A PC that freezes in games can be a dozen different faults wearing the same face. Guessing wastes evenings: you reinstall Windows, and it was the RAM profile all along. Windows usually records what happened, though, and the fixes below are in the order that narrows the cause down fastest. Start with step one even if you're sure you know the culprit.
Step 1: work out which kind of freeze you have
| What you see | What it usually points to | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Picture freezes for a few seconds, goes black, comes back with "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered" | The graphics driver or card | Fix 4 |
| Everything locks, sound loops or stops, only the power button helps | Hardware: overclock, heat, memory, power | Step 2, then Fixes 1–3 and 8 |
| Freeze ends in a blue screen and a restart | A Stop error with a code you can look up | Step 2 |
| Only one game freezes, everything else is fine | That game, its settings or its files | One game only |
The first row has a mechanism behind it. Windows gives the graphics card 2 seconds to finish or pause a job. If it can't, Windows resets the driver and shows that message, which is why it happens so often in games, when the card is busiest. Five or more of those resets inside a minute and the sixth becomes a blue screen with code 0x117 (Microsoft).
Step 2: read what Windows recorded
Press Win + R, type perfmon /rel and press Enter. That opens Reliability Monitor, a timeline of every crash, hang and driver failure, one column per day. Click the red marks on the days your PC froze and read the details.
For a hard freeze that needed the power button, open Event Viewer and look in the System log for Kernel-Power, Event ID 41. Microsoft explains how to read it (Microsoft):
- BugcheckCode is not zero: there was a Stop error. The number is shown in decimal, so convert it to hex to look it up.
- PowerButtonTimestamp is not zero: someone held the power button, usually you, during the freeze.
- Both are zero: a hard hang or a loss of power. If Caps Lock didn't toggle its light during the freeze, it was a hard hang.
Microsoft says that last pattern usually means hardware, and its own checklist is the next three fixes plus the power supply. If you find a Stop error 0x124 (WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR), that's a fatal hardware error, often heat or failing memory or CPU; the WHEA records sit in the same System log (Microsoft).
Fix 1: turn off every overclock, including your RAM profile
This is the cheapest test and it catches a lot. In the BIOS, put the CPU and GPU back to stock and switch off XMP (Intel) or EXPO (AMD), the one-click memory profiles. People forget those count. Intel itself calls XMP a type of memory overclocking and warns that changing memory frequency or voltage can reduce stability (Intel). AMD's EXPO page says running memory outside AMD's specs voids the processor warranty, even when you enable it through AMD's own tools (AMD).
Play for a few evenings at stock settings. If the freezes stop, you've found it. You can then try the profile again with slightly lower memory speed, or keep stock.
Fix 2: check temperatures against the real limits
Run a monitoring tool such as HWiNFO in the background while you play, then look at the maximums. Compare them with what the maker allows. A few current examples:
- AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: 95 °C maximum (AMD)
- Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: 105 °C maximum operating temperature (Intel)
- NVIDIA RTX 5080: 88 °C maximum GPU temperature (NVIDIA)
Look up the figure for your own parts on the maker's spec page. If you're sitting at the limit, clean the dust out of the fans and filters first. On an older PC, dried-out paste is the next suspect: our guides show how to remove old thermal paste and apply new paste.
Fix 3: test the memory
Windows has a memory test built in. Press Win + R, type mdsched, and choose Restart now and check for problems. The default pass is the Standard test. For a deeper one, press F1 while it runs, set Test Mix to Extended and press F10. After you sign back in, the result appears as a notification. It's also logged in Event Viewer under Applications and Services Logs › Microsoft › Windows › MemoryDiagnostics-Results, where Event 2001 means no errors (Microsoft).
For a more thorough test, MemTest86 is free, boots from a USB stick with no Windows running, and runs 14 different test patterns. Let it go a full pass or two. Any error at stock settings means a bad stick or a bad slot: test the sticks one at a time to find which.
Fix 4: reinstall the graphics driver cleanly
If Step 1 pointed at the driver, an ordinary reinstall over the top often leaves the problem in place. Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) removes NVIDIA, AMD and Intel drivers completely. Its own guide says to disconnect from the internet first, so Windows doesn't slip in a driver of its own, and strongly recommends running it in Safe Mode; if you run it in normal mode, run it twice (DDU guide). Then install the current driver from NVIDIA, AMD or Intel.
You'll find forum advice to raise the TdrDelay value in the registry so the reset never fires. Microsoft says those keys are meant for driver development, not for end users (Microsoft). It hides the symptom without fixing whatever is stalling the card.
Fix 5: repair Windows system files
Open Command Prompt as administrator and run these two commands, in this order. Wait for each to reach 100% before you close the window.
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealthsfc /scannow
The first repairs Windows' own component store; the second uses it to fix damaged system files. The details land in %windir%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log (Microsoft).
Fix 6: check the SSD's health and firmware
CrystalDiskInfo reads the drive's S.M.A.R.T. data and shows a plain health status. Anything other than "Good" means back up first and troubleshoot second.
Firmware matters too, and there's a well-documented case. In 2026, several Western Digital and SanDisk NVMe drives (including the WD SN770, SN580 and SN5000) crashed with blue screens on Windows 11 24H2 because of a firmware bug. WD fixed it with firmware updates delivered through its Dashboard app (heise). Whatever brand your SSD is, check its maker's tool for a firmware update.
Fix 7: rule out background software with a clean boot
Overlays, RGB utilities, tuning apps and anti-cheat can all hang a game. A clean boot starts Windows with only Microsoft's own services:
- Run
msconfig, open the Services tab, tick Hide all Microsoft services, then click Disable all. - On the Startup tab, click Open Task Manager and disable each startup item.
- Restart and play.
If the freezes stop, turn things back on a few at a time until they return. Undo it all with Normal startup in the same window (Microsoft).
Fix 8: suspect the power supply after an upgrade
In Microsoft's checklist for Event 41 with all zeros, the power supply is on the list, especially after you've upgraded parts. A new graphics card that draws more than the old one is the classic case. Check the card maker's recommended PSU wattage against the label on yours. A PSU that's too small or failing usually shows up under heavy load, which is exactly when a game puts it.
Fix 9: update the other drivers and Windows
Go to Settings › Windows Update › Advanced options › Optional updates for chipset and other drivers; if nothing's offered, get them from your motherboard or PC maker's support page. If Windows Update itself keeps failing, Microsoft's checklist covers free disk space (20 GB on 64-bit Windows), the Get Help troubleshooter and a chkdsk /f (Microsoft).
Fix 10: when only one game freezes
If the whole PC is fine everywhere else, start with the game: verify its files in your launcher, drop its settings a notch, and switch off its overlay. Some games have known errors with their own fixes, such as the FFXIV fatal DirectX error or Metro Exodus crashing. And check you meet the game's requirements: our guide shows how to check your PC's specs.
If you only remember one thing
Read the logs before you change anything. A Kernel-Power 41 with zeros, a WHEA error and a "display driver stopped responding" message lead to three different fixes. Then change one thing at a time and play long enough to know whether it worked.