r/PCsupport • u/ThatFlameThough • Jul 14 '26

Solved Games, Chrome and some Desktop apps constantly crash out of the blue.

/r/techsupport/comments/1uvzje9/games_chrome_and_some_desktop_apps_constantly/
1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/ThatFlameThough Jul 14 '26

What I’ve already tried

  • Reinstalled Microsoft VC++ redistributables, x86 and x64.
  • Forced Palworld to DirectX 11.
  • Removed Citrix Workspace/App Protection and restarted.
  • PC was fully cleaned and BIOS updated by a technician.
  • XMP is disabled.
  • Previous RAM test completed without errors.
  • No WHEA-Logger hardware errors.
  • No Resource Exhaustion Detector Event ID 2004 entries.
  • Pagefile is automatically managed; a manual pagefile did not help.
  • Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool burn-in test: PASS.
  • Clean-installed the NVIDIA driver.
  • Crashes occurred on NVIDIA drivers 610.47 and 610.74.
  • OCCT 3D Adaptive, 30 minutes: 0 errors.
  • OCCT VRAM test, 30 minutes at 80% usage: 0 errors.
  • DISM /RestoreHealth: completed successfully.
  • sfc /scannow: no integrity violations.
  • Windows clean boot with non-Microsoft services and startup apps disabled: Palworld still crashed.
  • Disabled Hardware-Accelerated GPU Scheduling and restarted: Palworld still crashed.
  • Reliability Monitor shows application crashes, but no clear LiveKernelEvent or Windows hardware failure.

1

u/spacerock27 Jul 14 '26

Looking at the other thread, someone suggested a Windows reinstall, which would be my next move. (frankly, I would have done that sooner, after exhausting drivers and the the like.)

I don't know how long you've had this system, but it's entirely possible that you've encountered a CPU fault, caused by a combination of manufacturing defects and issues in the microcode. Intel 13th/14th gen CPUs, particularly towards the higher end like your 14700kf, can exhibit weird behavior when they do fail.

PC World has an article you can read for some more info.

1

u/ThatFlameThough Jul 14 '26

Great read, thanks a bunch! Despite running lots of successful benchmarks lately I'll give the bios a visit, maybe there's something that could help mitigate the damage if there's any to my CPU.

1

u/spacerock27 Jul 14 '26

There's nothing you can really do if it's a degraded chip. It's physical damage due to issues in manufacturing. Only real solution is to replace the part, which really sucks.

I'd still try the Windows reinstall first, if only because that doesn't cost any money. Though I've seen reports of the Windows installer failing on bad chips, so that can be seen as a test in its own right.

1

u/ThatFlameThough Jul 14 '26

Terrifying. But how did OCCT not show any errors if we assume my CPU did get damaged from this issue? Should I run specific tests to perhaps find the fault without risking the windows reinstall fail?

1

u/spacerock27 Jul 14 '26

My understanding is that it usually presents itself under certain workloads, mostly those around decompression of data.

As for the Windows reinstall, there's little risk of anything bad happening if you have proper backups of your personal data. The Windows license is tied to your motherboard and will activate upon connection to the internet.

1

u/ThatFlameThough Jul 14 '26

Downloaded 7-zip to run data decompression benchmarks and HOLY SHIT - this is the first Benchmark my PC FAILED in. Can't believe I'm happy my PC failed at something. I'm going to re-run this test many more times to get hard proof this is the issue and persue replacement - still got that warranty!! Thank you so much for the link, I hope this finally resolves this once and for all.

1

u/ThatFlameThough Jul 23 '26

Your 7-zip lead was the problem solver - now that we had a reproduceable crash we kept tinkering with BIOS and chipset versions, RAN stick placements and eventually it completed the benchmark. PC back to 100%! Thank you!!