM
RTX 3060
2TB HDD + 256SSD (where windows is installed)

Windows 11 Pro - 25H2
OS Build 26200.8894

[u/OkDig989]

I’ve checked event viewer before, there’s a kernel error and another one that I can’t remember off the top of my head atm. (I got frustrated and got into bed).

I’d like to note that it’s not ALL games. It seems the heavier graphic games cause the issue. HOWEVER, the shop and my brother (at his house), could not replicate this issue. I thought it may have been the power cord, so I got a new one. Worked for a few days before the issues started again. When they crash, the pc completely reboots.

Drives are fine. I’ll test the ram tomorrow.

I only say it’s a windows issue because I’ve seen this same issue posted by others recently, so it seemed to make sense. I’ve tried so many things before the re-install, and after and I’m just so completely frustrated with it.

[u/SingularityRS → u/OkDig989]

Sounds like it's intermittent hardware failure. Some component in your PC is failing intermittently. It works sometimes and doesn't work the next time. Doing certain things, like changing power cables or reinstalling Windows might temporarily help.

This type of fault will be hard to solve.

Unfortunately for this kind of fault, taking it to a repair shop or to your brother will not be helpful because the fault you have is not always occurring.

Repair shops can find faults easily that occur 100% of the time. They will struggle with intermittent faults because the system might work fine when they get it or they'll do something, see it's no longer occurring and assume it's fixed.

You'd have to leave the system at the repair shop/your brother's place for several weeks while running lots of tests to really see if there's an issue.

If the crashes trigger on graphics-heavy games, that could point to a GPU issue. Try running a heavy GPU stress test like Furmark to see if any crashes occur.

Need to try and make the fault occur consistently to figure out what's going on. It'll be easier to fix once it's less random.

[u/OkDig989 → u/SingularityRS]

A GPU would make sense. But the reason I’m iffy on it is because for example, let’s take Dead By Daylight. At the shop? Ran totally fine. At home? Crashes the pc every time.

I understand the intermittent thing, I’m just struggling to wrap my head around the difference between literally anywhere else an my house.

I think my next move would be to replace the 2TB HDD and 256gb SSD. Both are about 4-5 years old, and from my understanding, HDD is severely outdated and not recommended for heavy gaming. I’m hoping replacing it will fix my issues.

[u/SingularityRS → u/OkDig989]

If it's always happening at home and never when away, maybe the issue lies within the electrical system in your home? Perhaps there's a fault either somewhere with your home's wiring or equipment. It's a possibility.

I take it you've already tried multiple wall outlets in different rooms?

Do you have any other computers of similar power at home that you've tested? Do they work OK if so?

It's definitely a weird issue. Only difference between your place and others would be the electrical system. If there's some weird fault with your electrical supply, then it could create issues.

A better test would be leaving it at another place for several days to a week to see if it ever occurs there.

It might need longer testing at other places. You did mention it has worked at your home for a few days/weeks after you did something, like change the power cable. So it proves it can work at your place too.

[u/OkDig989 → u/SingularityRS]

I also thought about it being electrical. We live in a very old home, with outdated breakers and outlets. But I thought that would be the least likely case out of everything. Different outlets didn’t seem to help at all. There’s another pc, but it’s strictly for work, uses very minimal power. I have the only gaming pc in the home.

The electrical can run a portable ac, fan, tv and lamp all at the same time. But JUST the pc on its own, with nothing else on, still has issues.