Random black screen of death

[phillpower2]

For space on the ssd i use spacesniffer and i am on top of making sure theres enough storage.

I’m afraid to say that that is not going too well because you have a few issues going on but the biggest issue atm is the lack of free storage space on the C: partition.
Partition 1
Partition ID: Disk #1, Partition #1
[COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]Disk Letter: C:
File System: NTFS
Volume Serial Number: 3A8AE51F
Size: 930 GB
Used Space: 879 GB (94%)
[COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]Free Space: 51 GB (6%)

See my canned info below;

For the lack of free storage space;
For Windows to be able to run efficiently and to be able to update you need to have between 20 and 25% of the partition or drive available on a HDD and an SSD between 10 and 15% as free storage space at all times, if you don`t you risk Windows becoming corrupt or not being able to update which puts you at risk of malware attack.

Data only storage devices should not be allowed to get any lower than 10% of free storage space of the full capacity of the drive/partition on the drive, this also to avoid data corruption.

Please note that storage devices can physically fail if the amount of free storage space is allowed to drop below the required 10 or 20/25% minimum.

Uninstall as many unused programs, games, videos and music files as you can and get yourself another means of backing up to, post back when you have between 20 and 25% free storage space on the C: drive/partition and we can go from there.

For how Windows should be installed;
Windows should always be installed on either its own drive or on a separate partition on a larger drive, this reduces the amount of free space that is required to be kept available + it makes creating a regular back a whole lot easier.

A 256GB SSD or separate partition on a larger capacity drive should be the minimum capacity allowed for.

Today in the timeframe of about 2 hours I’ve had 5 crashes.

Difference between crashing and a hard shutdown;
Software such as Windows can crash and when it does crash you get a BSOD and when enabled a crash dmp is generated, programs or games when they crash can on occasion close to the desktop but the computer will still be 100% functional.

Hardware failure such as a weak power supply and/or overheating are not software related and when a computer for example suddenly turns off, freezes or the screen goes black etc the behaviour should be described as the “computer shut down unexpectedly” or froze etc and not as having crashed as the latter implies a software issue as opposed to an obvious hardware issue when described properly.

Having the correct info means that helpers will not be looking for a software issue when the problem is clearly hardware related.

Quick one from Speccy;
Power Profile
[COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]Active power scheme: High performance
Get rid of this less than useless setting.

Change the Windows Power Plan to Balanced, Ultra and High Performance are a form of overclocking that is known to cause stability and overheating issues, the setting should only be used for gaming type notebooks that have a discrete GPU that needs the extra power.

The above is enough for you to be going on with for now.[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]

[JoshIves]

I have now turned power scheme to Balanced and have created 300GB of space on my SSD. I will also look at getting another SSD just for Windows or i will try partitioning my current C Drive allocating 256GB to for Windows.

[Bruce]

@JoshIves - any news?

[JoshIves]

I havent been able to get another SSD yet but have still had a couple shutdowns after creating space and changing the power scheme.

[phillpower2]

Can you post a new Speccy url and MTB log;

Download MiniToolBox and save the file to the Desktop.

Close the browser and run the tool, check the following options;

List last 10 Event Viewer Errors
List Installed Programs
List Devices (Only Problems)
List Users, Partitions and Memory size

Click on Go.

Post the resulting log in your next reply for us if you will.

[JoshIves]

Here are the Speccy and Toolbox results. Today I’ve had two unexpected shutdowns.

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/stPazbUZ0QgzcEtmc7tD4Og

[phillpower2]

RAM
Memory
Size: 31906 MBytes
Physical Memory
[COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]Memory Usage: 38 %

Something is using up almost 12GB of your RAM.
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64-bit
Computer type: Desktop
[COLOR=rgb(184, 49, 47)]Installation Date: 04/02/2024 16:27:48

Windows has been reinstalled but unfortunately it has not been done correctly, see my canned info below;
Once Windows has been clean installed you must then install first the MBs chipset drivers then the storage/SATA drivers and third the graphics drivers, the drivers can either come from a disk provided by the motherboard manufacturer or downloaded from their site and saved to a flash drive etc, this is a must and Windows should not be allowed to check for updates before it has been done as more often than not Windows installs the wrong drivers or in the incorrect order and this can cause all sorts of problems.

The reason why this procedure is so important, the chipset is what enables the MB to be able to communicate with all the hardware + are the first drivers that Windows looks for on boot.[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[JoshIves]

I think ive now updated the chipset drivers and the storage drivers. I had a couple apps running that use a decent big of RAM thats why it was so high. Normally without anything running its around 10%

[JoshIves]

Should i send my PSU back as its under warranty ?

[Bruce]

While the PSU is fine for your needs, we can’t say 100% that it isn’t faulty - although nothing would indicate an issue with it. (y)

So it’s entirely up to you if you want to send it back.
Is there anything in particular that makes to think the PSU is faulty?

Now you have reclaimed some space, when was the last time the issue occurred?

[JoshIves]

Last issue was today. It also happened last night about 4 times. Over the weekend though i had no issues with it. The most annoying thing is how random it seems.

[Bruce]

Have you tried running the rig on only one monitor, one stick of memory, no external drive attached, the Seagate HDD disconnected - that sort of stuff.

Basically, the current config isn’t working, so let’s try a different setup.
Let’s strip in down to bare essentials, run it for a few days and if no issues, add an item at a time and test again.

[JoshIves]

Okay ill disconnect the Hdd, run a single monitor and only 1 stick of memory and i come back in a few days with results.

[JoshIves]

After disconnecting the hdd, second screen and taking out 1 of the ram sticks i have had the issue occur multiple times. I swapped the ram stick with the other in a different slot to see if its just that stick that could be causing the issue

[Bruce]

OK, sounds like a plan, keep us posted. (y)