Due to the sheer number of components involved, troubleshooting a PC that keeps crashing can be intimidating. But it’s very doable if you know where to look.

In all cases, the key detail is that you shouldidentify the source of the crashes first. Then, you may apply the appropriate steps and get rid of the crashes.

Identify the Cause of the Crashes

Ideally, you’ll have some kind of lead to start with, like an error message or a stop code.

If you don’t have any leads, note whether the systemonly crashes to the desktoporshuts down and restarts entirely.

Programs crashing to the desktopare often due to driver problems orfaulty components like the GPUor SSD.

If thesystem fully restarts after the crash, consider the following possibilities instead:

Fixing RAM Problems

Memory issuesare the most common reason for PC crashes. The problems can range fromlow memoryandunstable overclockingtofaulty memory modulesorslots. To troubleshoot such problems,

Fixing GPU Problems

If the crashes are mainly affecting games orGPU-intensive programs, that points to the GPU. Try the following troubleshooting steps:

Fixing PSU Problems

If your PSU restarts, that means your entire PC loses power andrestarts as well. Here’s what you should do in this case:

Solving Overheating Problems

If your fanssound like they’re about to take offbefore the PC crashes, you’ve probably got a heating problem. Afterpassing a certain temperature, components like theCPU, GPU, and PSU either throttle performance or simply restart to prioritize component health.

On the other hand, if some of yourfans are not working, that could also cause the components to overheat and lead to the same result.

Either way, you may usetools like HWiNFO to monitor the temperaturein real time. If you find any heating problems in your system, here are the best ways toget the temps down:

Fixing Driver Issues & BSODs

On the software end, there aretwomain reasons for PC crashes.

Afaulty graphics driveroften causes certain programs to crash. Refer to the fixes from the GPU section in this case. Specifically,

Sometimes, the GPU driver or any other may lead toBSODsinstead. In that case, use the following steps for troubleshooting:

Problems with your storage drive (e.g., bad sectors orcorrupt system files) can also lead to PC crashes. You should first use yourdevice manufacturer’s tool(e.g., Samsung Magician) to perform a health check.

On Windows,dism, sfc, and chkdskcan help with storage-related crashes.

Troubleshooting All Components

If the crashes have persisted till this point, you have three more options.

First, you couldback up your files elsewhereandclean reinstall the OS. This will solve software-end problems in most cases.

Second, you could swap out hardware components that you suspect and replace them with known good ones. You’ll have to do this one by one for each part that may be faulty, from theCPUandRAMto the power cable andmotherboard.

If both of these options seem like a hassle, you may also take your system to a repair professional. They should be able to diagnose the problem for you and suggest the best way to proceed.